Finally Boats was shifting back south the next evening with a three footer, and Magic Feet was up and riding after a long break. Toes scored the shoulder across the shallows, with the Silver Surfer tucked into the barreling shit pipe behind. Drop Down slipped off the back, and Wiz got a bit jammed in the tide race and suffered the long wade back with Toes!

A few weeks later and a shock became reality, as the old faithful, Boats, hung up her sands for a while. Wiz and Toes stepped out at Jaws in fading light to face another glassy three foot peak. The choice of suit was a slight cause of concern, for Toes, in the scramble out through nettles and thorns! But the experience was washed down with a few of Grumpy's ales.

Sunday morning, and as he caught the glimpse of a speed camera flash, Toes stepped on the juice to make it to the Skipper's jetty in time for a flight on the magic carpet with Wiz. As it happened times were wrong yet again, and the crew found they made it to Newnham in time to ride a lumpy footer, which doubled up as the channel met another wave cutting across from the east. East of the Rhaetic rocks, the wave hardly reached a foot, and Toes clung on to a bumpy sand hugger, as Wiz cruised the shoulder. E-Land started great at three foot, but rapidly slowed and died. The ride was long all the same upto the top bend. The Whirl had made a right mess of channels that seem to totally prevent any piling of water across the Mudbanks, and at Donny's, Wiz scored a quick bank hugger round the bend. Dagoba, The Bench, Cloudbreak and the Cross all produced bank hugger's which the Wiz scopped up leaving Toes flailing in the water waiting for the Skip. On the journey home some useful debris was acquired, and the borers counted down the seconds to Sabrina's evening call.

Monday morning, it was good to see a few fresh faces back in the river. Standfast, had taken a few days break from his full time surfing job in Barnstaple, and Buffalo was on the prairie and seeking some facial action! But the girls waited above the J&E; with Drop Down, while the summer soldiers, Wiz and Toes' twin brother, marched south to the Point.
{ed. a brief aside...wot is it about the J&E;? well for those of you out there that haven't seen the mighty Severn recently, one moment you may be standing ankle deep on a rocky ledge, then take a step and your upto your chest in a well! This doesn't make for a clean ride over Sabrina's silky flesh!)
Before hopping onto a solid three footer doubling up, Toes and Wiz couldn't help but notice Silver (back from the outer hebrides) somehow floating up the sand on the east bank at the head of the surging tide. No channels there, just sheer sand. Guess that explains the comic book status, not least that as the whole crew gathered on the wave heading for the Red Lung, who should appear hurtling across the sands, but Silver, having now traversed all the way from upper Boats!! The wave was slower along the Square, but the guys eventually reached the Beds, losing snapping Standfast on the way, where Drop's van was waiting, while Silver had the long hike back east! Here are a few snapshots from Standfast's camera...

And if that doesn't tickle your tastebuds, then here are a few thumbnail images taken by Standfast's dad. Click on these ones to enlarge...

Jaws was roaring this morning and with a mirror surface, the wave broke at 4', barrelling midstream as it knocked Toes on the head in his sneak shoulder move! Buffalo, against his usual luck, put another big gouge on the side of his board, quite possibly from a collision with the ocean liner.

As darkness fell, later that night, the summer soldiers were alone again, and in the fading light Toes and Wiz picked up a roaring four footer as the Point doubled up. Across the J&E; they were joined by Drop Down for a long dark surf to the Beds, followed by a somewhat zigzagged hike back through the dense undergrowth of the fields!! At one point Wiz was knocked off in the darkness, only to reappear bank side of Toes a couple of minutes later after a long arduous paddle! Oh, not forgetting Silver Surfer's second sand surf of the day to again join the borers in the channel!

Tuesday morning and with Silver, Buffalo and even Wizard (!) absent through work, the double channel was left to Toes, with Drop Down and Standfast hoping on above J&E.; Sabrina appeared to have finally seen enough shoulder hogging by Twinkle as he was tossed off the wave in the slightly windy chop, near the Red Lung. Drop Down whopped with delight as he rode his first shoulder for a while on up past the Square. As the three borers casually stood around supping coffee, little did they know Jaws was about to go, and the paddle down was a rush, with them only just making the peak in time. It was choppy and lacked its usualy sheeny lustre.

Wednesday and it was more of a case of avoid the camera for those who were meant to be elsewhere. So Toes' twin brother decided to do a wipeout right outside the Lung in front of the camera, only to appear on local news that night!! Wiz and Standfast went on up the Strand until the falling tide made the wave go slack. (Some pics coming soon!) Jaws was a classic four footer, wihout a ripple across its face, and Toes went for the drop in, only to get a slab on the head again and just hung on to ride it out with Standfast carving out the soup on the inside. That was the end of a good session of bores and the guys were well stoked to hear a swell was hitting the coasts and headed west!

The Silver Surfer was also out Wednesday, but did alone on the east side. Taking a risk he scored the first decent display from Boats for several months, although still lacking its peaks. Here is the report from the sandman's own journal....

Boatyards Erupts
This often volatile break was believed to be dormant after a large crater appeared there in the Summer of 2001. A large crowd was present on the chance it would once again show its spectacular power, however only one man dared to venture deep into the brown barrel. THE SILVER SURFER. Overnight the sand bank had rearranged itself into what must be regarded as the optimum form for this wave, indeed the only rider to experience it at first hand considered it to be better than ever before. Conditions were extremely favourable, with dead calm wind and bright sunshine. The bore showed very strong form downstream, but all went flat on the wide section prior to Boats. The wave rider had obviously chosen his take off spot with little margin for error, as the first 6 inch ripple popped up only metres away. For a moment all looked to be on the brink of disaster, as the riders fin stuck deep in the mud and he flopped up and down like a landlocked fish. The wave built very quickly and span out from the bank, and the surfer was soon standing on the shoulder on an exceptionally glassy wave. A consistent 3ft, bigger when the sections built, but what is more, this wave had a vertical wall breaking top to bottom! The wave was genuinely barrelling and the Silver Surfer tucked in tight.

E-Land Does it Again
E-Land showed a repeat performance of the previous day, but this time the surface was pure glass. The bore again showed a weak first wave with a stronger second. Having established an accurate mark the previous day, the silver surfer joined the first wave as soon as was practicable and began his long mellow journey beyond the pub. At the crib the going was very hard with a tide race forming on the sandbank on the inner bend. Using his recently developed sand surfing techniques the rider survived a gruelling ordeal through some gnarly conditions. With the use of the hydrofoil fin he strongly believes a connection could be easily made to the Whirl where the wave quickly reformed.

Cloudbreak Shocker
Deep in the heart of rural Gloucestershire lies the small village of Dagoba. Around lunchtime, a surfer arrived here somewhat out of breath and ran across the fields next to the notorious Yoda's house, where he entered the river. What happened next was to blow the minds of those who experienced it. No sooner had the surfer paddled across when the bore showed around the corner. Very glassy, but only whitewater fringes on the banks to start with. Very quickly the wave built up to nearly 3 ft on the banks with a solid, occasionally spilling wall all the way across. The surfer took off on the open shoulder in a sea wave manouvre, and proceeded to carve out onto the shifting wall. The wave showed great variety for the entire mile, but did not threaten to flatten out on any occasion. It was only upon the reaching the bend that the silver surfer regretted his decision to follow the West Bank, as the wave flattened and overhanging trees obstructed progress. Even after the wave passed by a long series of large and very powerful train waves charged after it.