Busy Busy Busy!!

Hello people I thought i would give you a little update on the last 3 weeks of my life which has included crashing my car, going to Portugal and getting really ill.

If you can remember about 3 weeks ago we had a night and morning of a full down poor of snow. I had been going to the gym with my friend Beau Bromham every day for  about a week and a half and was really getting involved. As i looked outside it was all white but the roads looked reasonably clear so i started setting of to georgeham it was getting a bit sketchy as i got about half way. I got to the bottom of the hill tried to get up it and failed. I was going to park at the bottom and walk up but thought i would hit it at a bit more speed and i will make it up fine. Anyway to cut a long story short i built up a bit more speed and tried to get a bit of a run up to it. There is a corner to get round as well anyway i took the corner to wide and slid into a curb braking the wishbone on my car and leaving me in the middle of the hill. I went up to the local garage and they pulled me up the hill to the car park, i said thanks then he said do you want a bill or pay by cash FUCKER i guess nothing is free anymore well trust me this will come back round on you thats for sure.

A few days later i went to Portugal on an air camp with Joel Gray from Surfsolutions which started of as a bit of a mission as we got as far as getting on the plain then it got canceled and we had to all get of again. We where flying with easyjet who where amazing and put us up in a hotel for the night all food in. When we finally got to Portugal we got picked up from the guys we where staying with and taken to the accommodation. The whole week was run really well and we got to surf our brains out which was a long time over due for me for sure. We had one of Britain's top freestyle snowboard coach on the trip with us and it was so interesting to see how much extra rotation they can get from there airs just from there different body positions. The waves that we got weren't very good for a normal surf trip but as this trip was just concentrating on airs they where perfect about 3ft and onsure. The weird thing is that before i went on the trip i was thinking i was ruling on my land rate of airs but as you will be able to see on the vid that will be released at the start of the new year i couldn't land a thing it sucked i blame it on the fact that the air sections and just to good for landing airs every time i would go to big and fall. Greg Martin also joined the team on this trip shooting for Wavelength mag and now thats one thing that i thing i am alright at GETTING SHOTS. See with shots you can go as big as you want and as long as you have your feet on your board it will be a shot. Anyway that issue is coming out in March and will be there 200th issue so make sure you buy 2 copies.

To finish off my week in Portugal i got ill on the last day i blame Stu Campbell who had been ill or week with the flu and as i had been sharing a room with him i am holding him 100% responsible. As the week has progressed i have got slowly better and today went to the gym for the first time. I won't lie to you and say i was fighting fit there was defiantly quite allot of cough brakes and i was out of breath within the first 2 mins on the cycle machine but it was a good change from sitting on the sofa playing XBox, obviously we did that after ha but thats just standard of any normal day.

If you have read this you have obviously read it i hope it wasn't to boring and i will update again as soon as i can.

I this is a link to an interview that i did in this weeks Journal http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/surfing/Baker-takes-air-training-camp/article-3007847-detail/article.html
Heres a link to the trailer of the Air Camp Vid http://vimeo.com/17724669

Still out of the sea

I have been out of the sea for a month now and it hasn't been as bad as i thought.I have been to see Annie Mac in Bristol witch i would recommend to anyone, worked a bit with my mum gardening, been to the gym 6 days a week and the best out the sea activity Xbox. I am going to Portugal on the 4th of December for an air trip with joel Gray from surfsolutions so hopefully my knee will be strong enough to do a couple of chop hops.  Anyway even though i have been out the sea here is a bit of coverage i have recently got in the mags just a shame it came after my recent Analog sponsorship.

Newcastle

I recently went up to the Newcastle in the North East for a BPSA comp with Stuart Campbell and Tom Rossiter  from Distorted surf. It was such a good trip scoring really good waves around the comp
days, I had a shocker in the comp but heres a couple of shot from my semi final heat when my fin ripped a hole in my wetsuit.

Step by step board sprays

Here are some new boards that i got of JP. I was going to keep them blank but as we had a few flat days i decided to give them a bit of color.

I have chosen to only spray one quarter of both of these boards as i think to much colour can be over powering but still have a good effect on a blank board.

Ingredients

Masking tape

Car spray

Newspaper

Black permanent marker

Car Lacquer

Step by Step on how to spray a board:

1. Design on a piece of A4 paper what sort of design you want, it helps if you colour them in so you can see what colours look good and where.
2. Use masking tape and newspaper to cover all of the bits that you don't want to be sprayed. Making sure the masking tape is pressed down so that the paint doesn't seep under it, also lay newspaper under it so no paint goes on the floor. (like the time when i sprayed my mums decking! oops. sorry mum!)Make sure that the rails are covered as you don't want any leaking onto them either.
3. Spray about 20 cm away from the board using a sweeping motion to get an even spray.
4. Wait till the paint is completely dry before pealing of as it will ruin the pray.
5. When using 2 or more colours, cover the pieces that you have previously sprayed to avoid the colours mixing. Trying not to mask the already sprayed pieces as it can peel some off.
6. Once that is dry you can peel the rest of the masking tape off. you should now have neat and tidy lines. 
7. Get a ruler and a black permanent marker and neatly go around all of the edges to make them stand out and to look more defined.
8. After this you are ready to lacquer. Hold the can about 30 cm away and lightly spray. You will probably need 2-3 coats. 

I would recommend using an old board to spray first as it can take a few to get them right.

Remember it is important to think about your deck grip when choosing your colours as it looks a lot better if they are colour co-ordinated.

I personally think that sprayed boards look a lot better in the winter especially because it can make a dark and gloomy photo look nice.

The reasons for me spraying my boards.

It is very important to me to have matching wetsuits and boards because as my media coverage expands it is an easy way of putting a stamp on my surfing and feel that colours are a good way of showing this. The perfect example is Kelly Slater. now when ever i see a white wetsuit it reminds me of him and ultimately his main sponsor quicksilver. I believe its one thing being given cloths, boards, and wetsuits etc but how you use them to advertise the company using them is essential, and thats how i intend to use the equipment and gear given from my current sponsors.

Funniest Vid ever

Before you get in my taxi please punch me in the face.

Went to Brisol this weekend and i was having a really fun night as it was one of my friends birthdays. The city is a weird place, to start one of our friend wasn't allowed in the casino because he tried chatting up the woman behind the counter and apparently he was to drunk.  After i had had enough of watching my mates loose all there money me and a friend went to a uni club spent all our money on trying to get more drunk then got kicked out for being to drunk, even though we were watching people crawl past us on the floor ha.
We where over it by this point and went to get a cab. We had found one and went to get in it then over comes some mixed race large man and starts saying that we have been abusing his girlfriend  after being slapped by her him and 5 of his mates repeatedly hit me in the face and managed to connect on a few and thats how I ended up with this shiner and a chipped tooth SOOOOOOOO HAPPPY!!!!!

Analog

I have just become part of the Analog team but it seems more like a little family if I'm honest. I when up to London with Andrew Cotton and tested out some of there board short range at the flow rider. When we first arrived me and Cotty saw two of the instructors riding on it and thought it looked so easy and we where going to take to it strait away. Anyway the next day when we arrived and saw everyone trying to stand up and then we new that it was going to be harder than the instructors made it look. I sat around for a bit watching everyone fall off while i was eating doughnuts then had a go, starting of on the body board and then trying to stand. I really couldn't get to grips with it and i don't think that i stood up for more than 4 secs witch was so frustrating. By the end I just admitted defeat and just messed around on a body board trying to jump in off the side and do tandem runs with the other guys. The flow rider was one of the most frustrating things i have ever done but i would recommend it to anyone who is determined enough to stick with it like Cotty as by the end he was ripping and doing lay backs and shit. As i was so bad on the flow rider i didn't get any shot but here is a few from the weekend at Croyde.

XPY Pro Junior

Here's a few shots from a comp that i was fortunate to win the other week, luckily there was a grand in it for me. Thanks to Jack Clinton for organizing it.

Croyde

Hey here is a few clips that our good friend and good surfer Beau took while he was injured.

These few days have been a nightmare with waves it was meant to be 6ft and light off shore and as you will be able to see from the footage it definitely wasn't that.

But anyway we made the most off a bad situation so hope you enjoy.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog which is going to let you know what i've been up to where i have been traveling plus any random stuff that i find on the internet. This is a video that i had made from last years indonesia trip.

Hope you enjoy.