General

Torbay Surfing wishes everyone a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

This year we have two worthy events back to back: local Preston Skimboard Festival '09 (from Sandskater & The Boathouse) and not so local Newquay Boardmasters Surf Skate & Music Festival '09. These are two awesome events, I recommend going to both if you can!

Relentless Boardmasters Surf Skate & Music Festival '09
Newquay, Fistral Beach, 5th-9th August
for more information click to visit website

Preston Skimboard Festival & Contest '09
Paignton, Preston Sands (Located by Boathouse Bar & Grill), 15th & 16th August
for more information click to visit Sandskater or The Boathouse

Due to the high demand of email questions regarding where people can learn to surf, kitesurf etc, I have created a new section dedicated to listing local schools and watersport courses in the Torbay and nearby area. There are only three schools at present, but I am hoping to add more as they come in.

Click here to see available courses

Slightly off-topic, I was walking on Torquay harbour when I noticed a yacht, at extreme low tide, in difficulty on the rocks at Torre Abbey Sands. Several boats came to help the struggling vessel and attempted to rock it free. As the tide came in, it managed to release itself and limp home into the nearby harbour. Perhaps there should be a warning flag on these rocks as they are dangerous!

Check out the pictures here

I have added three new North Devon webcams; Croyde Bay, Saunton Beach and Woolacombe Beach. If you would like to see any more webcams put up on Torbay Surfing, please don't hesitate to drop us an email.

J.T. has informed me that the is a water sports shop on the Prince William Quay situated at Brixham Marina (near the lifeboat station) that have lots of great offers (low offers) on loads of stuff e.g. wakeboards, ropes, wetsuits, impact vests, clothes and more. It is well worth a visit. There's only a few days left so best to check it out before the sale ends!

Torbay Surfing has added a new video category to the Videos section called "Nick's Picks". These are non-local videos relating to watersports that Nick has filtered out across various sites for your entertainment....hence the title Nick's Picks!

He is kicking off with Dynamite Surfing & Alliance UK Grinch Video. Stay tuned over the next few weeks for Nick's next Pick!

Torbay Surfing was proud to provide some of our gallery pictures to the English Riviera Energise programme and website. Energise aims to give locals and visitors information about various activities in the area including dry land and water sport activities. Click here to have a look at their website. Or if you are near an information centre, please pick one up.

Unfortunately, during upgrading the website to the latest version, I had to lose the previous forum script and replace it with a new one. This meant we lost all the topics from the last one. However, the new one in my opinion is better than the last, so hopefully you wont mind . Obviously the new forum is in testing phase, so please report any problems.

As well as a new forum, i've installed a new WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor. You will notice this when posting comments or forum topics/replies.

The petition against parking meters on Paignton Beach has now closed. Thankyou to the 180 or so people that signed!