secret spot

16th November 2018 Blog by Scarborough Surf School

Carl’s O’Neill Psycho 6/4 Review

Welcome to my next review, I hope you read my thoughts on my last review of the Fire-wire Cymatic if you did not see it then check it out on this Blog.

Right let’s get started, the suit I have been wearing for a year now is the O’Neill 6/4 Hooded Psycho-Tech, I am not going to list all the features apart from the essentials which are stitched, glued and liquid seams through-out, and the use O’Neill’s exclusive Techno-Butter Neoprene in all panels.

I would consider myself a heavy user of wet-suits, I surf pretty much every-time there is a swell add that normal usage to delivering Surfing, Paddle-Boarding and Coasteering sessions it’s safe to say my kit gets a good thrashing! Yes, in Summer I Surf in a 4/3 but at work I mostly use a winter suit as you will never be too warm coaching all day in the North Sea!

As you can imagine I have had heaps of winter suits over the past 20 years surfing the Yorkshire coast so what attracted me to this suit? Well first of all it feels extremely light and Flexible for a 6mm Suit, trying the suit on it feels more like a 5mm suit, there is virtually no restriction around the shoulders and back and zero pressure on the neck when the hood is pulled on.

As always, the fit is the most essential part of choosing a suit, I am a standard size Medium Tall which fits perfectly, O’Neill cover all sizes including Small Tall and Large Small which are sometimes harder to come by.

Let me elaborate on the neck area, I have been suffering neck pain for some time which has been diagnosed as a form of Arthritis in my spine, so any suit which puts any kind of compression on my neck is a big NO, this suit is so Flexible around the shoulders and neck that I cannot feel any pressure, anyone in a similar situation should consider this when choosing a hooded wet-suit.

How was the winter of 2018 for you? I would say it was pretty harsh! I will hit the Surf no matter what the temperatures and I have had no problem with being too cold in this suit, yes if you stay in too long you will get cold but if you are sensible about it, make sure your kit is dry before you go in and just do an active 1.5hrs and get out you will have no problem., I combine the suit with 7mm Psycho-Tech boots which so far have been excellent.

If you want to stay in for long periods in the worst conditions there are warmer suits out there but they have nowhere near the flexibility and comfort of this one, I know what I prefer!

O’Neill provide a 12 Month Warranty if you need it, after a Year of use my suit has no signs of wear at all, just rinse it out and hang it up correctly and you will have no problems.

Finally, is it value for money? Well at £330 I am not even going to answer that, yes, I do get a good deal working in the industry but I would not hesitate in paying this price in fact I am buying a 5/4 version to use in-between seasons!

If you are looking for a performance winter suit which won’t break the bank then this could well be the suit for you….

10th November 2018 Blog by Scarborough Surf School

Gloves, Mitts or Claws?

Winter is well and truly upon us! As the water temperature drops gloves are a must for cold water surfers. We all want to get the most enjoyment out of our surf sessions and stay warmer in the water for longer. There’s nothing worse than a freezing cold case of claw hand and ending a session early resembling something from dawn of the dead. If you find yourself in a near hypothermic condition after each surf its probably about time you treat yourself to some decent kit! Luckily for you, we get our fair share of icy waves here on the east coast and have it covered! We have the best range of brands here at Secret spot to help keep you stoked throughout the cold winter months.

Fits like a glove!

It’s important to pick the right glove or mitt for you and get the correct size. They need to ‘fit like a glove’ so to say. Try a few pairs on in store or at least check the brands size guide – if your’re buying them online from us, we are happy to exhange your gloves, so dont worry if your’re unsure! They want to be fairly tight. Gloves that are too big make paddling more difficult and defeat their purpose of warmth.

When it comes to choosing boots and gloves its not worth scrimping. You get what you pay for and you want a brand that uses good quality neoprene and has good seals, so blindstiched, liquid seals or taped, keeping them water tight. Nobody really likes having the extra weight of gloves so pick a trusted brand that delivers lightweight, flexible and durable gloves and do what they say on the tin!

Which thickness?

We have a selection or 3mm, 4mm and 7mm gloves and mitts to choose from. If it’s a lightweight Autumn/early winter glove to take the chill off, go for the 3mm but if you tend to feel the cold or your looking for something for the depths of winter go straight for the 5mm -7mm range. Quality thermal lining makes a big difference too! Fortunately, with the huge expansion of surf technology in the past decade our chosen brands have cracked it when it comes to warmth.

When it comes to choosing boots and gloves its not worth scrimping. You get what you pay for and you want a brand that uses good quality neoprene and has good seals, so blindstiched, liquid seals or taped, keeping them water tight”

Gloves or mitts? It’s a personal preference!

5 Finger glove With the five finger glove ever finger is individually wrapped in neoprene, with thick neoprene this can feel a bit bulky so the lighter 3mm glove may be a better option in this style. On the upside you have a lot more freedom of movement and grip with these gloves.

Mitts Mitts are renowned for being super toasty. All your fingers are tucked up cosily together. Retaining more of your body heat. I would bring out the mitts on those frosty days every time. Obviously with all your fingers wrapped up together it limits freedom of movement. You can’t pick your nose in mitts! But many say that mitts aid a more powerful paddle stroke which Sounds good to me!

Lobster claw The 3-finger mitt could be the perfect balance between mitts and gloves for you! You could argue ‘what’s the point in having one separate potentially chilly finger?’ but it gives you a wider range of movement and grip. Which can make all the difference for simple tasks like locking the car or putting your leash on.

3mm Alder Enzo Glove – £25.99

We love these gloves! They’re super lightweight and comfortable with cosy fast drying fibre fleece lining. If you want stretch and flexibility you will not be disappointed! They feel like a second skin, yet the double lined palms are both durable and grippy. Our best budget buy at only £25.99!

Buy Alder Enzo Glove >>

3/2mm RipCurl Flashbomb – £39.95

You can’t go wrong with the new improved flashbomb neoprene. Which makes them incredibly warm and comfortable. They are 3mm throughout the whole glove and only 2mm on the cuffs making them feel lightweight. The have excellent seams and really stick to your hands. Another blinder by RipCurl!

Buy the Rip Curl Flash Bomb Glove >>

4mm Alder Spirit fast dry mitt – £26.95

The plasmas one of the most popular and mot talked about mitts here on the east coast! This mitt is our top pick of the year yet again and not without good reason. It’s a great budget buy yet holds up against high end contenders Its fast-drying lining makes that second surf of the day more appealing. They’re extremely popular with our local cold-water rippers and are already flying off the shelves!

Buy the 4mm Alder Spirit fast dry mitt >>

5mm Xcel infinity 3 finger mitt – £47.95

Excel are certainly experts when it comes to warmth! Their mitt features 100% ultrastretch neoprene with a tighter weave for less water absorption and durability. The have premium quick dry lining and are certainly popular amongst our locals! They’re a snug and comfortable fit with long cuffs keeping them in place and are Taitex sealed, glued and blindstiched, keeping them water tight. Xcel are one of the most trusted brands on the market for durability and warmth. They tick all the boxes for us!

Buy the 5mm Xcel infinity 3 finger mitt >>

5mm Oneill Psycho tech mitt – £39.95

We love Oneill’s new technobutter neoprene! Its soft on the skin, windproof and incredibly lightweight. The fluid seam welds are durable and comfortable. These are one of the best fitting mitts we’ve tried to date. With oneill’s firewall lining and extra grip on the palms they get top marks from us!

Buy the 5mm Oneill Psychotech Mitt >>

Patagonia R3® Yulex® gloves – £55

These gloves are designed to keep you comfortable in the winter cold. Made with neoprene free 85% Yulex®?natural rubber/ 15% synthetic rubber the meet the rigorous standards for performance, durability, warmth and sustainability. An all round excellent glove! Patagonia promise any damage due to wear and tear with their wetsuit warranty. We think they’re the bee’s knees and love what Patagonia are doing!

Buy the Patagonia R3 Glove >>

Xcel 7mm drylock mitts – £64.95

Guaranteed to keep your precious paddle hands toasty all winter! Xcel have gone above and beyond with this years drylock range. This is the super hero of mitts! The 7mm mitts now feature Celliant technology, which reverts your body heat back to your hands, keeping you on top form in the water. The drylock wrist seals lock water out. They have an awesome contoured 3D fitting design as well as being wind proof and incredibly durable. A must have for surfers in freezing cold temperatures.

Buy the Xcel 7mm drylock mitts >>

We hope this guide has helped you guys choose which is the right glove for you this season! Remember, you are always welcome to head to either of our stores for a chat and some advice – or give us a call on 01723 585585. We are a surf shop run by surfers and are always happy to share our knowledge with you 🙂

Shop for Gloves

7th November 2018 Blog by Scarborough Surf School

Carls Board Reviews, the Firewire Cymatic

Ok people welcome to my first surf board review, over the coming weeks I am going to give you some handy feedback and hints on some of the boards I have been riding and the suits I have been wearing, working in the industry has many perks with the best one being able to get my paws on the latest trick gear to play around with so I think its only fair to share my thoughts with you guys.

My first review will be of my latest sled from the Firewire stable the Cymatic, this is one of the latest creations from super duo Kelly Slater and Daniel Thomson with my particular board being the 5,9”. I am going to spare you a load of tech talk and instead tell you how the board really feels to surf.

As soon as I saw the unveiling of the Cymatic I knew I had to have one, not many boards have that instant love at first sight impact, maybe it was the footage of Mr Slater dissecting Soup-Bowl or maybe it was down to my year long love affair with the magical board the Evo, that I knew the wide nosed bat tailed love child of the Omni and Sci-fi would be a bit special?

Finally the day came and it was there right in front of me and it seemed only fair that I dress the board up in some new fins and leash, I opted for the FCS Accelerator Quad set up in medium which I had tested out earlier this year at Surf Snowdonia, if your planning on getting loose and fast then these are the fins to have, and because every little helps I went all out and added the new FCS Freedom leash, less drag = more speed!

My first session was a bit stressful, there was a lot riding on this board my hopes were very high, and the bar had already been set by the mighty Evo. I had waited for a half decent day for my first session, so I paddled out at 3-4ft Bunkers here at Cayton Bay, a nice hollow fast wave which if my calculations were correct the Cymatic would fly in.
I am 76kg and on my first paddle out the board at 34.3 litres glided across the water very nicely indeed, duck diving the dumping sandbar was a doddle, so far so good, Initial worries about living up to the Evo in the wave catching department were soon forgotten as I paddle with ease into my first wave, and off we go!

“I feel the need…the need for speed”

(Cruise, Top-Gun 1986)

The full volume nose makes take offs nice and stable and as soon as you are up and driving down the line it becomes apparent that this board is very quick, in fact its as quick as the Evo and that’s rocket powered!

Surely this is the board that Maverick would have rode?

Now all this speed is very good but what happens when you want to change direction? Cue the nicest cutback I have done in years! The narrower double bat tail really grips into the wave and very little energy is lost allowing you to hit the foam get back into the pocket to set up your next manoeuvre. The quad set up compliments the board perfectly giving the it that skatey almost out of control feel, I love how the tail releases while coming off the top allowing you to come back down the wave more vertically.

All these characteristics really do help exaggerate each manoeuvre and in turn allow you to perform more critical turns, you will find you can actually surf better which in turn builds confidence, it’s a win win result.
So we have been together Three months now and we are still very happy together, we recently went to Cornwall and scored some hefty 6ft beach breaks in which the Cymatic was a lot happier than me to paddle into! Ive had her out in 2ft onshore slop which she performed very well in which leads me to believe this is a genuine One board quiver and excellent travel board.

I think you get the idea that I like the board now! If you are looking for a high performance yet user friendly stick then you need to check the Cymatic out, don’t be fooled by its hybrid appearance you will never outperform this board, but you will improve and have bags of fun, oh and you can pretend your Slater or even Maverick too :0)

9th October 2018 Blog by Scarborough Surf School

King Of the Point 2019!

King of the Point 2019

King of the point is back! Due to the massive success of last years competition its back in a big way. Last December ‘ King Of The Point ‘ debuted delivering possibly the biggest surf ever contested on the UK’s East coast with conditions of 3 – 4 metres powering over the Scarborough points .

LOCATIONS – The same two locations of Cayton Point and Cloughton Wyke located in the scarborough area will be where the meeting of the clans do battle. A third location is to be considered under Ripcurls ‘ The Search ‘ programme and with over 50 miles of wave rich coastline to search, there are many spots capable of being included in this years ‘ King Of The Point ‘

FORMAT OF EVENT – The format has slightly changed as last year we were swamped with entries. A maximum of 28 surfers will be chosen to compete in hopefully once again huge surf conditions. Entry details are located further down on this blog. As the event has only run once in two years the top placing 4 surfers from last year will gain automatic entry into this years event, these are Tom Wilson, Gabriel Davies, Evan Rogers and Danny Allot.

THE CONTEST OVERVIEW – The contest will be called on when XL clean surf conditions present themselves.The waiting period will run from November 1st 2018 – May 1st 2019. The same traffic light system will again be used to notify competitors the event is on: RED – No | Amber – Maybe | Green – GO King Of The Point could be called on within as little as 24 hours notice. Scotty will be keeping a keen eye on any would be monster low pressure systems this winter and ultimately will make the call. Miniumum size required will be 6 – 8 feet + . If conditions do not meet our criteria during the waiting period the contest will simply not be called on.

COMPETITORS – Secretspot and Ripcurl are wanting 28 competitors and 12 alternates to fill places if someone can not make it on the day. The Event will still run if we do not fill all the 28 places as this is the maximum. Last years legendary event ran with 20 competitors all doing battle over the Scarborough points. Due to tidal restrictions at both breaks it only leaves us with 3 – 4 hours contest action at each location. Competitors will be required to be registered by 7.30 AM on the morning of the event. Heats will take on a format of approx 1 hour, ensuring that every surfer in the event gets to surf twice (one at each location ).

HEAT SCORING AND SPECIFICS

Due to timescales surfers will be scored on their two highest scoring waves at each location and the highest accumlative 4 wave score of the day will be awarded the ‘ King Of The Point ‘ title.
To make this event fun, there are loads of accolades (and some pretty sick prizes) to be won. These will include

1. King Of The Point – Highest scoring accumulative points through the day gets crowned the winner
2. Best wave – The individual best wave ridden throughout the event
3. Best manoeuvre – The best single manoeuvre of the event
4. Best late charging takeoff – Awarded to competitor who truly shows commitment and probably shows psychotic tendancies also.
5. Longest wave – Its not unkwown for surfers to go out of sight at one of the locations.
6. Worst wipeout – We are expecting many so you can win this by default.
7. Golden mile / worst beating – At one location its not uncommon to blow the take off and get washed the entire length of the point.

We are looking to get the whole event videoed and photographed for a future presentation. As this is a charity event, if any would be people are intested in capturing the day please e mail scotty at shop@secretspot.co.uk for more details. We aim to make this a bigger success than last year folks and there will be a large alclcohol fuelled celebration in a scarborough bar somewhere to be announced.

HOW TO ENTER

To be considered for King of Point 2018/19 we just need a photo of you charging at least double overhead surf – the best way to enter is by getting on instagram and tagging us in your photo – @secretspotsurfshop – and using the hashtag #kingofthepoint. We will then message you back to get more info. If you dont use instagram, you can send your entry photo to shop@secretspot.co.uk.
Once we have your image, we will notify the chargers that have made it into this years comp
please note, there is a small entry cost of £20.00 for the chosen few, with all proceeds going to the local RNLI and Surfers Against Sweage.

SELECTION OF CONTESTANTS BY AREA

Scotland – 2 competitors
Cornwall, Wales and SW – 4 competitors
Scarborough and Whitby area – 14 competitors
Saltburn and Clevland area – 4 competitors
Newcastle and North area – 4 competitors

Secretspot, alongside Ripcurl, want to bring together a group of like minded surfers from across the UK. This is as much a gathering of clans as it is a normal run of the mill surf contest.

LET THE BATTLE COMMENCE !!!!

secret spot

Fits like a glove!

Which thickness?

Gloves or mitts? It’s a personal preference!

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