Surfing

The first weekend of November saw 28 Imperial students hit the coast of north Devon for a weekend of surfing and initiation activities.

The trip was the first of the new academic year and saw 16 newbies join the surfsoc veterans to hit the November swells.

The trip down was an unexpectedly long one due to the crash on the M5 which added 6 hours on to what should have been a 5 hour journey. A few light beers to get over the journey on the Friday night were followed by an early start on the Saturday where the club kitted up into their tight smelly wetsuits for some surfing action.

The waves on the Saturday weren’t as huge as the 50ft waves which battered the Devon coast a fortnight before; however, they did still provide enough force to keep the beginners and (self-claimed) pros happy.

The night following the Saturday surf session was arguably one of surfsocs finest to date. Following the initiations which saw newbies consuming beverages through the surfsoc boot of grief, the club continued to play the usual surfsoc marathon of games. The usual victims of the boot never failed to entertain the crowd, with certain committee members prowling on innocent newbies in search of some early swell white wash for the Sunday session.

The Sunday saw the final surf session of the weekend. The waves improved in quality becoming less choppy than the previous day, allowing everyone to improve on their skills/ faceplanting. Some members decided to sit out this session feeling a bit dodge from the night before. After a Sunday roast overlooking the beach, the surfers loaded the minibuses and hit the road.

The journey back to the grindstone was considerably better with the travel time halved…for the one minibus. The second bus decided to re-join some traffic, and are due to come back next week…

The continued success of surfsoc over the last year has allowed the club to up attendances on trips to 28 per trip. With sponsorship, and a larger committee the club is continuing to grow and are open to any Imperial students joining the club…provided you can swim!