Steve Laddiman scored at Thurso on his 7’10” Loco SUP
Steve Laddiman scored at Thurso on his 7’10” Loco SUP!
Hey Locos!
We catch up with Loco SUP team rider Steve Laddiman to find out about his recent mission to Thurso in search of perfect SUP waves. Some of the snaps are definitely Loco suggesting he scored big time on his trusty 7’10” Loco SUP! Anyway over to Steve…
After a whole month without getting on a wave, a tenuous forecast mixed with a midweek opportunity saw us heading to the ends of the earth in search of a wave fix. Driving through the night to get to Thurso for 8am was a bit of a mission and the sight of barely a wave made us wonder if we had just burnt a weeks worth of juice for nothing?
Surprisingly… or maybe not, Thorpy was already in town having headed up a day earlier for the sniff of wind that accompanied the swell at first, so whilst we put up the tent the master watched and waited. Two hours later a message pinged through to say it was on.
By all accounts it was far from classic Thurso East but it would have been the classic day of the year at home so we’ll take low end Thurso any day! One thing to be aware of up here is that the locals have priority. If you bring a SUP to the line up you can double that…. or even treble it. Respect the locals, be courteous or take their waves at your own peril!
This first day was a bit to busy for my liking, so we took a couple before paddling over to the neighbouring break of Shitpipe. On its day this break is supposedly an excellent sup wave, probably more suitable for the majority of SUP tourists than East. Unfortunately this was not its day! After battling the pipe for a while the default beachbreak at Torrisdale provided empty, chunky waves till dusk.
The waves kept coming and the next day progressed in a similar vein only with more time at Thurso East, less time at Shitpipe and an evening of bombs on our own at Torri. Torrisdale works best on low or an hour or so either side, it has a fairly rowdy rip so be aware, it is also far, far, far from the madding throng so take a buddy as more likely than not there won’t be another soul about.
The last day of our raid saw a dwindling Thurso East, so much so that even the locals weren’t in to it, at last it was quiet enough to get involved. On a poor day Thurso East has enough about it to entertain the stand up fraternity. If you do make the trip, keep it cool, you’re not Kai Lenny!
Steve Laddiman scored at Thurso on his 7’10” Loco SUP, Stay tuned for more from Steve over the summer holidays as he’ll be test driving some of the new kit including the 10′ nose rider, new Competition Pro Loco SUPs and also our new windsurfing offerings.
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Words: Steve Laddiman
Pics: Martina Lagan
