For the past two weeks I have been given the enviable task of travelling from Durban to Cape Town, overseeing our TTRide SA group, catching up with all of our on the ground providers aswell as seeing what the ocean might have on offer for me in between.

It has now been four years since Will and I originally set off on this same route on the adventure that allowed the founding of Ticket to Ride. Since then we have come a long way and have sent no less than 150 Riders over to South Africa to enjoy this incredible piece of coastline, and get the most out of their time here.

I always enjoy a stint of time away from the UK as our Winter approaches, not only as it is always pleasant to feel the sunshine, but more because by standing back from Ticket to Ride is often when I feel most connected with it, away from the daily clogs and systems to a more distant position which allows you to see things more clearly.

In South Africa we have got a great team of people and organisations on the ground who have grown with the Ticket to Ride concept. A worldly and wise selection of characters who have been part of the surfing world for a very long time; they have seen people come and go, and all have stories of their own successes (and failures) which they are keen to share. It is all part of the learning curve of setting up the foundations for the long run, and an aspect that brings me great enjoyment.

At the moment we have got our TTRide SA September to November course now entering their final two weeks. I stayed with them for 3 nights in Umtentweni, and it is great to see such a happy group coming through. In Bevan and Nikki they have got two dynamic group leaders, and every member of the group fits in as part of the team, they all pull each other along and work together incredibly well. They are truly relishing their time out here, and making the most of every day, which is great to see.

I am now in Cape Town and for my trip have gone 1 night in Durban, 3 in Umtentweni (with the group), 1 night in Coffee Bay and Chinsta, 2 nights in Jeffreys Bay, 1 night in Plettenberg Bay, and am now 1 night into my 4 in Cape Town. It’s been a whistle stop tour to say the least but one that has been incredibly worthwhile. We built Ticket to Ride upon establishing strong relations with all the providers we use, and it is hugely important for us to maintain that as we develop.

South Africa is a very exciting place to be at the moment, there is a great atmosphere here with a new President, the World Cup just around the corner, and Summer in the air. From our perspective out here there is also a really strong sense of solidarity, we are running a growing number of courses, now have a full time Head of Operations on the ground, and the TTRide Foundation is taking huge strides forward. So with all of these key structures in place, and a stream of plans and ideas in the pipeline 2010 should be a good year for us all!

So, from a slightly more windy and grey Cape Town than I would like to let on, it’s over and out from me.

Linley

It has been a while since we update you with news from the Ticket to Ride Head Office. However with British summer time in full swing and TTRide Surf Adventures Courses now running almost constantly throughout the year and across the world, we figure that you would far rather read the updates straight off the beach.

July saw us at our busiest, two Mini-gap courses running in South Africa and Costa Rica. The Ticket to Ride Surf Academy firing on all cylinders, and a family surf course in Portugal.

As always we were down at the Newquay Surf Boardmasters in August. This year we set a new personal sales record with our latest batch of Ticket to Ride Clothing which are without doubt our best run yet. (Having placed a second order for our 2009 designs, you can still get yours by going onto the Ticket to Ride Shop Online!!)

September as always has been a busy one, this September once again confirmed itself in my mind as by far and away my favourite month of the year, all the elements come together serving up epic days to see you right through to Christmas. September also saw the departure of 10 week TTRide South Africa Instructor course with Nikki and Bevan at the helm. Many of the Riders on this course will be returning in November only to go straight out to France for the winter part of their season2season course.

Our September 09 Rider day down at the Surf Academy, was as huge a success and something we will be repeating both at the beginning as well as the end of next summer.

To top all this off, I got married to Lottie on Saturday 26th September in beautiful sunshine down in Dorset. This was followed by 2 unbelievable weeks in the Maldives. Obviously I chose one of the Maldives’ surfing islands and score perfect head high waves with only a handful of other surfers for the entire trip.

October has been a busy one with our sponsorship of the British University Surf Champs on Fistral beach. This was our third year supporting the event and without doubt the best year that we have been involved in so far, sunny weather, perfect waves and festival feel with over a 1000 students on the beach to cheer their respective university surfers all the way to the beach.

As many of you may have heard, the surf last week was pumping!! In fact far to good to miss. If you are a surfer, when the forecast looks that good, you change plans and go. So last Wednesday was that day; Tom, Linley and I set the alarms for 5.00am and were down in North Devon by 9.30am. With the answer-phone holding the fort and iphones keeping us in the loop with emails, we were able to get 7 hours of surf in before making the journey back to London by midnight. A long journey for a surf, but totally worth it. It was great to see so many past Riders in the car park having seen the same forecast all of whom were quickly out the back and taking it on.

Last weekend saw us hold our first ‘Preview Morning’ for current and future Riders to get together and find out more about what we are so proud to offer here at Ticket to Ride on our surf adventure courses. It went down as such a success that it left me thinking why we haven’t done mornings like this before, they are a great way to make sure that all those interested in joining one of our courses have the opportunity to meet us as well as past riders in person which is without doubt the best way for a potential Riders to find out whether what we offer is what they are after. For those of you that couldn’t make it we will be holding another preview morning just before Christmas.

The Ticket to Ride Foundation has come on leaps and bounds over the last 4 months. Having our Foundation projects at the level where we can offer volunteer placements was always part of the plan and so after 4 years of work, this is something that we are extremely proud of. The work we do in the Masiphumelele township is really making a difference to the lives of those we are working with out there and now that Tim is out there full time the future prospects for the work of the foundation are endless.

Our TTRide South Africa and Mozambique is at max capacity for January – April 2010. We do still have availability on our 10 week TTRide South Africa Surf Instructor course as well as our 6 week TTRide Costa Rica Surf yoga and Spanish course.

So there you have it, a full round up with photos to go with it.

Thanks for tuning in.

Will, Linley and Tom

As you many know Will got engaged to his fiancée Lottie this February, with myself taking on the best man responsibilities. Weddings are always a great opportunity to celebrate, and amongst our group of friends we have bought in a new tradition, a PMS, which stands for Pre-Marital Surf Trip. This is a new, but solid tradition, which we hope will continue to pass through the ranks as more and more people will walk the plank of married life.

For this one we decided to head up to the North of Scotland, in a 6 sleeper Motorhome, and head to the infamous Thurso. Thurso has become world renowned for it’s quality waves, and despite the ball crunchingly cold water is now cited as one of the top right hand waves in the world, and also plays host to a 6* WQS event.

However, world famous as it maybe it still needs the right conditions to work, and given the Summer months the swell becomes a lot more scarce, so we knew that we would be luck to score it. But as we departed London and picked up or Motorhome all eye’s were on the swell forecast, and it looked as thought we might just catch it.

After the 12 hour drive, we pulled into Thurso to find it flat. The forecasts had lied! There was some swell around, but it’s Westerly origin had meant that it was not lighting up the infamous Thurso East. However, Scotland boast a huge selection of world class reefs and slabs, and we knew enough to be sure that somewhere would have a wave, and would be doing proud this small swell that was hanging around all week.

We found this in Brims Ness, a slate reef break with three different waves all within walking distance of each other. As you’ll see from the photo’s the small swell was enough to throw over a few barrels, and basing ourselves at Brims for the week we had an epic week of waves, sunshine, adventure, fishing, and got to know a good number of friendly locals.

So for anyone planning to get married, make sure you bring in the PMS tradition, they’re definitely worth it, and for anyone thinking of heading up to Scotland make sure you do; there are plenty of waves up there working in all sorts of conditions, friendly locals, and some of the most stunning scenery you could imagine. Good times!

This Saturday 13th June will see the official opening of the Ticket to Ride Surf Academy down on Perranporth Beach.


Starting from 9.00am onwards, the format of the day will be all about FREE 1 Hour Sessions, giving as many people as possible the chance to come down, get in the water and find out for themselves what learning to surf with the Ticket to Ride Surf Academy is all about.

With 5 time slots scheduled throughout the Day and a Max of 20 Surfers in each session, those interested in taking us up on of Free Lesson offer should register their interest by getting in touch with us down at the academy via our online surf academy reservation system. We will then be in touch with you to confirm your group size and designated time slot.

(N.B.The use of a surfboard and wetsuit is included as part of your FREE Surf Lesson)

Click here to go to Academy Reservation Online

Session 1: hits the water 09.30 – 10.30

Session 2: 11.00 – 12.00

Session 3: 12.30 – 13.30

Session 4: 14.30 – 15.30

Session 5: 16.00 – 17.00

(surfers booked into a must register their arrival down at the academy no later than half an hour before their scheduled time slot)

TTRide Academy BBQ 18.00 – 20.00

TTRide Academy Opening offer means a Seiners combo offer of Beer and BBQ for just £6!!!

Rider Reunion

The launch of our academy crosses over with our Rider Reunion for past Ticket to Riders that have already been on one of our TTRide Surf Adventure Courses.

The format of the day time revolves around what is forecasted to be pretty good surf conditions with an evening BBQ and trip nostalgia in the adjoining Seiners Bar which we expect to go onto into the early hours.

Future Riders

This Saturday is also a fantastic opportunity for potential Riders to come down to Perranporth, have a free surf lesson, meet everyone at Ticket to Ride and find out more about what it is all about not only from us, but also from the past riders that have been there, done and literally got the t-shirt.


Where to Stay

Camping: Perranporth Camping and Touring Park 01872 572 174 (Chat to Emily)

Dorm Style: Perranporth YHA – 01872 573 812 ( Chat to Phil) This place has the best sea views in Cornwall.

Hotel/ B&B: Seiners Hotel- 01872 573 118 (chat to Christian) Stay right on top of the action in style. The Seiners has not only got a the new ttride shop and surf academy right out front, it also has style and comfort with a prime beachside location to match.

It only feels like yesterday that we were all cowered up in the office, heating on full blast finalising all the preparations for 2009s trip, and now we’re already 3 months through, with three trips under our belt, another new destination starting today and big smiles on all of our faces.

All around the world it’s been a tough start to 2009, so we’ve just focused on what we know works, concentrated on running good trips, and making sure that we recruit the right people for all our future surf adventures; and something seems to be working as it has been the best start to a year that we’ve ever had.

We’ve completed 2 of our trademark South Africa trips, with the second one finishing yesterday, and all reports have again been sky high so it’s a great time to offer a huge thanks to all of our South Africa team Tim, Sam, Chris, Bevan and Nico, who have all worked their cotton socks off to make each Rider’s experience as memorable as possible.

It’s also been a time to get into new destinations, we ran our first trip to Costa Rica over Jan and Feb, sharing the experience with a small crowd which has set us up for a much bigger trip there over the Summer, and we have got our first trip to Mozambique starting today, which with 2 years in development is a hugely exciting prospect!

With all of this going overseas we’ve also been flat out in the UK. Nikki has been working like an absolute trooper, putting in the hard Winter graft which isn’t an easy task with everyone else shooting off all over the place I can assure you; but with lots of future plans about to be unleashed we’ve done our best to keep it very exciting place to work!

Now that the short and dark days are behind us and BST brightens up our lives it’s all attentions to the Summer plans and how we can juggle spending as many days as possible with sand underneath our feet; early indications are that we should be on for quite a few!

So for us the first quarter’s completed and fingers crossed the rest of 2009 continues in this fashion!

Over and out.

Linley