On January 4th we drove to Putsborough Beach on the Atlantic Coast of North Devon to check out what the forecasts suggested would be some excellent surf.  We also took along our Sony Handycam to see how it performed when trying to film moving targets.  You can see the results in the video below.

We also happened to catch on film Ralph Freeman, bassist with local band The Universe Inspectors, arriving and then catching a short ride on his trademark yellow board.  Nothing unusual about this you may think, but Ralph is no ordinary surfer.  He is not generally to be found sharing a modest beach break with my kids and I, along with several dozen other hardy souls.  More often he can be seen being towed into giant waves such as Oyster Falls off Downend Point at Croyde, which had been working nicely earlier that same day .  Ralph is also reputed to be the first person ever to surf the reef just past the point from Croyde, which is named Ralph's Reef in his honour.

The other unusual thing is that the summer before last Ralph broke his neck whilst surfing Croyde at low tide, and was initially paralysed.  It's great to see that a local legend has apparently made a full recovery from his injuries.

Many thanks to Ralph for giving us permission to share this extremely rare footage with you.