Memories of Skewjack

While researching Surf Nation I discovered Britain's one and only surf village. The Skewjack Surf Village was set up in 1971 by Chris Tyler, an ex-architect, ex-trawler-man and surfer. Its location was just up the road from my home, about a mile outside Sennen Cove in the far west of Cornwall. It closed in 1986 but attracted both custom and notoriety in its heyday, being dubbed by locals as "Screwjack" (thanks, in part at least, to an advertising campaign that promised "two girls for every boy") and being christened by The Times in the year of its birth as "Surf City." I referred to Skewjack in a recent newspaper article, which prompted East Anglian surfer and journalist Neil Watson to drop me a line. Here's what he had to say (and, thanks to Neil - pictured on Porthcurno beach with his family - here are some images of Skewjack from back in the day).

Your mention of Skewjack in the Independent travel article must have triggered a wave - or ripple at least - of nostalgia for the legendary Cornish "surf village." Most of the thousands who stayed there over the years probably recall nightly excesses of alcohol or other relaxants, and daily trips to Sennen in the old ambulance for surfing lessons. My own memories include driving over 400 miles in a mini-van with my one-year old daughter in the back, to seek out the barely-disguised R.A.F camp in 1972. Accommodation was on the basic side of Spartan, and drunken excesses were discouraged when a giant poster of Hendrix on the bedroom wall kept our toddler awake all night.

Hendrix on the wall, patchouli in the air, and purple dye in the cafe's mashed spuds - all part of the Skewjack experience. What made it for me, though, was access to state of the art boardbuilding techniques. Still riding my own first self-built board, I was grateful for guidance freely given by the guys making Skewjack boards. Thanks to them, my next effort featured a moulded blank from Bob Groves, instead of a rectangular polyurethane block; wax-blended finishing resin from Atlantic Surf in St. Ives; and an ingenious way of attaching one of those new-fangled leashes. They showed me how to make a leash as well, from surgical tubing, but I didn't follow the example of one guy who was making board-wax. While melting a block of paraffin wax over a stove in his split-screen V.W van, things got a bit heated and the van caught fire!

Skewjack.... the very name evokes a Cornish pirate more than a place, and its founder Chris Tyler was every bit as opportunistic as any Cornish wrecker. Have to hand it to him though - he took a few derelict buildings in a remote Cornish backwater, slapped on some psychedelic paint and called it a Surf Village. Result - the birth of a legend 20 years ahead of its time, and memories of days when surfing was a simpler, more shared experience .

Comments

[Graham Shephard]

If you want more details on Skewjack go to www.skewjack.co.uk