Positive outlook...

Another sunny day, no surf so got loads done! Had a good day chasing up our stockists, some good re-orders and people sounding a lot more positive than the media would like us to be with all the doom and gloom.

Went to Rock for a meeting with Sharps Brewery, they seemed pretty keen on taking the Ollypops to sell in their shop, so fingers crossed on that one. Stocked up the Beachhouse shop too, who set up an impressive looking display of Tinypops and kids hoodies.

Spammed!

Got into the office early today, cracking morning, it really feels like we've finally turned the corner weather wise.

Had a productive morning until some annoying spammer decided to email my entire address book with a simple message saying 'Hi there'! I had countless replies, many simply saying 'hello', and others replying somewhat bemused. Funnily enough it's been quite handy though, as many of those spammed are customers who replied with some nice testimonials about the towels and hoodies they've bought!

Managed to squeeze in a decent surf in the sunshine. Living 2 miles from the beach it's great when my local break is firing as it was today.

Less than 2 weeks to go until the Entrepreneurs Bootcamp which I'm now confirmed on. Its basically a 5 day immersion program, followed by 12 months mentoring designed to grow and nurture young entrepreneurs. There are 12 people on the program, each have to be sponsored financially by a business, in my case we've managed to secure Sun Micro systems as my sponsor.

Sponsorship wise I've also managed to secure Sharps Brewery who will very kindly provide free beer for our summer events. So far we'll have the Ollypop stand at The Cornwall Show, Brighton Paddle Round the Pier, Dartmouth Regatta and White Air - so if you fancy a free pint of Doom Bar while perusing the goods, make a note to come and see us!

My first ever blog post!

(Above) Sharky Oz - this is where my shark was looming!

(Above) Bali Fun - checking the surf at Serangan

Well this is my first ever post so it is a momentous occasion!

After a 5 week break in Oz and Bali, life is well and truly back to normal at Ollypop HQ. We're busy stocking the shops up in time for what is touted to be a busy summer down here.

Oz & Bali was great, surf in Oz wasn't epic but I did have a few good days surfing up near Forster. Sadly one of the best sessions was cut short courtesy of the men in grey suits. I was sat on my board in the lineup about 20o metres out when I spotted a dorsal fin about 10-15 metres away. I watched it, hoping to see it jump around like a playful dolphin, but to my horror it did the slow sinking thing as it headed towards us. I spun around and noticed all the other surfers paddling swiftly in, bunching up as one large group, and I swiftly joined them for the 5 minute paddle to safety. It's mad what goes through your head in that 5 minutes of panic paddling. Most of the time you find yourself looking round at the other surfers praying it'll be them and not you!

Funnily enough there was a pic in the paper the next day of a 3m Great White, taken on the same morning at the next beach round from where I was, so I'm claiming that as my shark!

While in Oz, Ollypop online sales were manic back home thanks to a repeat of our Dragons Den - Where Are They Now? episode. Kipper's Knickers hoodies and tees were the top sellers and we even ran out of stock on some lines. Apologies to those who received muddled orders, my old man was on the case and got a little flustered!

After Oz came Bali which was great. One week of pure surfing, guided by Wailin, fellow Surfs Up instructor.

And then back to Blighty in the snow, only to break down an hr after getting off the long haul flight from Bali. Not fun, wife and child not ecstatic, but we finally got going again 8 hrs and £250 later with a brand new alternator.