Thank you... and good-bye

Dear readers,

The time has come to call it quits.

For just over one year, it has been a pleasure sharing the stoke of surfing with you as best as I can. I've enjoyed sharing photos, clips, videos and some interesting reading with you. I hope, in a small way, that I've opened up the world to you with some wonderful images from exotic locations.

In some small way, I hope I've contributed.

I've found of late however, that other projects are starting to consume me as I start my new life here in the US. Fortunately for me these projects are exciting enough that they have deeply captured my imagination. Unfortunately for Cuttie in Your Face, it means I've made promises upon promises to readers that I haven't fulfilled.

I guess I just can't keep up any more.

Source: Clark Little

I'm sorry about this and find it a bit embarrassing.

So, this is blog is at an end.

Moving forward, I wish you all the very best. Life is great. And I think surfing makes life even greater. I hope you find heaps of time to get wet and catch waves. And if surfing isn't your cup of tea, I hope you pursue and find - if you haven't already - some other activity that makes you happy.

Thank you for sharing a little part of your day with me over the last year or so.


          Yours in pits,

Got something to share or some feedback? Leave a comment below or email me at: l.gorajek@gmail.com

It's tip time! Today we'll look at duck diving

Hello and welcome back.

It looks like I'm increasingly settled now so I'm ready to start blogging again.

The only difference from around two months ago, is that I'm only going to blog once a week from now on. Before this last self-imposed break, I felt my posts were getting worse and worse because I didn't have the time to commit to good writing. By only posting once a week, I'm hoping that I'll have more time to commit to fewer posts - hopefully resulting in increased post content quality.

Anyway, enough jibber-jabber - let's talk surfing!

Today's post is a lesson I feel many surfers could benefit from: Duck diving.

Even if you consider yourself a strong duck diver, I feel there's a good chance there may still be something in today's lesson for you. Indeed, I've been surfing for over 20 years, and I was happy to learn something that I'll use to modify my technique.

Source: YouTube

I hope you found that clip to be useful. It's been a pleasure sharing some surfing content with you again after all this time.


          Yours in pits,

Got something to share or some feedback? Leave a comment below or email me at: l.gorajek@gmail.com

'Photos' and 'Videos' tabs are launching soon

Cuttie in Your Face is evolving (hopefully for the best)!

Over the next few months I'll be phasing out the tabs (and labels) called:
- Online photos
- Reader photos
- Online clips
- Reader clips.
You can already see these in the orange bar across the top of this blog.

These will be substituted for the tabs (and labels):
- Photos
- Videos.
You can also already see these in the orange bar across the top of this blog.

I feel a consolidation of these tabs will make the blog easier to read and follow as, where possible, I'm a fan of simplicity.

Why will this take a few months? Unfortunately there is a fair bit of work to be done behind the scenes. I will have to go through the archives and re-label all 380 posts or so. Just to name one task in this process...

Thanks for your patience and support.

Source: www.facebook.com/TheInertia

Launching Cuttie In Your Face's new 'Tips' tab!

Hello and welcome to the launch of a new Cuttie In Your Face tab: 'Tips'.

Clicking on this tab will take you to all of the posts I will/have post(ed) (today is the first) that help you do things better in surfing - be they in the water, or on land with your gear/setup.

Much of my own surfing history is in making surf wax. This being the case, I thought I'd post a clip that shows you how to make your own environmentally friendly surf wax at home.

There are heaps of demos out there, but this is the simplest one I could find.

Enjoy.


Organic Surf Wax - Surf Sufficient from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.
Footage: Vimeo

A brief happy birthday... and more Joel Tudor

Today marks the first day of summer back home in Australia and, more importantly, Cuttie In Your Face's first birthday!

Source: www.blueberryvisuals.se/2011/11/

What a year: I've learnt a bit about blogging (hopefully you think Cuttie In Your Face is getting a bit better as time goes on); I've had just shy of 10,000 hits (averaging just over 27 a day); and have enjoyed myself along the way.

Most importantly, I'd like to thank all of those who have supported me. Your readership and constructive advice has helped give me enthusiasm to keep posting and getting better. As always, I will continue to welcome your comments and ideas now and in the future.

As for you, I hope Cuttie In Your Face has become a 'surf spot' where the conditions are always right (or more often than not at least). I hope I have achieved my goal and effectively shared the stoke and soulful sides of surfing with you. Please pull me up if you ever feel I drift away from this purpose.

Lastly, as always, I continue to welcome your input. Please feel free to contribute if you have any surf-related photos, clips, reviews, recipes and links. I'd love for you to feel that you can be a part of this blog. All contributions can be emailed to me at: l.gorajek@gmail.com

Source: blog.thenicerack.com/hang-intermediate-longboard-skills

In the coming 12 months I hope to make a few more changes to this blog.

Amongst these will be new tabs for 'tips', 'tunes' and 'travel'. Well, that's where my mind is right now anyway. Additionally, I hope to spend more time learning about the art of blogging itself. The aim is to build something that is increasingly relevant to you.

Again, I always welcome your feedback as to how I'm doing.

Source: matuse.com/media/news/joel-tudor-images-2/

For what it's worth, today is also day two of my week-long homage to Joel Tudor. I've attached three pics of Joel doing his thing.

It's funny: while all of the pics are spectacular, they kind of make him look the same as anybody else. Tomorrow I'm going to try to find more videos of him. I feel motion picture is the best way to show just how silky smooth Joel is.

Source: www.postmodernsurfer.com/index.php/news/article/california_and_west_coast_was_a_surfers_winter_wonderland/

Again, sincerely, thank you for supporting Cuttie In Your Face.

Willy

Adventures in Indonesia's Lombok

I love it when I get photos from readers to post!

Photo: Russell

Chris and Bree recently returned from a surf trip to Indonesia.

Indonesia satellite photo

While in Indonesia, they had a look around with surfboards in tow. Places they surfed included a number of spots on the islands of Bali and Lombok.

Bali satellite photo

Lombok satellite photo

Photo: Russell

All of today's photos are of Chris and Bree enjoying one of Lombok's many waves.

Photo: Russell

As you'll see, Chris seems to be quite proficient at powerful cutties.

Photo: Russell

Bree had a good go too. Reports back are that she enjoyed what was for her, a totally new surfing experience.

Photo: Russell

Photo: Russell

Thanks for sending me these photos to post Chris.

If anybody out there has any good surfing content they want to share with me (and my readers), please feel welcome. All correspondence can be emailed to me at l.gorajek@gmail.com.

Sequence: Russell

Sorry for the missing posts!

Just a quick post to apologise for my lack of updates to 'Cuttie in your face' over the last week or so.

I did have a number posts ready for you and programmed to drop on a daily basis. In hindsight, it seems the only thing I forgot to do was to confirm the drop schedule.

You can imagine my surprise coming back to work this morning, after arriving back from the US yesterday afternoon, to find I had seven or eight posts still sitting in my 'Drafts' folder.

Sorry to keep you waiting and thank you for your patience...

Source: www.surfline.com

USA now number one fan!

'Cuttie in your face' seems to be starting to branch out more internationally!

Last week, for the first time ever, another country had more 'Cuttie in your face' readers than Australia. The US in now number one!

A perfect empty (and cold) wave breaks. Meanwhile on crowded beaches elsewhere, surfers scramble for mush...

Source: seancoxellphotography.blogspot.com.au

Love not war

My friend Michael forwarded me this little cartoon a number of weeks ago.

Even though I'm a peace-loving guy who is passionate about the soul side of surfing, I can't help but chuckle at this. I guess it's funny because it's (unfortunately) true.

Surfing is meant to bring out the best in us. Unfortunately this isn't always the case.

Source: www.swellnet.com.au

I find it hard to understand attitudes like these. Unfortunately they are common and can be found everywhere - particularly in sport. Many skiers don't like snowboarders - and vice versa. Many skateboarders don't like rollerbladers - and vice versa. And the one I'm sure many of us are exposed to: many surfers don't like bodyboarders (just to name one sub-group) - and vice versa.

I guess the question I want to ask is 'why'? I've thought about this question quite a lot over the years and have spoken to a number of people about it. Nobody has yet given me a single justification as to why this superficial dislike is okay.

I'd be really interested to receive comments from anybody who does support this attitude. I'm keen to learn about this perspective. Maybe I'm missing something?

Until I change my mind however, I'm going to continue believing that we should all just chill and share the waves - no matter what craft we find ourselves on...

The story behind the name

Many people ask me why I've chosen 'Cuttie in your face' to be the name of this blog.

Unfortunately, the story isn't thaaat exciting...

Well before this blog started, I had (and still have) an email list where I distributed surfing photos amongst my internationally-dispersed surfing friends. Slowly, over time, I started to sign my emails off by writing 'Cuttie in your face'. This had replaced 'Chow', 'Regards' or 'Cheers' - just to name a few. I liked this sign-off so much that I've taken it with me to this blog, and it's now become the name.

But what does 'Cuttie in your face' actually mean?

Summer lovin'

Source: www.swellnet.com.au

As far as I can see, to do a cuttie in someone's face can be interpreted in three ways:

1.
It is a turn on a wave, made out of necessity (but coincidentally in front of another surfer), to get back into the pocket. In this case the 'victim' is simply an innocent bystander who gets sprayed with water .

2.
It is a turn on a wave right in front of a surfer paddling out to the lineup. This turn is thinly veiled aggression, and is aimed at intentionally spraying the 'victim' with a face full of water. I view this is an assertion of some sort of dominance.

3.
It is a playful act whereby the surfer performs a turn on the wave right in front of their friend who's paddling out. This is a friendly gesture exploiting the luxury of friendship.

My blog, 'Cuttie in your face', is all about fun. Hence, 'Cuttie in your face' is in reference to the playful cutback. So, next time you're out surfing with friends, be sure to smile as you throw that bucket on their shnoz!

Big hit

Just a quick note to everybody who supported me on Saturday, when 'Cuttie in your face' launched: Thank you all! I was only expecting 20 to 30 visitors, and was hoping to reach 50 if I was lucky. You guys smashed that with a whopping 153 visits!

I hope I will be able to continue to develop this blog into something even better for you over the coming months and (hopefully) years.

In the mean time, while I beaver away at this thing, I'll leave you with the image below - I think is, quite simply, 'liquid poetry'.

Source: Unknown

The first wave

Today, I'm excited to share with you the first instalment of my surfing blog. 'Cuttie in your face' is all about sharing 'the stoke' of surfing with surfers all over the world. I'm not into what's 'cool', or who's winning what - I'm only into who's having the most fun.

I've been surfing for over 20 years now. During this period, I feel like I've stumbled upon something akin to a secret. I do concede though, that this secret's out with a few people. These people, namely you, are the people I want to share the simple, yet indescribable, joy of surfing with.

'Cuttie in your face' has evolved from an on-again-off-again email list that started around ten years ago. At that time, I realised I was starting to collect a number of internationally dispersed surfing friends - all of whom had great surfing photos, videos and stories to share. I ended up seizing the opportunity to take on the role of sharing this great content with and between these friends. After a number of years of this, with a break or two in between, one reader suggested I turn my email list into a blog. Following mostly positive encouragement from my other surfing buddies, I'm now embarking on this journey.

I hope you enjoy coming on it with me.

Please contribute wherever and whenever you can. I'm always interested in your comments and ideas. I'm particularly interested in your contributions of content, and will always endeavour to publish them whenever possible. In terms of content, almost anything goes. The only things I'm not keen on are dropping in, snaking, surf comps, giving away secret spots, and any sort of 'locals only' attitude.

Again, please feel welcome, if not encouraged, to contribute. Please email all contributions to me at: l.gorajek@gmail.com

Only first names will be published with pieces.

Maybe controversially, I've also chosen to allow advertisements in 'Cuttie in your face', if/when the opportunity presents itself. I've done this for a number of reasons - all of which I hope you can appreciate. Since I'm having a go at this, I want to do it properly, as best I can, and give 'Cuttie in your face' the best chance of success. As an example, I love the idea of holding competitions so you guys have the chance to win some really cool surfing gear. Thinking big, I'd love one day to be able to give away a surfboard or something similarly as impressive as that. Great surfing gear doesn't come cheap though, and I'd rather not have to stump up for it out of my own pocket - I hope you understand.

Now down to business!

Today, to start things off with, I'm sharing with you a photo that I find quite a-peeling.

Source: www.swellnet.com.au

... A fun looking wave by anyone's standards I think.

That's enough from me for now. I'm really looking forward to sharing more of the stoke with you as the months go on.

...ONE!

Boom!

I'll see you tomorrow with twelve fresh instalments, released at 90 minute intervals, of interesting surfing bits and pieces. Each instalment I hope, will address a different, yet relevant aspect of surfing.

Hopefully there is something to tickle everybody...

Source: www.surfline.com

Three more days to wait until 'Cuttie in your face' is go

In three short days, 'Cuttie in your face' will do its best to provide interesting content for keen surfers.

While I will endeavour to perpetuate 'the stoke' with regular content updates of my own, my real hope is that content contributed by my readers will dominate this blog.

If you feel like contributing something, please contact me via email (l.gorajek@gmail.com) to share your ideas and contributions.

Source: www.swellnet.com.au

Eight - it's before nine and after seven

A blog that will try to be as juicy as these pits, launches on Saturday 1 December 2012!

Source: www.swellnet.com.au

Watch this space!

On Saturday 1 December 2012, 'Cuttie in your face' will officially launch.

Designed solely for surfers hooked on 'the stoke', 'Cuttie in your face' will work hard to provide interesting and worthwhile surfing content.

If experiencing what the surfer below is experiencing tickles your fancy, it may be worth your while to mark your calendar.

Source: www.swellnet.com.au