The surf community has lost one of its great pioneers this month with the passing of Woody Brown. At 96 years young, he lived a very rich life leaving behind 10 grand children and 19 great grand children. He will be remembered as one of the first big wave surfers and innovators in both sailing and flight. His enthusiasm embodied everything beautiful about life and his legendary stories of surviving massive Waimea when his buddy Dickie wasn’t as lucky will be forever branded in my memory.

His interview in Liquid Stage was what first got me excited to learn more about the life and times of this interesting man. The second you heard him speak your spirits were instantly uplifted to his level. The film is a documentary featuring many legends like Greg Noll, Rabbit Kekai and Rell Sunn, but Woody’s stories are one of the highlights for me.

For more information on the life of Woody Brown:

SurfersVillage.com

LegendarySurfers.com

Come ride the waves, the surf is high, and hear the song the surfers cry. Slide out on the shoulder and finish the ride, Your heart’s on fire, your soul’s filled with pride. Taste the salt, the stinging spray. Know the price a surfer must pay.
– Woody Brown

On my only surf surfari in the U.K., my brother and I traveled 3 hours to chase a swell that was forecasted to be pretty decent. We meandered through country roads until we came upon a town on the North Sea and were met with this.

Supposedly missed the swell by a few hours. Our friend in Amsterdam sent us photos of it that same day and it was looking well overhead. We ended up with a few pints and a smile anyway.

The islands nestled off in the North Atlantic have always had a special allure to me. I spent my first year of life in Scotland and Ireland and then again returned to Ireland when I was 12 for a brief visit. My dad always glowed when he spoke of the people and how they were the kindest people you would ever find. He commented on their rosy cheeks and said you could see the warmth in their eyes.

Somewhere locked in my early consciousness there is the romance of rolling green hills, rocky coasts, fresh air, and the sweet taste of Guinness on my gums. Helped me out a lot when I was teething.

This curiosity was stoked further when my brother and sister moved to London several years ago and I began meeting surfers from the U.K. and Ireland and hearing about the adventures of searching for waves in these cold locales. Hearing of surf trips to the Hebrides and seeing photos of some of the big swells to hit Ireland, Scotland, and Cornwall have certainly piqued my interest in recent years.

One of these places has been brought to my attention recently by a friend that I met while living in Taiwan. We would travel down the coast together and score waves wherever we could. He recently went home to catch up with family and a few waves in a place he calls home. Somewhere near the North Cornwall/North Devon border is where you will find a rugged stretch of coastline that is home to a few rugged waveriders.

You can easily spend years surfing your familiar breaks and missing out on the sense of adventure that comes with the unknown.

The anticipation of the incoming weather, the numerous translations that can arise from the charts, the tides being a major factor…especially in this part of the world all amount to a feeling of the unexpected. In this chart it is pretty clear that it will be going off just about everywhere in the region…but you know what I mean.

You could travel for hours, driving down treacherous roads, hiking across fields, and doing anything you need to do to get a slice of surf paradise for just you and your best mates.

It may require a bit of ingenuity and luck, but with the right information you will be off to a good start.

As my friend and one of the locals, Mike Heard, has put it to me, ‘it’s a very remote, rugged place that can change in seconds due to the never ending stream of weather systems that roll in off the Atlantic! Not easy to find great waves there.

Huge swings in tides (5-7m) narrow country lanes without sign posts, often cold, but seek and you might just find. And if all else fails, there is always the pubs.’

Found this great clip of the Eisbach on YouSurfTubes.com

I surfed this wave way back when and it was pretty darn tricky…these guys are busting airs, 360’s, alley oops…dang. I was lucky to get one turn off. You can check out my feable attempt here.  I was the guy without a wetsuit in late October…yeah it was cold.

Da Cat to Mo Walker. Above is a shot of Miki at a ripe old age charging J-Bay from the movie Litmus. I’m sure most of you have seen the film by Andrew Kidman and Jon Frank. It is one of my favorite surf films and features a great bit on Miki. I found a trailer for those of you who haven’t seen it. Buy the film, it’s a classic. Click here.

Here is another excerpt from ‘All for a Few Perfect Waves’ from Harper Collins.

Miki’s friend, Allan Carter, said, “I once took Miki to Lyford Cay, in the Bahamas, to a private club belonging to a Canadian tycoon, E.P. “Eddie” Taylor. Next door to us was Stavros Nicharos, a Greek shipping owner; on the other side, down the road, was Bill Paley, from CBS. Bill had the junkiest shack down there. The house where I used to stay was called Villa Capricorn. It had a half-mile of private beach. When the Queen and Prince Philip came, that’s where they stayed.

“Miki, David Frost, Lord Henry Montgomery – who was my best friend in England – and I were playing Monopoly and I got a phone call from Los Angeles. I was winning and Miki was losing; Henry and David watched, bemused. Miki didn’t like to lose. When I came back after my phone call, half my deeds were missing and all my money under the side of the board. If Miki had to cut the corners to win, he’d do it.

“Lord Henry Montgomery had brought David Frost over because David was doing his show in London and New York at the time, and British Airways was on strike. We had dinner and a couple really good bottles of Pouilly fuisse. Then David Frost and Miki and I sat around until about 2:30 in the morning, talking about jets.” “Later,” said Marcia McMartin, “Allan told me later that Miki had brought out his bag of jewels and showed them to David Frost. Afterward, when Miki was out of earshot, Frost said to Allan, ‘Is your friend a jewel thief?’”

Sunny Garcia talks about his life in this upcoming episode for Podsurf.tv. Check the trailer here. Have you guys been subscribing to the episodes? Some great stuff and more on the way.