Laura Crane and the Cribbar

Right now, the North Atlantic is under a swell spell. Three back-to-back swells filled in from Saturday and are continuing right through the weekend, and maybe beyond.

On Tuesday, all that Atlantic juice hit the south west of the UK, setting off England's big wave, the Cribbar. This time Laura Crane, along with brother Charlie, Rob Fowlie and Seth Wooley wanted to take a swing at this thing.

Here, Laura breaks it all down.

View Live: Fistral

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Spent the past 10 years living in warm countries but I moved back home to Croyde in November. A bit of a shock pulling on a 6mm wetsuit again.

Lately, I'd been not feeling surfing too much and it was really my brother who fully reignited my passion for it. When it's your job, it kinda floats away from you a little bit, makes it a grind.

For so many years, I'd surfed for competition results and to keep sponsors happy, now I'm past that. I surf because surfing feels good and Tuesday at the Cribbar... it felt really good.

We saw this swell coming and a couple of people were talking about the Cribbar. Seth Woolley called my bro, saying they're going out . And we thought, “why not. Let's go”. We drove down, left here at 5am and I was feeling pretty nervous. I don't want to get down there, paddle out, then if I am the only girl that's ever done this, I really need to pull it through for the girls here. That thought inspired me to really paddle my heart out and give it everything I have.

Kept thinking, I've got to at least catch a wave. Also, the Cribbar doesn't break all that often, so it was going through my mind, “what if I don't get to it again this season.” And “guess I can only embarrass myself once if that's the case.” [laughs].

Then I arrived, and everyone was so chill, Rob Fowlie had my boards sorted for me. A 9'0” pink quad gun. And a red inflation vest to go with it. Seth called around everyone trying to get a board for me. I thought, “oh no, don't call everyone, I don't want lots of people knowing I'm going, you know” [laughs]. Pink board, red vest, you couldn't really miss me in the end.

Going through my head, I was taking it all moment by moment. If something happens, it doesn't start breaking or whatever, just relax, think about anything else for a few minutes. We waited for a bit at Fistral, waited for the Cribbar to start working. And then it did, Rob said it's time. And from there to getting suited up, to paddling out was probably about 25 minutes, so didn't have a lot of time to think it through. I remember thinking like, hang on, this whole scenario is a big deal for me. First time out there, first time riding a gun.

Nothing really prepares you for getting there, I was wearing a vest, so much neoprene. Think that helped with being comfortable. What might have helped even more is that I took a house-sized wave on the head in the first five minutes.

This freak set came through, I was furthest on the inside, my brother scraped through it and I got eaten. Tried to do that thing you see the pros do, like, jump on the board and try to dive off. Didn't quite work out. Legs got wrapped around my board. But grabbed my head and knew I couldn't fight it too much. That was my first hold down. After that, I figured, it can't get much worse than this unless I fall from the lip, straight to the bottom of the pit.

Once we were all out, it was so quiet. No one was really talking. There was a crowd on the headland, I remember thinking, “I'm going to look like an idiot if I don't get a wave.” And that's how I went about catching one.

I sat on the shoulder for a little bit, watched what Rob was doing, where they were sitting. Rob had a big wipeout from top to bottom, seeing that made me feel a bit more comfortable.

The first wave I paddled for, remember, never surfed a 9'0” in my life. I didn't realise how much weight I needed to have on the back foot. To paddle into that wave is kinda gnarly, you gotta leave nothing behind in your arms. I took off and had two massive speed bumps in the wave, and I just nose dived straight over the falls.

Came up, paddled over to Rob and said, “so do I need to have more weight on my back foot?” Rob said, “Laura, you need to have all your weight on the back foot.”

I said, “Sweet, should have asked you that before.” Next wave, understood a bit more about what I was doing on this board, then I managed to ride one after that, a shoulder-y one. Then another after which was a bit more in the pocket. Those big boards, they don't move! They go fast, which is kind of the point. But now, I'm hungry to get out there again and get a gigantic one. Tuesday, we just kind of winged it to be honest. Rob was a legend, he made sure we were safe.

For any women thinking about doing it, do it because it feels good. You can complicate these things so much and compare it to everything else. “Oh she did this, that person did this thing, it's not big enough, it's too small,” whatever. I know I didn't get the biggest wave out there, or the gnarliest one, but I do know that I had the sickest day and it felt good. If you feel comfortable enough out there, get out there. I'll come with you.

Spot guide: Cribbar