| 21-6-2002 - The Summer Solstice road trip |
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| South Sheilds Beach front...Early!!!! |
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| Beams contemplates the day ahead. |
| Never let it be said, that we at Northbay Skimboards are affraid of a challenge. This philosophy was put to the test this week as we took part in the Northbay Summer Solstice road trip! The idea was very simple, Rise with the Sun in East and set with the sun in the West, Simple!! However at the time, nobody realised that to do this it would involve getting up at 4:00AM!!! (That's morining not afternoon!!) This proved to be a bit of a challenge, but after some hardcore coffee abuse we did it! So at 4:30AM we were stood on the beach front at South Shields, ready to watch the sun-rise....Nice! The whole Northbay crew and riders came along for the trip, aswell as a welcome appearence by authentic Houghall old boy and founding father of the Hamsterly gents club, Chris Bayfield along with his mate Nadia! So the riders were the there, the sun was up, let the road trip begin! |
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| The surf wasn't exactly what you might call huge! Infact 'mill-pond' just about covers it. So skimming into the waves was a non-starter. But we still managed to get some skim-time. Resident PRO Danny-C, has been getting himself dialled just lately, and treated us to a skimboard master-class. The road trip saw the 1st outing of his new move he likes to call the 'SPAM'. This is basically a 90 degree turn |
| into the beach, followed by a rail on the incoming wave, Nice! The boys getting good! The North sea was as cold and dark as ever, but that didn't seem to matter, and after the mandatory " no hook-up" period, we all had it sussed! Having a beach all to yourselves is a pleasure everyone should enjoy, it's just a shame you have to get up so early! |
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| South Shields may seem a rather un-usual place to start the trip, especially if you've been there! But for the purposes of skimming and surfing it's pretty cool! South Tyneside District council will certainly be getting our votes with more signs like this! SURFING AND PERSONAL WATERCRAFT AREA. NO BATHING! Much amusement was had trying to work out what 'personal watercraft' actually is |
| but i'm sure its a good thing! As the morning wore on the surf started to pick up a bit, so we had our mandatory 'try and bodyboard on a skimboard' session! Didn't work, but hey, who cares! We were also joined by a rather lost looking group of 'Kamikazi' jellyfish, who seemed intent on freaking us out, then beaching themselves! Crazy bastards! |
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| Just one of the Hundreds of jellyfish that tried to join in on the Northbay road trip! Strange creature! |
| As time wore on, the cold started to bite, and it was decided that it was time to move on. It was also at this point that we realised that we had just used the last of the film in the camera and hadn't bought a new one! Doh! So we couldn't get a any pictures of the rest of the trip. However after South Shields, it was a brief stop to watch Engalnd get beat-up by Brazil! Then across the Pennines. Stpping at Keswick (as always) to fuel up on chocolate doughnuts, cream cakes and chips! Once re-fuelled we headed across to Haver-rig point, to surf some proper waves (about 3-4ft on the day). The trip finished at Morecambe Bay, watching the sun set over the endless sands with the Beachboys playing on the stereo! Quality day, Quality memories! |
| Keep Skimming . Beams |
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