Activism?

It's very frustrating being a surfer in Wales after having that couple of weeks of great surf the last 3 haven't seen anything bigger than 2ft.  But as I'm stuck working in London this week I'm kinda glad because it means I'm not missing anything.

We've been filming On The Push for a year now and the end is in sight. Helen and I have scripted the final couple of days shooting for the end of July and the editing is going to happen through August in time (hopefully!!) for the premier on the 19th September at Porthcawl's Grand Pavilion.

When I interviewed Richard at the C Change Trust he suggested that some times other action is needed to bring important issues to the forefront of peoples minds.  I've never been involved in activism of any sort so wasn't too sure where to start. Also feel a little nervous about using activism as a way of raising the profile of issues. But I'm willing to give it a go.

There's a Climate Change and Heathrow airport expansion protest in London on Saturday which I wanted to go on to experience this kind of activism.

On the Push 08

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Hot, Sunny, Offshore & Pumping Surf and yes I'm still in Wales!

The swell has finally dropped today after over 2 weeks of solid groundswell and mostly favourable winds. My body's crying out for a rest and my bank manager would like me to do some more work.

Yesterday morning Helen and I went down to Llangennith with Pete Jones to film him surfing to go with his interview from last week. It was 2-3ft offshore and we got some lovely shots both in and out of the water so can't wait to see the finished edit. I went for a surf later that afternoon on the push and had a lovely session. The waves were a solid 4ft with light offshores and as nice a Llangennith gets. The water temperature has gone up nicely in the last 2 weeks too so I've lost the boots and might even attempt my summer suit soon.

Although the air temperature over the last few days has been nearly 10 degrees above the average of 16 for this time of year it isn't something that can really be pinned down to global warming as April and May are transition months and often have warm episodes like this. But what is being linked to global warming is the trend for these warm spells to be coming in a little earlier each year and that fact that plants are flowering earlier each year and newborn animals are being born earlier too.

The Welsh Nationals were held over the Bank Holiday weekend and were blessed with good surf and mixed weather. I was ill so didn't make it down until the Monday but in time for my heat and 3ft clean waves in the sunshine. The atmosphere at the comp was great with loads of people hanging out in the sunshine watching the heats. I got knocked out in my heat but it meant I could film the finals. Jo Dennison won the womens for the second year running with Beth Mason coming second, Renee Godfrey third and my friend Breige Laurence coming 4th.  The mens was won by Lloyd Cole from Swansea and Greg Owen from Porthcawl came second.

So all in all it's been a great couple of weeks and the next installment of the film should be up by the end of the week.