Grasshopper has bracing swim!

Grasshopper Porridge fuelled up the Team Grassy swimmers for the annual Bournemouth ‘Pier to Pier’ swim on Sunday. Abi, Ed and Russ all took to the challenge of swimming the 1.4 miles from Bournemouth Pier to Boscombe Pier. There were 1200 people doing the swim, some in their Orca triathlon suits, some in their Asda swimming costumes but everyone wearing a bright red swimming hat to represent the cause: British Heart Foundation.

At Midday, everyone swarmed into the sea. Some power-crawled off to get a good spot away from the beach, others went off in groups doing breaststroke and enjoying the ambience.

AE: "The first 5 minutes were a struggle to get my breath as I was not wearing a wetsuit and the water was bracing, but then the sun came out and I found a spot amoung a few hundred red swimming caps, managing to only get run over twice by other swimmers. Ed beat me by the usual 5 minutes and was on the beach waiting at the end."

Amazing dive expedition discovery for Jim.

Team Grasshopper diver Jim Standing has made an amazing discovery: he is part of the dive team that have been out in Newfoundland and Labrador exploring uncharted sites and free floating icebergs. The team hit the news this week when they discovered the wreckage of a Canadian military plane that crashed in 1942 off Battle Harbour, Labrador.

It's the first time anyone has laid eyes on the Catalina seaplane (a submarine patrol aircraft in WWII.) for 64 years. In 1942, the plane, believed to be carrying around eight crewmembers, was coming into Battle Harbour when an explosive device on the wing went off. Local folklore says the crash sent water 17 meters into the air.

There are amazing photos of the discovery on the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18734257961. The water is very clear and the photos are beautiful.

Chatting with Jim about the experience, he said, "We could have done with some porridge - the water temp was minus 2 degrees..."

During the dive they were also visited by a young humpback whale (estimated 40 tonnes) that was curious to see what the fuss was about...

Well-done Jim!

You can also read more about the expedition on the Fourth Element website: www.fourthelement.com www.fourthelement.com

Team grassy sponser kitesurfer Josie Robinson

Team Grasshopper have an elite team of honed athletes that feed on grassy porridge to sustain their energy levels, and keep them one step ahead of the game. Take the recent battle of endurance between John Hibbard and Neal Gent. They were racing each other on a long distance stand up paddle surfing event. Both streaked ahead of the other surfers like superheroes because they had scoffed porridge before going on the water (our dad always told us that we had to wait at least 30 minutes after lunch before we were allowed back in the water, but I think they waived this safety rule).  

Team grassy has great guys on board (like Jem Hall, John Hibbard and Neal Gent), so it is stoked to add a girl to the crowd. Josie Robinson is as full of beans as any person you will ever meet. She is crazy about kitesurfing and is working her way to the top of the amateur league with plans to go pro next year. Grasshopper will make sure she is fully porridged up for this transition. Miss Robinson lives on the IOW and is living the dream on the beach every day after work. She is no stranger to extreme sports; her  list of hobbies includes kitesurfing, mountain biking, wakeboarding, bodyboarding, waveskiing, swimming, snowboarding, and diving. Its a good job that she now has a cupboard full of porridge to keep her going!

This year, Josie has been touring with the BKSA (British Kitesurfing Association) Freestyle Tour, 7 events around the UK. She recently came 2nd after round 2 at Cumbria. She is training on the water whenever it is windy, and caning it in the gym to keep her GI Jane fitness levels up. With 5 more events to do for this tour, grassy will follow her progress and let you know how she gets  on!

You can follow Josie's blog on her website: www.josierobinson.com

Round Gotland Race 2008

Grasshopper will be supporting Babylon, a Grand Soleil 40 competing in The Round Gotland Yacht Race 2008. The race is arranged by KSSS, the Royal Swedish Yacht Club. It has been run every summer since 1937 and is a popular race in Nordic waters.

The race starts at Sandhamn in the outer part of the Stockholm archipelago and the main courses takes the yachts round the large island of Gotland in the middle of the Baltic Sea. There are several courses depending on the type of boat. Babylon will be racing about 450 (ish) miles. Each course is designed to keep the boats at sea for about 48-72 hours.

Grasshopper will be transported out in crew kit bags to provide early morning breakfasts and late night on-watch treats. The Babylon crew are no stranger to long offshore races - many of them raced the very windy Fastnet last year and were one of a handful of yachts that managed to complete the race. They leave for Sweden tomorrow and the race starts on Sunday.

Grasshopper will let you know how they get on...

Grasshopper on sale in London's newest hippest food store

Dominic Ford, the creator of Harvey Nichols food halls has done it again...Occupying all the central spaces in Whiteley's shopping centre, newly opened Food Inc is the most perfect food shop I have ever seen. It's luxurious, it's shiny and it's calling out to me. Take me to your leader. Grassy are very pleased to be on sale in Food Inc.
www.food-inc.com

Fleur's Friday thought

www.myspace.com/theirresistibleforce

This week's Rob Da Bank and Friends on Radio 1 featured Mixmaster Morris
the Godfather of CHILL. He's still got the magic and after all these years is getting The Irresistible Force back on the Festival circuit this summer. If you are in clubbing retirement and remember when The Ministry of Sound looked like an NCP car park or if even if you are doing your GCSEs and don't know what I am talking about then do yourself a favour and tune in to the hologram trousered one laying down his astral beats. Respec.

Surf trip report by Abi

I have just returned from the first grasshopper surf trip this year. One of the team grasshopper guys is professional surfer Chris Thompson. If you go to his new surf lodge, La Hosteria in Northern Spain, you will find lots of grasshopper porridge there. I used the excuse of going to check stock levels to give me 5 days out of the office and on the beach.

La Hosteria is lovely - very peaceful. The beach is 5 minutes walk away, in a wetsuit with a board under your arm. I confess that I am not the greatest surfer in the world, but with my trusty 7'6" Mini Mal I was intrepid, and managed my first proper wave (as opposed to riding the white horses). Shouts of joy from instructor Damian left me like a cat with ten tails. Of course, when I got bolder, I had one of those moments similar to being in a very wet tumble drier. I lived to tell the tale (in which the wave got bigger and bigger with me under the water for ages and ages).

Dave the cook (amazing food) has Wednesdays off, so all staff and guests had grasshopper porridge for breakfast, including Dylan - Errant Surf's smallest member (Chris' 2 year old son), who demolished a Coconut & Date pot in minutes. The girls that were doing a surfing/pilates week homed in on the chocolate flavour (and rightly so - a chocolate fix with only 2g fat is a gift from above!). I even got the thumbs up from instructor Damian on finishing his first pot (and he is not a porridge guy).

I had some great surfing, improved the tan, and watched with satisfaction as all the surfers ate grassy porridge. I know we tell everyone that it is great for surfing, but to be out there and see people scoffing it and asking for more is amazing. Of course it looks likely that I will need to go out to check the stock numbers again in August...

Check out the Errant webste:
www.errantsurf.com

To see the photos join Errant's facebook group:
www.facebook.com/group

John Hibbard reports from the BSUPS Nat Champs

Grasshopper Team Riders, Neal Gent and John Hibbard, showed the opposition the back of their board-shorts at the first round of the BSUPA National Championships, held at West Wittering last weekend.

Neal took the victory in the Distance Paddling event, John coming in 2nd, over a gruelling set of 3 races. Conditions were almost ideal, except for a nagging breeze that meant they had to work extra hard for their positions. Their efforts paid off, and they have set themselves up as the ones to beat in the following rounds this year. (Oh great, say John and Neal collectively!)

Neal says:
“I should stop doing endurance races against John; I've lost count of the amount of times we've clashed in various races over the years in all kinds of sports. It's all good fun, though, especially when you're leading!!"
 
The surf was too small to run any official surfing competition, but there was enough to run a set of Expression Session Heats that saw John take 2nd and Neal 5th place. The winner was Patrice Guenole from France who has competed on the European Longboard circuit.

John says:
"I beat Patrice in the semis, but just couldn't find the waves in the final. There was only one good set of small waves and Patrice bagged the best one. 2nd is cool though and I'm looking forward to the next round of the BSUPA champs down in Cornwall. Hope we see some solid swell."

A local windsrufer said: "The competition between Neal Gent and John Hibbard was unbelievable, with both of them miles ahead of everyone else in almost every race!"
 
It just goes to show the level of friendly competitiveness that exists inside the Grasshopper camp! Keep your eye on www.standuppaddlesurf.co.uk for more updates and news from the official BSUPA Championships.
Stand Up Paddle Surfing is a fun sport and very easy to get into. The championships are also a great place to find out more and have a go for free.

Regards
John Hibbard
Grasshopper Team Rider Press Service.com.org.plc.hop

Grasshopper surf trip

Grasshopper is off to Northern Spain to visit the Errant Surf Crew. Grassy supports La Hosteria (one of Errant’s many global surf lodges, based in Loredo) with lots of porridge for hungry surfers. Marketing Director Abi sees it as her personal responsibility to go and make sure that the porridge is stacked the correct way in the cupboards, and states clearly that the trip has nothing to do with 5 days surfing at one of Europe's very best surfing zones (from the legendary lefts of Mundaka, to the perfect curls of Somo beach).

Grasshopper began an alliance with Errant Surf when Chris Thompson (Founder of Errant and professional long-boarder, plus Fat Face Team Rider) received a pot of porridge in his Fat Face Christmas parcel. He contacted Grasshopper to say thank you, and since then grassy has supported Errant in the UK, and further afield on the beaches of Spain.

To see where Grasshopper is off to, plus all the other amazing places to go surfing with Errant: http://www.errantsurf.com/loredo_overview.php.

Of course Grasshopper will send a postcard...

BSUPA (British Stand Up Paddle Surfing Assoociation) Round I.

It's the BSUPA (British Stand Up Paddle Surfing Association) Round 1 Event at West Wittering this weekend (17th and 18th May). The events will be sponsored by Gong, 2XS, Prosport Sunscreen, Reef, X-Train SUP Training and Atan.

Grasshopper will be there (in spirit because Abi is off surfing in Spain) supporting the SUP Surfers with free porridge over the weekend.

Team grassy guys, John Hibbard and Neal Gent, will be there giving coaching on Saturday. The forecast looks offshore, so this means no waves for the weekend, and 2XS suggest that the event will have more distance racing. You can keep up to date on changes on the 2XS website (www.2xs.co.uk).

Sunday is a day for the riders to show their skills in the expression session, and their stamina in a longer distance paddle race. Let’s see if all those who have been eating their Grasshopper Porridge last longer, like the Duracel bunny...

Patrice Guenole from Gong will be attending the event. Here is some footage of him making with the moves on flat water. If you are going this weekend have a look and pick up some tips: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s_wmxh5LOM.

Grasshopper supports National Windsurfing Week

The first ever UK National Windsurfing Week is being held between the 3rd and 11th May. Grasshopper is keen to be involved and get down to the beach to support Team Grasshopper’s Jem Hall. Jem will be giving free tuition at West Wittering beach on Saturday 3rd May, at Boardwise in Cannock in Staffs on Thursday 8th May and then back to West Wittering on Saturday 10th May. Jem will have lots of porridge for the hungry windsurfers as he puts them through their paces.

Grassy will also make sure that everyone who is on West Wittering beach taking part in National Windsurfing Week will get a free feed of porridge to warm them up after a cold water session. The boys at 2XS beach hut (www.2xs.co.uk) will have plenty to share.

Check out the official National Windsurfing Week website: www.nationalwindsurfingweek.org

A trip back to our old school to inspire the pupils...

Abi & I left school 17 years ago. When were invited back to give a talk about Grassy we wondered if going there would be like getting sucked down a wormhole and landing in the mid 80s (if you’re thinking ‘what was so bad about the 80s?’ then you weren’t there). The reality was a fabulous surprise…Our favourite teachers were perfectly preserved as if they had been sleeping in the next pod to Sigourney Weaver in Alien (Mr Campbell is still quietly subversive and Miss Hunter more glamorous) The building was the same but better (Miss Newton’s art-room has mutated into something resembling the Great Court at The British Museum) and PHS girls were just the same except much much trendier. When I was a 6th former we modelled our look on Lady Diana (before she met Charles) and now they all look like the pretty one in Skins. Lunch in the staff room was pretty weird, as was being invited to call the teachers by their first names (I didn’t ever realise they had them). Mrs Spender gave us such a warm welcome and a lovely day that we can’t wait to go back. PHS…Grasshopper loves you.

Grasshopper's trip to the beeb

Grasshopper had an awesome field trip this week filming as guests on ‘Ready Steady Cook’. We were asked to go on by the Beeb and of course we said yeah. The chefs were going to use our chosen ingredients for the ‘quickie bag’ (if you haven’t seen the show since Dale Winton presented ‘Supermarket Sweep’…times have changes)

Ainsley came and gave us a hug and a luvvie mwaa mwaa on the cheeks,  then went off to make up and Fleur got wired up with a microphone.  I was relieved that she would do the talking and I had to just smile and nod in an enthusiastic manner (my forte). Before us, the stars had their 20 minute cook slot. The stars were Kate Garraway (the TV presenter from ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ who won the nation’s hearts through her endearing lack of skill
Questions:

Did it all happen in 20 minutes?
Nope, they cut and the chefs get pots/pans/plates ready, more makeup, some swearing etc. They did all the cooking in the 20 minutes though.

Is the voting for real?
Yeah! They take shots of you voting, and shots of you clapping and looking round at the scores in anticipation (remember to sit up, smile and look very interested)

Did Fleur’s microphone work when we were mucking around in the green room and impersonating Ainsley?
We really hope not.

Fleur was like a TV pro, and had the chefs chatting with her as they made some bits and bobs out of oats, apples, and rhubarb. Ainsley had a chat with her and she was great, and then she went down to the chefs and tried the food and said constructive things like “it's good…but not as good as mums.”

When we were waiting for the studio cameras to perfect a food shot I spoke with Anton (Strictly Come dancer) and mentioned (on purpose) that Fleur could do the Foxtrot and the Cha Cha Cha (we both can). He swept over to her and did the Cha Cha Cha with her. She didn’t put a foot wrong!

We had a great Grasshopper day out, our first TV appearance. Next stop Richard and Judy...

Maui, Hawaii...

Most of the UK saw some snow at the weekend. Our brother, Johnny got married in the drizzle on Saturday and then we woke in Esher on Sunday to find the hotel grounds looking like Narnia. There were still a few stray snow flakes floating past the office window this morning as I Skyped Maui, Hawaii. John Hibbard, one of our Team Grasshopper guys, had sent grasshopper some photos of his grassy porridge pot from the beachfront of Maui. I asked him about the weather and he said it was changeable at the moment, but I have no doubt he was wearing his boardies when he said this, so I had no sympathy for him.

A big thank you to John. He has been a great support to Grasshopper and his van may always be rammed full of windsurfing and SUPS gear but you will always find some Grassy pots squirreled away there too! Between him and his girlfriend Gill (who took Grasshopper up Everest last year and got an amazing photo) they are scoring high on the great-photo-ometer. If you reckon you can do better then you know what you have to do: find a part of the globe that Grasshopper has not infiltrated and take some good photos. Email them to me at abigail@teamgrasshopper.co.uk.

Fleur talks about Grasshopper on BBC Radio London

Today I was Vanessa Feltz's guest on BBC London radio.
My cup runneth over.
Am I self-promoting? Yes
Did mum take a photograph of Vanessa Feltz on the BBC webcam with my hand in the corner of the shot to show nana? Yes
Am I hungry for more? You bet.
Ainsley Harriott...check
Vanessa Feltz...check
Who should be our next celebrity target?...you decide:

A: Judy Finnegan
B: Sir Robert Winston or
C: Terry Nutkins