The Joe Way paddle for life take place on 3rd September
and somehow I’ve managed to enter the 1km paddle!

Click here to find out more…

Don’t Skateboard with Flip flops!, originally uploaded by freshly peeled.

Look what happens when grip tape meets toes… ouch!

Skate with these instead (below)…

This just in from Surfers Against Sewage

Surfers Against Sewage call for year-round protection for Pease Bay surfers

This year, Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) asked all UK water companies if they had any plans to reduce their sewage treatment outside the bathing season (May – September). Outside the bathing season is usually the best period for surf in the UK and reducing sewage treatment increases the health risks for surfers and waveriders.

When SAS asked Scottish Water if they planned to reduce their sewage treatment, thus increasing the health risk to surfers and waveriders, they replied with “It is not a question of switching off treatment outside the bathing season, but rather switching on extra treatment during it”. Just how stupid do they think we are?

Pease Bay is one of the places Scottish Water plan to reduce the levels of sewage treatment outside the bathing season. It is also one of Scotland’s most popular surfing breaks, consistently producing its best surf from September to April, and therefore is most heavily used outside the bathing season.

We therefore call on the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to immediately revise the Water Use License so that tertiary level treatment remains an all year-round process for Cove STW, until such time that it is shown that recreational water users do not suffer a reduced threat to their health from turning off the UV-light disinfection process here, or it is found that recreational water user numbers are not using this beach in significant numbers on a regular basis outside the bathing season.

SAS applaud water companies all over the UK who are trying to reduce their carbon footprint, however, this cannot come at the cost of increased health risks for surfers and waveriders. SAS are calling on water companies to generate clean and sustainable energy through their sewage treatment process and embrace new technologies that will allow them to harness more of this energy and increase efficiency.

In 2008, SAS successful campaigned against Northumbrian Water reducing their levels of treatment outside the bathing season and as a result the Environment Agency (EA) has ruled that water companies must prove an absence of water users and impact on water quality before they can switch off the treatment. SAS believe this sets a strong precedent and believes that SEPA should provide the Scottish public with the same levels of protection.

If you plan to use Pease Bay outside the bathing season please sign our petition. This will help SAS to demonstrate to SEPA that Pease Bay is well used outside the bathing season and a significant number of water users are being put at risk from Scottish Water’s actions.

Sign the petition here

Canoes, surfboards and dinghies are to be given the same legal status as cruise liners and oil tankers in a clampdown on reckless behaviour at sea.

Unpowered craft including sailboards and bodyboards are to be reclassified as ships to bring their users within regulations for merchant shipping.

Users face prison and fines of up to £50,000 if they are held liable for any accidents. A family in a dinghy or a beginner oarsman could be prosecuted if they collided with a swimmer. Anyone out on the water would be liable to a random breath test. The change was initially prompted by pressure to reduce accidents involving reckless use of jet skis, which have caused nine deaths in the past ten years. But the Department for Transport has infuriated many of Britain’s four million water sports enthusiasts by proposing to extend the regulations to unpowered craft. All watercraft would be classed as “ships” and thus bound by safety regulations enshrined in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1995. Surfers and canoeists in particular are adamant that they should not be subjected to such legislation.

Mark Wesson, a member of the British Surfing Association’s executive council, said: “We shall certainly be opposing this, and goodness knows what holidaymakers are going to make of this. It may put a lot of people off investing in a surfboard.”

Read full story – www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/sailing/article6728335.ece

This is from the BBC.

A bald penguin has been given a wetsuit to wear at a Hampshire wildlife park to protect him from sunburn.

Ralph, a nine-year-old Humboldt penguin, lost all of his feathers in one day while moulting, instead of the usual four to six weeks.

It left him with sensitive pink skin, so Marwell Wildlife keepers cut up a staff member’s wetsuit to make the kit.

It will protect Ralph until his new feathers have grown, which may take another two to three weeks.

Full story here >>

Our first newsletter went out today, if you missed it take a look below…

Welcome to our very first peeler newsletter. Here’s a round up of some different bits and bobs that should tickle your fancy… Read on…
Wax Sax We’ve just launched a new peeler product – Wax Sax! You’ll wonder how you ever lived without one of these? Take a look
Claim your change Know why a proposed coal plant in Chile, surfing and your bank are connected? Watch this film by Kyle Thiermann
And finally… Click to see our summer sale – 20% off everything! Yay! All the best, Andy, co-founder – peeler peelersurf.co.uk

It’s not often we get feedback from customers when selling online.

Usually the package gets sent from us to the customer, they open it, love it and that’s that.

So when we got the following message from a guy called Chris, we just had to give him a shout out on our blog, ‘freshly peeled’… Here’s the message…

“Just got back to Wales and opened my package from you. These WaxSax are awesome. ”

Check out the Wax Sax for yourself by clicking here

Thanks Chris!

At peeler we’re always thinking of ways to make life easier and our new product WAX SAX ™ proves it all!

WAX SAX ™ are a handy little place to keep all of our wax, rather than hunting around the back seat of your surf wagon and finding our last hair infested sliver of Wax.

Also, they’re only £3! If you buy one within the next 2 months we’ll even throw in a bar of Matunas Wax!

Take a look for yourself by clicking here… How did you ever live without one of these?