Back in the water!

First time back in the water in just a over 5 weeks which was fun. Pretty mellow surf, and with the sun out it was a very pleasant return.

I plugged up with white tack which seemed to do the job, but I have to admit some water did get in which is concerning me slightly today as my ear has begun to feel a little bit uncomfortable. Its doing the itchy, occasional sharp pain thing which is usually the prelude to an ear infection...lets hope I'm wrong.

Surf looks fun again today and I'm tempted to hop in tonight but maybe that's pushing it, will make the call a bit later.

In my other world, I've been busy preparing for the Brighton Paddle Round the Pier Festival this weekend. We'll have the Ollypop stand there with all the clothes and towels. Not sure there'll be too much call for the hoodies with this heat though but the forecast is in a favour with it cooling down at the weekend.

Curiosity killed the cat...

Constantine surf report: "An offshore breath is blowing gently over those sunkissed wave tops this morning, helping to groom the three feet or so of swell into corduroy lines of reeling glass. Yep, it's a beauty one this morning, with a cloudless sky, the lightest easterly breeze and a steady three foot or so swell steadily rolling onto the recently re-modelled and re-shaped beaches."

Yep, I've done it again and looked up the surf report. It's sunny, offshore and I'm pretty sure I know of a fun sand bank that's less than 2 miles from here doing its thing! Surfer's ear sucks!!

Same again yesterday, throbbing ear with constant weird noise - oddly enough I can hear my pulse when all goes quiet. Slight improvement today and off to have my stitches out later.

Panicking slightly with last minute preparations for the Cornwall show next week. The Ollypop stand is not yet made, clothes not ready and we're not sure if we'll have enough staff for the 3 days! Joy.

Anyway, I'm off to do some more work. It's not sunny out there and the surf is rubbish.

7 days 'till the packing comes out...

Groundhog day again. Struggled to sleep and woke up with pain killers having worn off feeling like someone has sand papered my ear canal overnight! Still got the 'just stepped off a ferry' feeling so keeping dizzy spin outs to a minimum today by staying horizontal.

As the third time that surfing has put me on the operating table I've got to say that this takes the biscuit as the worst. The first time was when I had to have my sinuses drilled out following a blockage. Admittedly the pain up to the operation was quite intense and kept me out of the water as the sinus pressure from duck diving was like an axe in the forehead. But I remember that almost immediately after the op, the relief far outweighed the pain.

The second time under the knife was as a result of snapping my cruciate ligament in my knee. Out surfing at Trebarwith, I took off on a close-out, tried to pull out by smacking the lip on the way but came off worse. With my knee unnaturally bending backwards, I managed to hobble out of the surf to my car where upon my knee now resembled that of an elephant! I drove home, burnt my clutch out in the process unable to change gear properly, and ended up at A & E. Little did I know that I would be out of the water for 18 months. I ended up having key hole surgery with a slither of my hamstring being grafted into my knee to replace my cruciate ligament. Although painful immediately after the op, the pain was still nothing in comparison to what's going on in my lug hole right now.

So anyway, it's 7 days until the packing comes out of my ear which I'm very much looking forward to. It's getting quite itchy now and will be nice to hear in stereo again.

I caught a glimpse of the weather map on the news today. By the look of that decent low pressure system and high sorting itself out by the end of the week, there will be some happy surfers about with a decent swell and sunshine to boot.
Go forth and enjoy, just make sure you wear ear plugs!

Day 4 - Looking forward to stereo sound...

Yet another rubbish night's sleep and no real change today. Ear still throbbing, hearing in mono getting tedious and the world still spinning nicely. Had several spin outs yesterday and it seems I'm going to have to wait a while before I stop feeling like I've just stepped off a ferry.

Had some friends over last night and chanced a couple of Stellas which weirdly enough made me feel more balanced! Looking forward to my new found medicine tonight.

8 days left until I have the packing taken out of my ear, can't wait, it's going to be nice to hear in stereo again. Got my stag do a week after that which is gonna be tricky given the fact that we're doing a pub crawl in the Mumbles on stand up paddle boards! Rumours abound that my caring mates will protect my ear by cling filming my head - something to look forward to.

Managed to get some work done in between the bouts of apparent seasickness. Lots to do for the Cornwall show next week as we'll have the Ollypop stand there for the first time. New 'Kipper's Knickers' gear arriving by the end of the week hopefully.

Anyway, got another wave of dizziness coming on so I'll leave you with a nice shot of my throbbing lug hole taken on my phone this morning....

Day 3 post drill - what's that oozing from my ear?!

Rubbish night's sleep, unable to sleep on my bad ear side, I'm having to adjust to sleeping on my left side which isn't my natural side so insomnia set in nicely last night! Nice and quiet when I'm lying down though, can't hear a thing apart from the low level ringing which is fast becoming my companion when all goes quiet.

I did finally get to sleep and woke up with aching sinus pain as well as the good old throbbing ear. My wife changed the dressing and was a little alarmed with the amount of blood and pussy looking liquid on the cotton wool. A quick call to the hospital confirmed that the puss was more likely to be the cream they stuffed in my ear with the dressing so hopefully it's not infected. They also said that with so much packing in the ear, sinuses are likely to be affected too - hence the sinus pain. Will try to take it easy today as I'm still a bit giddy on the feet with my balance seemingly affected too.

Anyway, out in the real world it seems I'm missing some decent sessions in the surf. It's about 3-4 ft today and by all accounts was pumping last night - note to self - stop checking the surf sites, especially Surfhog!

Also, the kind folk at surfplugs are going to sort me out with some decent moulded plugs when it's time to finally get back in the water. They look the mutts nuts (or should I say 'Kipper's Knickers'!) and they've got some pretty funky graphics too.






Pic left - Pretty sure my daughter is extracting the Micheal!

Day 2 post op

Well it's a stunning day here today, clear blue and plenty of sun. I won't be out and about much though as my ear is still throbbing and I'm still a little half cut from the anaesthetic. Managed to sleep OK despite the constant white noise in my ear - it's a little like the noise you get from going to a really loud rock concert or night club - I feel like I've fallen asleep next to an amplifier! I guess it's to be expected after 2 hours of constant drilling next to my ear drum. I can see why they say there's the risk of deafness now.

Just had to change the cotton wool plugging on the outisde of my ear (has to be done 3 times a day) and nearly ripped out some of the padding in there - there's apparently 3 sections of gorse padding stuffed in my ear to aid the healing process and keep the ear canal open while it heals.

Anyway, life goes on and there are far worse things that people are suffering right now so all things considered I'm pretty lucky really!

I will try to update this blog regularly up to the day I get back in the water so that people can get an idea of the experience and hopefully learn from it by wearing ear plugs. I can't recommend them more, although I have tried almost all ear plugs and never found any that totally stop the water so if anyone has any suggestions lets have them. (I've tried blue tac - one of the best solutions, doc's pro-plugs - flushed with water despite trying different sizes, bees wax - fell apart in ear and had to go to A&E 3 times to have bits poked out and moulded ear plugs - up there with the blue tac but still lets some water in.)

Link - nasty surfer's ear story http://www.surfplugs.co.uk/

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.