Making the best of it

Yes, I surfed that.

Surfing in the UK sometimes feels like an uphill struggle. When the water's warm the surf is bad, and crowded; then just as the autumn swells arrive it starts to get cold and the days get shorter and shorter and makes weekend warriors out of most of us. So when you get the chance to get in you've got to make the best of it, whatever the conditions.

Last Tuesday I made the mistake of putting my wetsuit on at home instead of at the beach, only to get there and discover Fistral was completely blown out, and the bay was nearly flat. I had two choices - get in anyway, or arrive for work two hours early in a dry wetsuit; so I went for a paddle and kooked around for an hour. The waves were barely describable as surf, but I still spent the day with a satisfied salty smile on my face.