Back into it

Arriving back in Scotland from Chile has been hard, there lots of things I miss but lots I feel I have gained in the past few months. The past 3 months backhave been a blur of uni work, normal work, no work and surfing.

The surf has been good this autumn, which has helped the easing back into Scottish life. My photography skills are hopefully getting better and I have enjoyed some incredible solo sessions around some of Scotland's slabs on the bodyboard..Now looking forward to

new year and seeing my special someone and frothing over the new experiences 2010 will bring..:)

School Daze

Just finished my post as an English teacher up north. Had some great times with the kids, they were all sweet although pretty unruly in the classroom most of the time..But overall I think they learned a bit of English and my presence made an impact on the local community. Was sad to leave after 2 months there but hopefully will return someday to visit all my new friends and surf the area`s uncrowded waves..

North Dreaming..

Big bodyboard contest going on up the road...i`m not there due to work commitments further south but been thinking a lot about this wave and looking forward to putting in more time there in a couple of weeks.. keeping updated through the webhttp://www.ibaworldtour.com/site and looking forward to those chilly glassy mornings up there----:)

Desert North

Spent the last week in the Atacama Desert in the North, the world`s driest desert. The waves up there are super consistent and crazy powerful..The swell is so well travelled it moves really slowly but carries a lot of weight, so when it finds a shallow rock shelf to unload on the result is some seriously heavy waves!

As it`s winter now the climate is perfect for being in the sea, not too hot and not too cold. I spent most of my time surfing so didn`t get too many good pictures, definitely learnt a lot about the bigger, heavier stuff...Hope to return in a few weeks when I finish my teaching job but for now it`s back to the classroom for three weeks!

Lately

A few snaps from the past few days around and about the area..

Up North Likesay

Since leaving Santiago I have been living in a wee coastal village about 7 hours to the north. It´s super bueno, but sometimes a wee bit too small. There are two good beaches which are beautiful but, unfortunately, don´t convert the masses of daily swell into too many rideable waves. Still, the last few days turned on a local river mouth wave and the locals were out in force!

It´s crazy being in the water and looking back to the snow capped Andes mountains, took my breath away the first time! The water is not warm but not cold, with the sun it´s warm enough to stay in the water all day..

When the swell dropped off a bit I took the camera out and tried a few snaps of the local kids surfing and bodyboarding, many are also my students in the local school! They are all super stoked at the presence of a strange gringo in their waters!

Viva Chileeee>!

Santiago De Chile

Spent the week before last in Chile´s sprawling capital, Santiago. It being the depths of winter, it was super cold and rained moreorless everyday.

The city was one of contrast: the dirt poor slums around the airport and the deceptively small and modern central district are just two extremes of Chile´s capital. Huge, shiny skyscrapers tower over slums and many different styles of building hint at the country´s turbulent and chequered past.

I was happy to be there, unfortunately it got dark at 6 every night so after classroom workshops there wasm´t much time to see the metropolis by light..The wine is super good and super cheap, about 50p for a very very big bottle....:)

Arrived to the chile

Arrived in chile last week and it´s been pretty busy so far. Spent a week in Santiago, the capital, doing training in classrooms all day and drinking the stupidly cheap red wine all night, was pretty fun! Now I am in a small fishing village in The North which has some amazing surf setups but, incredibly, the swell doesn´t seem to get in much so have had to travel to get waves. It´s weird staring at a placid Pacific Ocean in the middle of winter! But there´s some more exposed places a colectivo ride away which I am frequenting with some locals. All the internet connections are slow here so I can´t upload photos, but will do as soon as I can....Nos Vemos

ChiLE!!

It's ciao to Scotland for a while as am leaving for Chile tomorrow! Really excited, curious, nervous, spaced out, amped to spend the next 3 months over there helping out at a local school, bodyboarding and shooting photos. I'll be living with a local family which should help brush up my Spanish and it's right on the beach so hopefully find a some good set ups for the waves down there.......yeeehaw!!!!

And a few more..

LineD ups

Line up pictures are some of my favourites, they don't draw the focus just onto a rider but instead let you appreciate the wave environment..I used to just snap a few pictures before jumping in but have been trying to slow the process down recently and actually think about the shot. Here are some line up shots I took over the past few months...

Water Shoooooootin'

Last week or so has been so good, perfect weather and great little swells lighting up all sorts of spots around the coast..The light was great so I tried to get a few piccers in the water but it's hard to acheive the effects you want! Hopefully with practice I'll improve (and actually do it when the waves are good!)

I'm not sure what a blog is meant to be but have found myself looking at a fair number in recent months. So jumping on the bandwagon I have started my own to document some words and pictures, both of which I am rather keen on..