Closely overlooking blowhole, tip of Shag Rock headland, nr Perranporth (improved)

(Improved version of https://freesound.org/people/Philip_Goddard/sounds/663653/ , at last with correct degree of stereo widening, resulting in much improved solidity and clarity of the soundstage.)

Powerful blowhole jets at close quarters from precarious cliff-edge position, driven by a muscular swell — greatly thrilling to be down there with all that going on!

To hear this properly you need high-grade headphones, and to have the volume setting about 6dB above a sensible normal level for a realistic rendition of symphonic orchestral music.

I made this recording on 11 January 2014 on the tip of the Shag Rock headland near Perranporth, Cornwall, UK — having previously had the odd recording sessions (with thrilling recordings gained) from more like the position of the camera in the photo below, just south-west of the headland. The headland tip had always looked to me to be too dangerous for any sensible mortal to visit, but then on the odd occasion I noticed that there were the odd tiny human specks down there — indeed clearly anglers, presumably dangling their lines down that low and sea-battered bit of cliff.

This was the occasion that I finally plucked up courage and very cautiously ventured down to where I'd thought only lunatics would go! It was certainly quite precarious, but no worse than a fair amount of Scottish Highlands steep rocky terrain I'd been on. On that occasion I'd been delayed on my hike from Portreath by various things, and it was already early dusk when I arrived, so there was no question of getting a photo of the recorder in loco then.

This earlier photo from the south-west at least points to where I'd put the recorder. The jet of spray is primarily from the blowhole — and it can go quite a bit higher than that, so great care has to be exercised in recorder placement to ensure that it doesn't get a soaking or even get knocked off and washed away, indeed perhaps along with me!

More recent photo of exact cliff-edge spot where the recorder was placed for this recording, overlooking the prominent outlying rock

As I arrived down there I encountered a couple of anglers already established there — actually father and young son, and they were peaceful and quiet, and indeed very respectful of what I was aiming to do there, so it was clear that I wouldn't have recording disturbances from their quarter. They'd actually arrived down there at 8.0 a.m. (it was now about 4.30 p.m.), and they were going to stay on in the dark there till 11.0 p.m. — Wow, what devotion / enthusiasm!

Once I'd got the recorder running on a suitably exposed prominence on the cliff edge just round the corner (see arrow in photo above), I came back to father and son, and we had a sporadic hushed conversation as we listened to the muscular writhing of the swell around us on three sides — most of the waves not crashing against this little headland, but a fair number hitting the main cliffs immediately to the south-west.

I well understood why those two were to be out in this crazy place for such a long time, the last few hours in the dark. These were no commonplace one-track-mind anglers. Rather, they were out for this wild, invigorating and inspiring total nature experience, and the angling was more just a superficial motivator for them to get down there.

I was nervous about the gathering dark, as I had only a very old and feeble head-torch, and would have to retrieve the recorder from a spot where I felt quite nervous at its exposure when I placed it — but I was determined to hang on till 5.15 if at all possible. I suppose, my own personal version of playing 'chicken'! Anyway, having fulfilled my self-dare, I did retrieve the recorder just past 5.15. I was really in no more danger than when I set it up, because I simply kept aware of the hazards and took things sensibly slowly.

Then it was a careful pull up that steep mountain terrain back to the coast path, to finish with my hitch-hike from Perranporth back to Exeter. I just felt a slight tinge of having missed out hugely by not having also gone down there similarly at 8.0 a.m. and staying till 11.0 p.m.; it seemed just so damned therapeutic to be there with all that going on all around!

Techie stuff:
The recorder was a Sony PCM-M10, with Røde Deadkitten furry windshield (original, more effective version), and it was placed on a Hama mini tripod.

Initial post-recording processing was to apply an EQ curve to compensate for muffling from the furry windshield, and much more recently it's had stereo widening / sharpening processing to 160% width with A1 Stereo Control

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