Santa's a grotto

This is Christmas Cai ... the last lap you'd want to sit on...

Don't feel too bad...

If you missed it then shame on you.

But don't worry, there is already talk of the next one! And I'm sure we will be blogging all about the great fun we had soon...

Know your surfer......

The Heavy Local

The Big Wave Hero

The Oxford Weekender

T

Dig it out

Want an idea of some of the paraphernalia we're hoping will make it's way onto tabletops at the surf jumble? Well here you go. I was necessarily going through old boxes of my stuff that was in my Mums attic. She's moving house so I was told in no uncertain terms that if I want my stuff kept out of the local landfill, I'd best take a fast interest in moving it elsewhere. So in an attempt to whittle down my lifes belongings to a manageable few boxes, I was forced to revisit the question of the necessity in keeping stuff I may never use again, sentimental or practical as it may still be/have once been.

And then I came across a trove of old surf goodies, including one of my first surf mags, Wavelength #2 (frustratingly, I did have issue one, but it seems to have gone the way of lots of my old stuff. Mice food.)

A great find, with Gul represented on many pages. It even has a page 3 girl. They truly don't make them like they used to. C

"I'm not lending my stick to no Hodad..."

...you know what, for once, we'll let that rule slide. Respect to the tongue-in-meat-patty-filled-cheek marketing and a colossal burger.

Just how we like it.

www.hodadies.com

Look, it's just really heavy dew, that's all...

It's not been the dryest day Bude has seen this Summer. Having a river run past your shop is a little disconcerting, even at the best of times. Claps of thunder, sticky air... it's a proper Summer storm. Abi swears she saw a mouse float past in a small, paper boat. Just a little note to other mice that may be reading this blog and have delusions of marine grandeur: Paper is a truly silly material to construct an ocean-going vessel from. And also there's no cheese in the sea either. So, mouses, stop trying to be something you're obviously not cut out for.

I digress.

It's Carnival night tonight in Bude. OK, it's no Rio, but we're well up for lobbing some pennies at local eccentrics, despite all the rubbish weather. I'll try and get some shots.

And fear not friends and holiday-makers! The Sun/Summer returns tomorrow, and with it some light winds and a little bit of swell too. I'm up and out for a dawn patrol. You?

The Tangerine Dream

On my morning jaunt to the beach the other day, I happened upon this vee-hickle. There were 2 people asleep inside, and judging by the size of the quiver, I'd guess they'd drifted in from somewhere far out of town. Full respect to anyone who packs more fibre-glass than clothes, food, lawn chairs, windbreaks and waterproofs put together when they go on holiday. It's true that in the corners of car parks along this coast, the real deal lives on. Now if they just had a nice little Gul sticker on the rear bumper...

Guest Blog # 6

Guest blog today is one that's close to our heart. Not only have we at Gul held fashion shoots inside the lush Biomes of the Eden Project, we're also supporting their collaborative project in producing 'Eco-Boards', which you can custom order from any Gul store. And not just that - they even filmed a James Bond film here.
However...
Forgive my diatribe, but, asides from the fact that the truly astonishing world wonder that is the Eden Project was featured in 'Die Another Day', being somewhat of a Bond purist, can I just say that only two other things make that film a smidgen less than an absolute travesty:
1. It was set in Cornwall (As well as the Eden Project, Bond is seen surfing into and running up Harlyn beach.)
2. Halle Berry.
Asides from those couple of pride salvaging points, this film was truly wretched. Kite-Surfing through icebergs anyone? I quote another miffed Bond fan: "Die Another Day makes you long for the days when Roger Moore played 007. And who would ever admit to that?"
Ahem. Anyhoo...
The Eden Project is, quite simply, amazing. And if you haven't already paid it a visit, then that's perfect, as it gets nothing but better and better as time goes on.

www.edenproject.com/blog

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

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...

Toms Daily B..log

Thankfully, we now sell air-fresheners at Gul Bude.

Tea Leaves

My friend Shayne knows more about tea than you do.

So much, in fact, that he's going to bring out a book about it.

Power to you, Shayne!

Big Blue & Gul Pro Surf Academy Day

Tomorrow it's Surf Academy day! We've got Gul sponsored Brit Pros Russ Winter and Mark Harris heading up to Bude to be part of a day of surf tutorials. Come down and watch the fun!

Last minute enquiries: 01288 331764

Feeding - runs in the family.

My staff like a holiday.

It feels like they could give Judith Chalmers a run for her air miles. It's Emmas turn to vacate this time, packing in a small trip before the season really kicks in - she's off to a sunny Greek island whilst the rest of us work twice as hard so that she can frolick on Mediterranean beaches.

We're just a bit jealous - speaking for myself, the furthest I've been in the last 6 months is Bodmin. But none of us here are complaining: Emma can go wherever she likes so long as she keeps inadvertently leaving us weeks worth of food which we plan to eat, in a shameless fit of gluttony, within the next hour.

Thanks Em!

Superdog.

The surf is good today.

We know it.

And Superdog knows it too.

Nana's been feedin'

Emmas' Nan has been a bit over-generous throughout Spring.
Loading Emmas lunchbox up with delightful but artery-offending treats as she does, which eagerly get passed on to myself and Tom, well, as you can probably see, it's done us no good at all...

Hold the soft cheese, we're hitting the treadmill.

The Komornicki Posts #2

Some more shots from our man Nick, on the ground in Utah.

"The new Gul shop, Utah?" - Nick.

The Opulency of Spring

It's been a pretty special weekend.
Whilst we've been running our Spring Sale here in store, which continues today and onward, the weather and surf colluded to bring us the sweetest weekend yet this year. With the ethereal greens bursting from the treetops and hedgerows, the 3-4ft rumbling lefthanders, the simmering sun at sunrise and the evening afterglow - we had it real good.
Here's some shots from the last 72 hours:

Another Komornicki Dispatch tomorrow.

The Komornicki Posts

We know this guy called Nick.

Nick Komornicki.

Nick is a really good friend of the shop here, a spirited surfer, a father to twins and he works on some very big Hollywood movies.

He's currently out filming in Utah (the US State where Jon Bon Jovi filmed the hair-tingling video to his hit tune 'Blaze Of Glory'). We've just received the first of several (we hope) photo dispatches.

So continuing our touch of Americana this week, here's a few shots he took whilst out on the lonely road.

Just don't ask how to pronounce his second name.

"I still can't find the sea, just a lot of sand."