NAT’S SUMMER UPDATES

This season in Cornwall has been pretty hectic for me; Roxy Surf days, the Ripcurl girls tour and Oakley Surf Sistas weekends; it seems that female surfing really has exploded onto the scene and all the new Surf Girls have been keeping me busy!

I was lucky enough to run the very first SurfGirl and Surf Sistas with Oakley coaching week from Ripcurl’s ESF surf school in July.  It’s similar to what I do abroad in Spain and Morocco, but this time actually based in the heart of the UK’s surf mecca; Newquay!  It was a great group of girls, who were all super keen to learn and get out there; we had theory work, practical lessons, an Indo board demo with it’s creator Hunter Joslin and a surf specific yoga class.  We also spent an awesome afternoon at the flowrider, sampled coasteering and took part in even more surfing (including dawnies, video analysis and fancy dress!)  We’ll be putting together a full report of the whole week as soon as possible!

Talking of Surf Sistas with Oakley…. Hossegor will be our home for the first ever surf and pilates boutique holiday there.  I just love South West France and September is THE best time to be lapping up the endless golden beaches, sunshine and firing sandbanks!   We’ve hired a stunning pad just by the lake and will be enjoying pilates classes with Amy Swanson, surf lessons avec moi, gormet veggie food, road trips, shopping trips and the odd night out of course…

There’s actually a couple of places left so if the thought of summer being over way too soon is giving you the heebie geebies then email lu@bigfriday.com pronto!  All details are on the website www.bigfriday.com

“Chicks with Sticks” has been going strong in 2010 with the Art Rumble and the Surf Off, which ended up being simply a Man Off!  We raised about £400 for Surfers Against Sewage, gave away some amazing prizes (huge thanks to Surf Maroc and Big Friday for the holidays), donned our fave 80s outfits and danced the night away.  Check out the blog and website for more info!

Finally, I just returned from an incredible secret mission with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Brigitt Bardot Foundation, representing Chicks with Sticks and Surfers 4 Cetaceans.  I joined an unmarked vessel, an international crew, which included S4C’s Howie Cooke and travelled around the Faroe Islands in a bid to protect the pilot whales that inhabit the area.

It was an incredible experience and a true eye opener.  Check out the news on www.s4cglobal.org www.seashepherd.org and stay tuned for more details on the Faroes campaign.

Time for me to get some waves! I’m joining Big Friday’s cycle-surf tour of South West France tomorrow, as head of surf, and frankly I couldn’t think of anything better after 3 weeks with no surf and no sun!!

Enjoy September ladies!