For anyone in the UK, Surfers Against Sewage are organising countrywide paddle-out protests to complain about the state of our rivers and seas next Saturday, the 17th of May.

https://www.sas.org.uk/water-quality/our-water-quality-campaigns/paddleoutprotest/

I'm planning to be at the Hayling Island event, look for the guy with long grey hair in a pony tail 🙂

This is something that's only obliquely surfing related, however I thought people might be interested (it's a bit of a long story, but stick with it 🙂 )

Part 1: When I was surfing at Croyde last week, I managed to flatten the battery on my car fob (I'd lain on it in the Aquapac inside my wetsuit) and had all sorts of problems getting into the car.

So I went to a local supermarket to see if they carried spare batteries. They didn't, but a bloke behind the counter said "I'm a nice guy, I think I've got one in my car, hang on..."

A few minutes later he comes back with the battery, so I say "What do I owe you?"

He says "Don't worry about it."

So I said "Ok, how about I give some money to the RNLI?"

"Sure," he says.

(The RNLI is the Royal National Lifeboat Institution whose volunteers are present on Croyde Beach during the daytime in the summer to help surfers and bathers.)

So, no problems, I make a note to do this...

Part 2: Yesterday, on X/Twitter, someone made an obscure and arcane reference in a reply. I happened to recognise what they were talking about and made a joking response in a similar vein.

To my amazement they then said "I'd made myself a deal that if anyone got one of my references, I'd donate $100 to their favourite (genuine) charity."

"Seriously?!"

"Yes."

"Ok, give to the RNLI!"

So, because a random guy did a stranger a favour, the UK's water safety charity is now $100 better off!

AWESOME! 🤙

Following the last Live Chat, I'm working on Pushing the Shopping Trolley to give myself a bit more height and speed on the ramp.

Any helpful comments or suggestions would be welcomed 🙂

https://youtu.be/seqb4RGiJRo

Here's a good article, especially for those of us who don't live near "perfect" breaks...

5 Reasons to Stop ‘Checking the Waves’ and Just Go Surfing

https://www.theinertia.com/surf/5-reasons-stop-checking-waves-just-go/

I've been working on my surf skating, trying to get the timing right on the transitions so I can pump for speed.

This is my best effort to date, I'm actually managing to keep it going for almost a minute (the video is shorter!)

Once I've got the timing, I'm hoping to be able to get my head lower.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions on how I can improve things, please do post them here.

PS what's disappointing is that, when I'm on the board, it feels like I'm getting almost to the top of the bank, but when I look at the video, I'm barely getting half way up 🙁

https://youtu.be/7FUvmcCVI34