I feel sick...

Team Gul says "Eat cake and make saturday better"

Introducing Mrs Stocking

Discovered surfing this week?

Wondering how you can keep up your brand new "talent"?

Do what Mrs Stocking does and keep practicing your "pop"......... at home....

Sunshine? Dubtime.

The suns out here today in NoCo. And we've noticed a few of the VW crowd pootling by up Belle Vue.
A little known fact: The word 'pootling' can only and does only ever apply to the driving of a VW camper van. Nothing else is allowed to pootle. Nothing else can pootle. Gul are currently in the process of doing up a rare 1960's double door VW panel van. It has a surfing heritage almost as rich as Guls. You can follow the progress of the van as it undergoes it's rebirth as it has its very own blog - www.gulvwsplitscreenvan.blogspot.com

Wednesday Guest Blog # 5

We promise not to use Emma's face transplant app for some time now.
This weeks blog of the week is the sumptuous Kernow Kalling. It's a bit art, a bit surf, a bit design, a good deal Cornwall and a lot lovely.

www.kernowkalling.blogspot.com

Cai in the sky.....

Cai is a very dedicated manager.
He simply can't help ringing us on the blower or just popping in to GUL Bude even on his day off. We got so used to his turning up, he had to come up with new and exciting ways of surprising us!
Here he is keeping us on our toes with one of his ninja like visits....

We still have know idea how long he was watching?

It's Monday...

...so Tom's naked. We appreciated Emma protecting his modesty when this shot was taken.

Desert Hi-Tops

A Palm Springs entry from our favourite snap blogger in the US, Morgan Maassen. That's Mount San Jacinto you can see in the photo. I took a cable car up the side of that mountain. Second steepest cable car in the world apparently. Warrants a second pair of pants too - spooky stuff.

Below is a photo I took from the top. That's Palm Springs far too far below.

C

Don't get sharked

COME ON everyone!

Make sure you buy a GUL wetsuit and don't get sharked....

Summer Time

Schools out baby! Wes knows it, check him out above! He's skating on down to Gul Bude right now with his pocket money, via the sweet shop, where he plans to OD on cola bottles first, like any other self-respecting 32 year old...

Who doesn't love a spotless boil?

Every day's a school day, Lewis.

Lewis is off with several of the Gul crew this weekend to surf at the Inter Celtic games in Spain. He needed a wetty to compliment those warmer temperatures, so we fitted him out in a Response Short John. Of course as with most things in this life, nothing comes for free and we felt that Lewis is better off learning that from us than some snake-oil salesman down the line. So it was out with the Pledge and duster...

We've got a Bobby Dazzler shiny shop now. Do come and say hello.

The Return of Summer...

...we hope. These shots are from the last couple of days (although not yesterday morning... no-one wants to see pictures of sideways rain in late July.) Look hard behind our little winged friend below - yeah, that's a reeling left-hander...

Mariachi El Bronx

The Bronx are a Rock/Hardcore band out of LA. I only worked this out after a good friend of mine, who was aware of my little love affair with the city, introduced me to their alter-ego, Mariachi El Bronx, and their album 'El Bronx'. It's since become my album of the year. It's my Spotify warm-up, it's my drive home and it's my background of choice when I get friends round for dinner. It makes me light the candles and put the low-wattage 'fiesta' lighting on.

Hope you enjoy it too.

Viva Santa Monica!

Now available...

Now on the shelves at your local Gul Surf Store: Mini-Managers!

Here's Tee showing off the Bude Retro model.

(Full credit to Tee and her Dad here - what a find!)

Sprucing Times

Had a chance to see the new-look Gul website yet? With easy links to Gul's range of surf hardwear, fashion, sailing kit and much more, even Tom (who actually lives in a cave) was able to use it. There's a cracking Gul Apparel testing flick with Mark 'Egor' Harris putting Gul gear through it's paces in many locations, some of which, and I'll be frank here, would set me running to the high hills.

Go have a peek.

Tom, cave-dwelling, yesterday.

Cai Hamilton....

Cai charging at Teahupoo on a small day in his GUL wetsuit a week last Tuesday.

Eliza-pallooza

Less than 2 weeks now until North Cornwalls' fastest growing festival breaks cover. It's set in a lovely little valley somewhere between the quiet land-locked village of Week St Mary and the roaring seas and towering cliffs of Crackington Haven. The very contrasting line up this year consists of, amongst many others, The King Blues and their distinct brand of punk polemic and the increasingly starward-bound Eliza Doolittle, who is currently Number 3 in the Official UK album charts and Number 8 in the singles chart.
I've been to every single one since Leopallooza started 5 years ago. In the slightly less 'legitimate' days, stories would abound of 'incidents'. One involved a hotwired tractor. Another involved a girl stuck in a hole for 6 hours until she was found by a man having a wee-wee. Fortunately, since then the tractors have been removed, portaloos introduced and the holes filled. Strict safety guidelines are now followed to the letter. What it lost in mortal danger it has totally made up for in feelgood factor.
I'm going again this year (I kind of have to, I'm part of the crew...) but I'd recommend it to anyone - young, old(ish), rockers and ravers, surfers and emos. It's a cracking party. Tickets are still available online or from us here at the Bude Gul Store, or from our colleagues in Padstow, Newquay, Truro and Plymouth. £20 a pop.

Mature Shredders and Fondudes.

On initial impressions, you'd (quite understandably) assume that Gul International and The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills had nothing in common. Gul International is, if we do say so ourselves, a distinguished producer and supplier of high quality surfing and sea-faring outfits and trappings, steeped in a fine regional heritage. The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills is most obviously famed for it's selection of hundreds of cheeses. However, it also stocks and peddles such epicurean delights as Austrian Pumpkin Seed Oil, French Butters and, most notably, Golden Imperial Osetra Caviar. And who doesn't like a spot of that on their chips.
What, I hear you ask, could these two fine pillars of surfwear and cheese possibly have in common? Well, asides from having high quality staff who know what they're talking about, and supplying very distinguished clientele (Gul: The Olympic Sailing Team. Cheese Shop: Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore...probably) both were founded in the grand year of 1967.
Pondering what else occurred in this year? Well, The Beatles released 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'; Will Ferrell was born and Sesame Street was broadcast for the first time.

For us, though, it's all about surf and cheese.

So here's to you, our compadres in the cheese shop: 1967 was obviously a vintage year. Crack open a wheel of your finest smelly one, and lets celebrate. Tom's got the Ryvita.

Tee spoon

We're saying nothing.

Wednesday Guest Blog # 3

I think I've forgotten Guest Blog for 2 Wedenesdays in a row now. So could you possibly do me two favours? Firstly, forgive me for overlooking last Wednesdays Guest Blog. Secondly, please ignore the fact it's now Thursday.
There.
Perfect.
Todays Guest Blog is quite apt as the band are set to play Newquay this Friday (The Koola Bar - Tickets £6 each) and their debut album was released last Monday. The blog is not updated quite so often as their Twitter is but still worth keeping a peeper on. And the album is a Summer treat.

www.stringerbessant.blogspot.com

Going with the Flo

Team Gul are no amateurs. We know exactly how to throw dignity to the wind and face-plant ourselves into jets of water, and we're prepared to teach THE WORLD...

Loco and Meg

Loco and Meg are my dogs.

I think they love and hate me in equal measures......

Meet Sian

Sian is our work experience ferret. She's been invaluable here in Bude. So far, she's managed to get very acquainted with the hoover and the Pledge. Every now and then we teach her a nugget of learned wisdom that also involves a little more responsibility, an example being exactly how long to leave a teabag in hot water for the optimum taste experience. And from this fortnight she will also glean a range of valuable lessons concerning life in the workplace. Biscuit arranging being one of them.

Welcome, Sian.

The Plastiki

You've probably heard about that big mass of plastic that sits, circling gently, out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, right? It's also called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. But I don't really like that moniker - even though it's a reference to the enormous size of it, I think using the word 'Great' is kind of wrong. Gives it a positive twist, whereas it's really anything but. It's actually tonnes of tiny plastic particles (scientists believe up to 100 million tonnes) broken up and worn down from the plastic that's found its way into the sea. Not so great, really.

I read this article yesterday and although I was already aware of the patch, I didn't realise it was quite so big as it is. Scary stuff. But it got me following the progress of the Plastiki, a vessel that's floated by 12,500 plastic bottles in its hulls, and the environmental activists aboard, as it sails off on it's final leg toward Australia. The sea is so often my playground, and I'm aware of the amount of rubbish that washes up at my local beach - that's bad enough, but the fact that it's entering our food chain, steadily filling our major Oceans, and the awareness that practically every plastic bottle ever made is, in some form or another, still plastic and still out there really spooks me. But people like Mr de Rothschild make me happier. A project like the Plastiki is just one of many raising awareness of this issue and others, such as the crippling over-fishing of our Seas. So there is the odd positive twist and hopefully there'll be many more.

"You gotta come back with me"

We want to go back in time and collect all the old Gul wetsuits and apparel from yesteryear, so we decided we needed a time machine. But after extensive efforts involving toilet rolls, sticky back plastic and pipe cleaner we have been unable to make a Flux Capacitor.... plus Cai's car wouldn't reach 88mph anyhow...



So it's up to you.....

We want old retro GUL wetsuits, clothes, hats stickers, posters or anything you think is appropriate for our vintage wall in the shop.

Help us go back to the future, it's your density. I mean... your destiny.....

Birthday Update

Emma bought me a cake.

She gets to come to my birthday party.

Boardzillas

We let some new Gul boards loose on the shop floor.

Check dem.

Happy Birthday to ME.

It's my birthday today. I'm going to tell you I'm a spritely 29 but I'll also let you know that I just lied.

I'm planning on having some friends over later for jelly and ice cream, and of course they'll bring me presents in abundance. They know very well from past experience that I'll be with-holding jelly and ice cream privileges until they hand something over anyway.

Size does count.

And cash is fine, there's plenty of stuff I want.

As for attention, I'm expecting pretty much all of it from everyone today. And, although I'm not the type of person to have a big screaming paddy and throw cake at the wall, I'd certainly say I'm capable of it if I don't feel I'm getting everyones full consideration.

I'm in the shop all day and have plenty of room in my big car so feel free to drop gifts and cards in here. If I'm out to lunch, just come back later. Big presents are far too tempting to Emma.

Good.

Cai

Corduroy Pillows.....

They're making all the headlines...........

Woohoo...

... or is it?!

Gul Bude are pleased to announce the safe arrival of a brand new range of babies (babies to us, that is... surfboards to the layman).

We LOVE them, who wouldn't - but we have no idea where they are going to go just at this moment in time.



However, I'm sure this will be all resolved sometime tomorrow (Tom's in and can't wait to play with the new toys) so pop along and have a look.

Much love from Rach and Em

Rolling Rat

Forgive my naivety, but up until a few days ago I had no idea what 'ratting' a car meant. In fact, I'd never even come across the term.
Truth is, cars and I have had a fairly disastrous relationship. I promise you I'm not lying when I tell you I've been in no less that 14 write-offs (none, I may honestly add, have been as a result of any fault of mine!) Luckily, the worst affliction I've come away with is severe bruising (and a distinct loss of friends who'll risk sitting in a car with me - there seems to be a concensus that I've had some kind of gypsy curse placed on me down the line.)
So I'm either very lucky or phenomenally unlucky, depending on your point-of-view.
Suffice to say, I now see cars as simply a way to get from A to (fingers crossed) B and have relatively little interest in them beyond that (except perhaps the quality of the fitted airbags.)
However, 'ratting' of the car is something I quite like the sound of. To intentionally devalue a vehicle by creating rust or plastering it with stickers sounds like something I'd pretty much be a natural at. By all means, loan me your car, I'll show you.
We had some customers in recently who told us about their friend Lee, who had ratted up his car and done all manner of wonderful things to it. They took a sticker and we asked for some pictures in return. Here's what we received....
Cai

Dawnys make you sleepy...

To combat the harsh reality I have now had 5 cups of coffee.... And I don't plan on stoping there! Oh no, no sireee, no I don't, feel great, yeah great, super... Not tired now, no, Wide awa....... zzzzz

Ameri car na

Following on from Cai's Yankee friendly blog yesterday I thought these pictures of American custom cars I took at the Surf Coast Cruisers 4th July show would be right up his boulevard.

Owning an American automobile is something I have dreamed of since I was a small child and most of these dreams stem from watching imported 80's TV shows which had a strong tradition of featuring cars as stars.

When I finally convinced my wife to let me get one using the guise "it's a van, great for an expanding family" I thought I would realise all my visions of cruising long highways, massive jumps over barns, long car chases, shooting guns out the windows... you know the score...
In reality ownership is expensive, slightly awkward come service time, even more expensive come "fill her up" time and you have to sit on the wrong side. Then when you get to these shows it's funny how "un-American" people look when trying to look American. A cool, 'Marlboro-Man' style gait quickly becomes a cornfed clodhopper waddle.


But I still love it and wouldn't change it, plus the A-team theme tune pretty much plays on constant loop in my head every time I "GET IN THE VAN"...

...the downside is, I'm constantly fighting the urge to embroider a Confederate flag on my ill-fitting denim waist coat and call any policeman who crosses my path 'Smokey'.

Tom