Following on from the Stoke - what is it? article, a few weeks ago where i discussed what stoke is, it is now time to turn our attention to “getting stoked”.

Over the winter one of our team guys, Adam Wootton, was going through a bad patch and questioning his own commitment to skimboarding. He managed to turn things around, and “get stoked”, and this his story of how that happened.

So, i am going to hand over to Adam, and let him describe in his own words, what changed his whole perspective.

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“To catch a wave was (and is) to stoke the fires of the heart and soul. Hence the terms: to be stoked, a stoked life, degrees of stoke and pure stoke.” - John Grissam, Pure Stoke (1982)

Every true surfer/skimboarder has had the feeling of stoke at some point in their lives.

That feeling you get from nailing your first wrap or barrel, or sticking that bigspin you have been working on for months. The feeling you get whilst gliding effortlessly down the wave, when your mind forgets all your everyday worries, and its just you and the wave, and you are living just for that moment.

For me, I can think of one person who demonstrates “stoke” more than anybody else i know: Chris Danby.

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Back in April this year, Paignton was hit by a few days of gale force easterly winds.

This produced some of the biggest waves Paignton has seen for a few years, and as a result, we went out to get some photos of the surf, and the surfers who were brave enough to venture out at Paignton Pier.

We had some swell in the bay last week, and here are the photos of some of the local Paignton surfers.

For the full gallery, go here!

Paignton got some waves at the beginning of May - here’s the resulting photo gallery from some of the Paignton regulars. Enjoy.

Paignton Surf Photos

We got some new Xtrak Deck Grip in stock.

We have the new stock of the Xtrak Slingshot and the Xtrak Viking.

Also added to the lineup of pads is Xtrak’s “The Goods” series. These pads are a 1 piece super thin and lightweight tail pad. Check out the Damo 1, Damo 2 and the CJ-1.

We gotta say these look like pretty sweet pads!

…not Jamie O’Brien it seems.

Check out this video of Jamie O’Brien surfing with no fins on a surfboard. Kinda proves what skimmers have been saying for ages!

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So Monday this week saw a small wave in Torbay. The day started ok, with a solid 1.5 to 2 foot at Paignton Pier, so looked forward to getting in after work for a relaxing surf. Having been reliably informed by Chris and Sam that it is worth coming down after work, this is the view that met me when i pulled up to the pier at 5.45pm:

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Torbay has just had a good run of surf over the weekend. Trouble is the wind was way too strong to be able to skim dispite some half decent waves at Hollicombe.

So it was time to break out the surf and bodyboards to enjoy the Paignton windslop. 8am Sunday morning saw the majority of the Sandskater crew in the water for an early session before the crowds descended upon the line up. Local pro surfers Gary and Danny Wells turned up, and showed everybody else in the line up why they are some of the best surfers in the country by tearing up the 3ft waves! (Photo: Sandskater rider James Thurgood and UK pro Gary Wells share a wave off Paignton Pier)

Monday continued with more waves which were