Jersey Trip Report
This is the continuation of the France Trip Report…
Day 18 – May 17, 2009
(above) Whatever day this is, it’s the day we leave France and ferry over to “old” Jersey…One of the islands in the English Channel…Kind of independent of England in a similar way that an island like Barbados is…
(above) A high speed car/truck carrying catamaran is our way to get there…
(above) Just outside of the French harbor…Lot’s of navigation hazards that might end you day of pleasure…
(above) The English Channel…Bigger in feel than a map view might suggest…
(above) This boat has got some serious power…
(above) Messing around with a double exposure…
(above) A panorama shot of the Jersey harbor front…Much bigger in life than what this picture represents…
(above) Waiting at the ferry terminal for our soon to be friend, Buter, to arrive…
(above) Right on time, Mr. Little Green Rock shows up in his classic VW bus…
(above) We got a nice first look at the west side of the island (more later)…
(above) Then we went and had the traditional Jersey breakfast…We are not in France any more…
(above) Just a couple of gypsies…
(above) We went to Buter’s home and he gave me a look at a few of his past and present projects…More later…
(above) Ann and Oliver, much like Uma Thurman and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, get ready to get down…
(above) The music is cued, the needle drops and the groove is on…
(above) Ann: “I want that trophy”…
(above) Ollie: “ We won, we won…!!!...”
(above) Debbie, Buter’s better half, is getting into sculpting…Her first serious piece, done last week…Meanwhile Ms. Librarian of Da Future, hones her connecting with a five year old skills…
(above) Savannah gets in on the story time action…
(above) Puppy is out and Ollie lays on some love…
(above) Time to walk the planks…Buter makes these totally bitchen boards…Lays up the bamboo with carbon fiber and vacuum bags ‘em…Seismic trucks tell me all I need to know…Buter understands the long board.
(above) After a few hours at the house we head down near the Channel and have some pizza while a downpour obscures the glass…
(above)After eating we head off to our hotel and see this classic… Note license plate ‘J1’…’J” is for Jersey and ‘1’ is for being the first registered car on the island…The Governor here has ‘J4’…The value of the license plate is more than many of the homes here and this is a very, very, very (yeah, that much) affluent area…
(above) Our hotel is overlooking the harbor with it’s third highest in the world tides…Behind the harbor is a gorgeous fine sand beach…More on that later too…Our third floor room has this view…Yeah, another one of these places…
Day 19 – May 18, 2009
(above) A wide open morning view is reality of our hotel room…
(above) In business for a long time…
(above) Look for the hanging laundry and you’ll find us…
(above) Breakfast include with the stay…
(above) France was carbos, here it’s protein-a-plenty…
(above) Sunglass reflected view from our table…
(above) Following the fueling, while waiting for Buter, I wandered the waterfront…
(above) As I mentioned yesterday, there are some radical tides here…
(above) They design the boats here with consideration to having to stand dry…
(above) Over the breakwater wall…Nice day…
(above) Extra small boats used to get to the bigger boats…
(above) Jersey has it’s own pace…Horses, bicycles, mopeds, Aston Martins, Rolls Royce’s…It’s all valid…
(above) Buter arrives and we plan out the week leading up to the workshop…The wood we need for the top and bottoms won’t be ready until tomorrow…That gives us a free day, and that sounds great to me…
(above) Moved to the top of the list is now: Check The Surf…
(above) That flag and the supporting base are interesting, but indicators the kiteboarders will be the only ones in the water having fun on the waves…
(above) Nice day, no surf…
(above) Cruise around on the little green rock…Yeah on this side of the road again…
(above) We head to The Buter Estate, load the car with available family members and head out for a hike…
(above) Nice place…
(above) After our walk and some conversation time back at the house, I went back to the hotel and wandered around a bit more…In the distance sis some castle kind of thing…
(above) The tide came in and now on it’s way out….Way out…
(above) Skiffs parked like bumper cars…
(above) Whatever that means…
(above) I thought they spoke English here…
(above) One thing for sure, it’s pretty here…
Day20– May 19, 2009
(above) Before falling asleep last night I shot this surreal picture of Ann illuminated by her laptop…”They’re here”…
(above) Today we again had breakfast at our hotel…I’ll spare you the repetitive shots of what breakfast looks like here…
(above) Buter and I crossed the Isle and went to pick up the wood for the deck and bottoms…
(above) Our stuff is the thin stuff on top of the 10”x10” pieces of oak…
(above) For an island lumber yard they have a lot….I was pretty surprised…
(above) Wood loaded up and ready to roll…
(above) Next stop, to check in with Steve who we will be staying with during the days of the workshop…Steve is the first guy to make boards on the Channel Islands…here are a few recent custom boards ready for the water…
(above) Respect…
(above) Steve is having fun with this design…The Platypus…
(above) We went to see where will hold the course…A great facility that you will se much more of..After that we went back to buter’s place and got the wood for the top and bottoms cut to width…
(above) Ann and I went back to our hotel and went for dinner…A little place on a side street the has pub food…
(above) Some classic stuff on the walls…
(above) Looks like a bad day on the blue…
(above) My first burger in over a month…Pretty darn good one too…
(above) After we ate we hit a little food market that has a few special items…Zen food being one of them…
(above) Back in our room, reading a bit and pausing to capture this serene scene, just before sunset…
Day 21– May 20, 2009
(above) First thing today was an interview here…
(above) The control center, or whatever they call it, here on the little green rock…
(above) Emma gets ready to do a sound check…After the volumes were dialed the interview started…She was pretty up to speed on what my thing is…No dopey questions, which from my side of the desk was refreshing…
(above) Mid interview…Everybody smiles when they get to talking about wood boards…Why wouldn’t they…???...The Q&A went on for ten, maybe fifteen minutes…It was recorded and they plan to run segments during their news breaks over the next few days then the whole thing on Saturday…
(above) After the interview, Buter and I went shopping for the rest of the stuff we would need for the workshop, then I had to deal with a major hassle of re-booking our return flight…The scheduled workshop in Plymouth UK, flat out cancelled, and not wanting to spend every penny of profit that we might have from France and Jersey in the good old UK for more than a week, we decided to head home early…Long story short, I mis-communicated our new departure date and spent the better part of the afternoon getting it remedied…Few pictures were shot until dinner with Ann…Sorry about that…It felt like very long day…Tomorrow will be better…
Days 22-23-24– May 21-22-23, 2009
Hi again…It’s been a few days since I put one of these together…Life is doing just fine, I just turned the photo intensity dial down to three…Alright, since I last posted……………………………………..
(above) We spent our last night at the hotel before couch crashing with Buter and Debbie…I caught this twilight pano the evening before we turned in our keys…
(above) While Ann was packing she was putting her hair leg removal device away and accidentally sliced off her finger tip…a real bleeder…This is the day after…
(above) Once somewhat settled at the new place, we went out for a seaside lunch on the Channel…
(above) It is all just so very, very, pleasant, in a proper U.K kind of way…, Here on Jersey , although part of the U.K., they bristle when called British…As much British as Jamaica is...
(above) Promenade sky…
(above) I think this is a few years old…
(above) Parasols and bird preventers…
(above) Waiting for the white, soon to be red tourists…
(above) Mid day, mid week, English Channel…
(above) Surf schools here seem the same as everywhere else in the world…
(above) At another beach, I spied this beach cruiser…Wood board too…
(above) Prime parking spot, eh…
(above) Where else you gonna see an Aston Martin convertible with a waxed deck wood board smudged against the seat…I’ll wait for that answer…
(above) Late afternoon on a seawall…
(above) Yesterday morning…First day of the workshop…
(above) On the road out front, there was an unlimited class cycling time trial race…As much carbon fiber went rolling by as is in a stealth fighter…
(above) Brings back a lot of memories of when I was uber into it..
(above) Every kind of kinky, quirky design as you could imagine went rolling by…
(above) It says Hollow Surfboard Workshop…That chariot (my nemesis) is Buter’s girl…More to that story, in private…
(above) Workshop time…A nature center is the building…The porch is the easiest to keep clean…Taping the deck wood together is the first step…
(above) Inside with its heated space is perfect to do the fiberglass work…
(above) Back outside, the frames get assembled…
(above) The system is really proving to be as easy as I hoped it would be…
(above) The heated space really got the epoxy to set hard…Ready to attach to the frames…
(above) A bit of belt sanding to clean up some unevenness…
(above) Then stick ‘em together…
(above) After the class, I crossed the road and had a surf…I was such a renegade, surfing without registration…
(above) Après surf…
(above) There was a rainbow over my right shoulder when I shot this…
(above) Tied together a few shots to get this pano…
(above) Good day, fun surf, killer sunset…
(above) Like one of those surreal paintings…
(above) Almost over…
(above) Day done…
Day 25– May 24, 2009
(above) Day two of the workshop…First thing is to unclamp and cut away the overhanging deck and bottom skins…Here I am evaluating the remedy necessary to correct a pretty major clamp misalignment yesterday…
(above) While the boys at the back perform surgery to get the planshaspe even, the boys in the front start putting on the layers that will be the rails…
(above) Things are moving along just fine on the porch…
(above) A pretty simple process….
(above) Witness the next step forward in simplifying the process…Attaching the cork and bending plywood with double sided tape…
(above) During the days we have had visitors…These guys brought along a piece of Channel Islands surf history…
(above) This bellyboard was built between WWI and WWII…I call that historic…Of course every board has a story, and it’s fun to hear the owners tell them…
(above) After the dust settled for the day, it was time to cross the street and see what the ocean was offering…
(above) The early evening sun made the beach weeds look pretty cool…
(above) Not much to say about this…
(above) At the seawall , on a Sunday evening…
(above) Out front, it was looking alright…
(above) Definitely alright…
(above) This looks like a pretty good way to rinse the dust off…
(above) A couple hours of these was indeed a good way to clear the dust…
(above) The seawall is a great place to enjoy the end of the day…
(above) Cliché surfer/sunset shot #856…
(above) See you tomorrow…
Day 26– May 25, 2009
(above) Good morning English Channel…
(above) Buter and Ollie in the vwehicle that is both loved and hated…
(above) The swell popped up a bit overnight…But the priority of the day is the final day of the workshop…
(above) A couple guys start foiling a fin…
(above) With the rails all laminated on, it’s rail shaping time…
(above) The guys fully grasp the concept and dust flies…
(above) Buter, gets some solo time on the fish…
(above) We had another visitor with his own piece of history…Jersey built circa 1959…
(above) That is one thick fin…
(above) Back to the rails…
(above) Looking preeettty good….
(above) The three day collaborative board workshop comes to a close…Two boards almost ready to glass…
(above) A surf check shows a holiday crowd…
(above) Getting rides like these…
(above) We had dinner plans so the line-up had one less body in it…
(above) We went to Steve Harewood’s for dinner…Steve is the shaper on Jersey since the 1960’s…The view from this place…
(above) Steve pulled out some old photos of the old days…All Jersey…
(above) Steve in the slot…
(above) It can get pretty good here…
(above) Pretty good indeed…
Days 27-28– May 26-27, 2009
(above) Day after the workshop…Wake up to the light coming through the blinds…Puppy sitting still for a nano-second…
(above) After coffee its surf check time…Looks semi OK here, but the wind is close to gale force onshore…
(above) Run a few errands then its time for lunch…Outdoor café with bird lines…
(above) After lunch this was my greatest ambition for the day…Yeah, I needed this…Consider this day wrapped up…
(above) On our last full day on Jersey we had plans to see more of the island and have lunch with Steve and Pauline Harewood…We drove on some wonderfully bucolic country roads…Postcard stuff..
(above) At the harbors the tide was on its way out…
(above) Row one, dry…Row two, soon…
(above) This is what the north-east side of Jersey looks like on a drizzly day…
(above) A few of these spot the coastline…
(above) Fisherman’s lockers on a wharf…
(above) Time for lunch…Choices, choices…
(above) That’s what my sub-conscious mind was craving…Conscious mind said “resist”…
(above) Safe and sane…Conflict settled…
(above) Our two hour lunch was at the Moorings…
(above) Inside the Moorings was this…What is it…???...
(above) After a nice relaxed meal we were back outside checking out this daily driver…
(above) Classic…
(above) Tide was really pulling out…All the boats are dry…
(above) Along the road, a fortress is accessible to road traffic, for a few hours…
(above) Low tide…Waters edge three miles out…Really…People die when the tide comes back in faster than they can walk/run over the difficult terrain…
(above) After out very pleasant day of conversation, scenery, and good food, we were back at Buter and Debbie’s place…Time for a nap…Two big travel days ahead of us starting tomorrow…
Days 29-30– May 28-29, 2009
(above) Since the last episode of the “Dad and the Kid”, we packed our junk, rode in a car, a few busses and several planes…Ultimately setting foot in Seatac..Yay…
We are now home, very tired (our bodies think its 4am London) and really glad to be back…
I wish I could wrap a nice big bow on this e-mail project, but I’m fine with leaving it at this…Consider the cork back on the bottle till next time…
More later,
Australia and Holland in July/August…
Paul