Just plain bad – 29 June 2011
After a solid two months of swell I supposed this was to be expected. Absolutely horrible conditions. Seriously bad.
Grom Size – 21 June 2011
Little baby waves at Queensie today. Unless you are 14 years old, way 30kgs or have a board the size of a small naval vessel I would leave it today. The queensie groms were in the water and killing it. Ahhh… to be that young and light again.
Photo Update – 8 Days of June
East Swell North Steyne 3rd June – Right
East Swell North Steyne 3rd June – Left
Little lonely one 7 June
The whole gang – 7 June
Sunrise 8 June
Airs 8 June
A little visitor on his way up north.
June opens it’s account
…. and with some gusto!
Image from Sprout Daily.
Hi Winter – Face Punch!
Rouge sets down south
Not very inviting
Seasons Change
Late May has flown by by with more good size swells and south westers. Seems like the day that June hit things turned ugly with a 5 day south easter. But tomorrow we are forecast to turn back to south westers and at 4 or 5 feet. Can’t complain about that.
This is how May ended….
May 28
A few photos from the same session…..
Dee Why autumn gold
The Cuttlefish off the top
The Cuttlefish cuttin’ it back
Such a nice day for photogs
May 27 (I think – I get hit in the head a lot)
Toes on the nose – Manly
Mals bros sharing the wave
May 18 Early
Big increase in swell overnight. 2 to 3 meters of ocean swell straight out of the south. For Manly this means a solid 5 to 6ft on the beach but, elsewhere on the beaches it’s f’n-large. Queensie Bommy gave a few indications of what was out there during my early with Al. A few rouge sets cleaned up the punters on the beach too.
The first half hour from 6 to 6:30 was definitely the best of it this morning. Some lazy paddling saw me go top to bottom on a set for my first wave and slam down onto the bank. With such a long period, allegedly 17 seconds, waves were powerful and moving fast.
My second wave was the bell ringer though. In fact, the rest of the session was pretty much ‘who cares’ after that.
I spotted a wave framing to stand up early in the rip bowl and paddled for it, hard this time. Got in early as the wave stood up on the bank. Dropped into the right hander and let it run out on the flat, I adjusted my foot placement a little after take off so I let it run out a little longer than I normally would. I set into a big bottom turn as the wave started to barrel in behind me. Back up the face I snapped into a stalling top turn as the barrel tunneled over me. I was cocooned in bottle green water, sparkling in the dawn light, with a clear view of Queenscliff out the end of the barrel. Postcard shit negro.
The wave was such a good size that I didn’t really need to crouch and my board was tucked into the face well out of the foam and turbulence lower down. Easy trimming. The higher line I took into the barrel meant I had a shit-tone of speed as the wave kept pealing away in front of me. I realised I was a good chance of making it out of this one if I kept my head. I had time for little pump as the wave folded on the inside back and came sailing out into clear air. I straightened up as the final section of the wave shut down behind me. I resisted the urge to fist pump (just) and flopped back into the whitewater in a state of euphoria. Easily my barrel of 2011 and perhaps the best I have had since a day that haunts on the North Coast, another story.
So I have spent the day reliving this one wave, few moments. The memory is already fading, each time a little less vivid. Trying to maintain my warm stoke for as long as I can.
A few shots from after I paddled in to finish this post. A day starting with a barrel and ending with a glass of red wine. Pure.
right standing up on the bank
a rare unridden one
a beautiful autumn day in M-Town
Oh, and for reference, this was happening elsewhere this morning – OK everybody, tuck your pants into your socks.
Longy Bombie
Dee Why point – I have it on good authority this wave almost killed Cuttlefish.
7:30 am: OMG the surf is awesome again! Get out there! Pics later! DANG! Got the greatest barrel this morning! Zing Zing! Go! More soon! Go Go Go!
May 16 Clean Twinny Session
Beautiful morning with a small southerly well and pretty high tide. Perfect morning for a trim on the twinny.
Bungan Adventure
Saturday morning 6:15 – The Cuttlefish, T-Break and I packed the boards and wetties into Tilly and headed for Bungan, good times and cold surf. We made it about two hundred meters down the road before Tilly broke down. I feel it should be said that it wasn’t really Tilly’s fault, Cuttlefish was being a bit mean to her.
After pushing Tilly back into a parking space we did a quick car swap. Onward!
The Bungan rewarded our commitment to vintage motoring and travel with some pretty solid swell which was increasing in size and intensity through out the entire session. I snapped these of T-Break and Cuttlefish near the end of the session, would have been 5-6ft by then. Smacking the the bank like Ike Turner.
T-Break
Cuttlefish setting up
T-Break’s final close out of the day. Heroic stuff.
14 May 2011
You there! Go Surfing!
Really, there is surf today, May 16 2011 and a south westerly all day. Go!
He who hesitates is lost.
So I’ve been pretty crook for the last 7 days. Fucked up fluey head, feeling pretty weak and generally battling. Sympathy can be forwarded to Africa.
This illness has kept me out of the water since May 3rd (see below). It’s given me seven days to reflect on that big swell and the events of my morning surf that day. The stark reality of it is, I nearly drowned. No, this time I wasn’t just pretending.
Now, I’m Sydney born and bred. It’s not a big wave town, but having said that, I don’t pull back on many round here. Sure, I’m not fit for Pipe, but I can handle myself on a mean reef break and bigger swells don’t bother me that much. Maybe.
So, on the morning of May 3rd Al and I arrived at North Steyne prepared to see some pretty big surf for Sydney. The swell had peaked the night before at 8-10ft and was forecast to be around 8ft by morning. For Old Sydney Town this is pretty big, a once a year sort of swell, but on the world scale I guess it’s nothing to write home about, whatever.
So, we arrived at North Steyne in the dark at 6am, there were already about 20 dudes on the beach front watching the waves roll in. Old, young, in between. Everyone just watching. Al and I watched for a while It was too dark to paddle out straight away. It looked pretty big and was hitting the North Steyne bank pretty hard and hollow. The worrisome ones where bigger and peaked at the Bommy, breaking out as a big left about half way between Queenscliff and North Steyne pipe. Then closing out most of the beach. These boys were looking grey and mean and although there was no in the water yet, they were basically clean up sets.
The first thing that worried me was that, as the sun came up and there was easily enough light to surf, the crowd on the wall didn’t head for their boards like they usually would. They just stood and watched without even looking like they would be suiting up. Weird. About 5 or so dudes took the plunge in the first 15 minutes of light and got some pretty nice waves. Still no one moved.
I was like, fuck it, I came here early for waves. I want to paddle out. I could see Al was the same. We headed for the car and then the beach. Boards in hand we stood on the shore line. This was a new perspective. From sea level the waves seemed more real, intimidating. The grey sky and frothing water adding an unhelpful amount of mean ambiance to the scene.
Al picked the lull and jumped straight in. Digging deep across the bank to get out of the danger zone. I saw him duck dive the first two waves and then lost him in the foam. Later he told me he got out relatively unscathed. Fucker.
I hesitated. Did a few stretches. I was buying myself time. I saw getting scared. Al was gone, the 30 dudes on the wall where still there, I was alone on the beach. Shit was getting real.
Fuck you fucking fuck, I thought. I am not walking back up the beach past all those cunts. I didn’t come here not to paddle out. I had laid in bed all night waiting for this, I knew what was up.
In hit the water before my resolve collapsed completely. There was a tonne of water moving close in, swirling eddies to my left and right as I paddled towards the bank. I knew I was at the start of the bank as the water became calm. With nothing too threatening looming I began my sprint across the shallow bank to the relative safety of the deeper water. Things where going ok. I was moving with the rip quickly across the bank, deep stokes, I was committed, about two thirds of the way across.
I don’t know why but I spotted it late. Really late. A loomer had raised the horizon and the boys in the line up where already paddling for safety. I started doing the physics in my head. The depth of the water, the speed of the wave, the size of the thing. There was only one solution to the this simultaneous equation. I was mother fucked.
I paddled hard towards it as it stood up on the bank, big, big, face. easily double over head standing up on the shallow sandy bank. It was one of the big left handed close outs I watched butcher the beach from safety of the wall. Mistake 1: With the wave 15 feet in front of me I froze. At the exact moment I should have bailed off my board and swam down and grabbed the bottom I did – exactly – nothing. A second passed and I was back in reality. I began to duck dive as deep as I could, it was ridiculous. How deep did I think I was going to get? 4ft – 5tf under? This wave was standing over me at least 10 to 15 feet and moving fast. My effort was optimistic, heroic, futile.
Under the water there was an earie quite. I knew the storm was coming. In the end the wave broke about 10 feet in front of me. My underwater zen quiet was shattered by the sound of the lip smashing the surface with a crack. Still turned to chaos.
Underwater, the shock wave tore the board from my hands first. The wave was so much more powerful than I expected. It cartwheeled me, not rolled me, I mean end over end, three times before pushing me down. This was brutal but I was relaxed. I know fighting the initial impact of any wipeout is fruitless. The ocean has you and fighting it is just a waste of oxygen.
The push down held me on the bottom as the turbulence was rushing over me. I was starting to feel tight in the chest. I began to stress. Swim towards the surface. I was getting desperate. Bouncing off the bottom I hit more turbulence that held me longer. I was seeing stars. I was low on oxygen. My closed eyes had lights flashing in them, lungs aching for air. My earlier composure under water was lost. I was not playing it cool. I was hurting.
I fought arms and legs to the surface, breaking it with a gasp. My vision tunneling out. B-a-t-t-l-i-n-g. I broke the surface with a giant breath. Turning my head to see the second set crash in front of me. I took another gasp of air and got pummeled again. The first wave had been the worst, the second just pushed me closer to shore away from danger. I was grateful.
I came up in the channel and took breaths. Beautiful breaths (te he he beautiful breasts – ahem). I gathered in my board and limped in to shore. Wounded. Exhausted.
I headed for the car tail between my legs. Grabbed the camera started to document the mornings swells. I was rocked.
My buddy Justin was on the beach. He was trying to soften the blow “to be fair, that set was the biggest set that’s broken in the last our” he said. That was nice of him. I was a pussy.
I watched Al take off on a few waves. He took a late drop and snapped his board on his second last wave. He said he could feel his board flexing under him as he took off on his final wave and straightened out for the beach. His surf was a success compared to mine but no success story.
I greeted him at the wall and showed him a few picks huddled in to the back of my camera.
I felt bad I hadn’t followed him in without question.
May 4th – Nice and easy….
It’s come off yesterdays peak and now manly is just fun town. The crowd is back also, but hey, welcome to Manly!
Heavy Banks – 3rd May
It’s big and heavy on the beachy today but if you choose carefully there is some gold on offer.
Don’t be fooled though, it’s pretty mean on that bank.
The Peak – 2nd May
Sunrise Monday morning, is it still building?
I waited a little while and few nice clean ones came through.
Then they started to pump in…. and they where hitting the bank super hard, but hollow as. This sucker closed out half the beach.
This one is more representative of what was on offer, and yes, there is a dude in this barrel, and yes, he came sailing out the end a few frames later. I need a longer lens so bad!
Here’s a shot from The Sprout which shows, with much better photography, just how nice it was.
What a classic east coast day. The good news is it’s supposed to hang around for a bit. Don’t miss it!
The Froth – 30 April
As predicted, the swell began to build starting Saturday morning. I had an early bower session with a 3-4 foot south swell delivering some nice, but far between sets. The swell stayed around this level all of Saturday as the crowd built, waiting. The photo below was taken from South Manly about 5 on Saturday.
Maybe it’s not coming?
So Saturday left us with no real action, although an above average surfing day was had. I spent the final moments of sunlight standing on the South Manly walkway watching this poor kid attempt to rock-off South Manly point. Needless to say, the attempt ended in complete disaster. To add to the comedy there were 30 or so spectators standing to my left, out of shot, watching this poor grom get pummeled. His mate standing on the rock was laughing heartily.
Although I was thoroughly amused by all this I must confess: I have tried to rock-off in the same spot, to the same end.
Easter/ ANZAC long weekend
Bit of a downer on Surf over the long weekend. Conditions where right for the first few days but the swell didn’t come to the party. Monday/ Tuesday and the wind turned south east and that pretty much spelled the end of any real surf hope.
Two-Up at Harbord Diggers saved the day for Monday. Let’s see what the rest of this very short week holds for us!!
Hold the phone – looks like we might get some love after all!
SSE wind ca fuck off though!
Monday 18 April 2011
Ahhhh the stormy weather of the weekend has passed and left us a little ray of gold this Monday morning.
The rare aqua dwelling DGA was even present to grab a few nuggets.
Told you it was good!
Even this local dog was stoked!
How could so many people be so wrong?
Weekend forecast lied. The swell is so south it’s going right by Sydney and the wind is SSE making thing ugly. I paddled out for an hour and hooked a few shoreys but I’m certainly not going to writing home about my surf today. Enjoy the slop.
Weekend forecast looks the goods
15-April-2011
Get…. out… there….. It’s already fun and what’s coming is going to be even better.
Bank at North Steyne started to work as I left.
O’Neill CWC Scotland 11 – Day 1
Looks epic!
Other angles….
13 April 2011
Committed early surfing but recent absentee Charles and I headed out for the 6am shift this morning. Conditions where amazing but, again, no swell. The little pulse of ESE goodness that was supposed to help us out untill the weekend is either late or has called in sick.
A beautiful day to be in the water all the same. Got a few cheaky ones. My run yesterday ensured I was surfing with all the suppleness of the Tin Man. Knees that bend, can I borrow some?
The tide was highish going low which wasn’t helping the cause. A few shallow banks at the south end had the best of it. Ill head back down after lunch and see if Huey has woken up yet.
Tilly needs good vibes sent her way!
Tilly is in combie hospital. Cutts is devo’d.
Saturday Early – 10 April 2011
TXT to Cutty: I am about to take the fish for a paddle at North Steyne if you are up?
TXT from Cutty: Ha, yeah I am am but I don’t have a car so it will be Dee Weed for me. We’ll surf spiritually together. I am on the Mal today.
TXT to Cutty: I’m coming up now.
Super small south easterly swell, 1-2 foot ocean and a south wester – beautiful conditions: just not for surfing.
Proof that no matter what the conditions there is always some one sitting on Dee Why point.
These two had the right tools for the job today!
A few tiny fun ones on the fat boards. Water is still so warm you would just be silly to waste days like this.
If the sea is flat look to the sky…..
Nicaragua: Sterling & Nate
06 April 2011
I bit the bullet and got up for the early despite the forecast saying it was going to pretty ordinary. It was, but I’m glad I did it. Was nice to float around and hook into a few waist high ones. A really light south wester and a few feet of south swell made it super smooth at North Steyne. Low tide meant they were pretty fast along the bank with a few fun end sections. Pretty spectacular sky as the sun came up.
Bad habbits of rushing take-offs where back in the small surf today. Anoying foot placement problems.
Long days…..
Straight up, it looks like wind is going to be onshore all week. A little rain each day is keeping the trails out of action too. It’s tough out there people.
I hung out here for a bit today to kill some time. It worked. Now I have to work out what to do with time’s body.
Great Pic – San Fran: Cold Gold
Photo form SeaLegged.
Edit: Mmmm just found a stack of Caramel nosing my scotch. Gold Label = WIN!
Nate Tyler INNERSECTION [directors cut]
It kills.
West OZ Biiiiiirrrrelllssss!
Ottis Media…..
…or commonly known as a middle ear infection, is what I gained from a great little surf on Friday morning. The water was a murky deep brown, the colour of Turkish coffee, the bank was shallow, and the searing sun was doing it’s best to penetrate the 2-3 foot peaks so that I could see my feet. To no avail. The sets were screaming down the bank into a guaranteed barrel or shutdown, and I was out frothing like this guy in the little chocolate tubes….
- Falstaff
26-03-2011
Manly beachy with Al. Straight on about 3 to 4 foot. Rip bowl at North Steyne had better lefts than rights. Got a lot of waves but mostly close outs. One really nice barrel – didn’t quite squeeze out of it. Set it up with a big stall. Was nice long keg. Just closed me down at the end. Dang!
23-03-2011
I am not sure if anyone else has noticed this or maybe it’s just my imagination. Whatever. I am sure that Huey sends through one final set at sunset each day to mark the end of the surfing day. I have seen it a heap of times particularly on bigger days. You are out, it’s getting really dark, everyone is pretty much looking for their last wave and BAM! Two dark shapes rise out of the horizon, break big and wide, and clean everyone up. It happened today to end the evening session at Bower.
The Sentinels.
23-03-2011
A quick update. Checked bower at 6 in the dark. Swell has dropped off a little from yesterday. Tide was super low and bower wasn’t really doing it’s thing. Headed over to the beach front and paddled out at North Steyne just south of the rip bowl. It was surprisingly sizey solid 4-5th sets with a couple of bombs thrown in. On the low tide it was just a little too straight. Really closing down on the bank with a few heavy sections. Nice westerly winds were there and as the tide rises I think it will improve. Swell is straight out of the east with a pretty reasonable period.
As I drove to work 2 hours later I saw bower was starting to work on the turn of the tide. The beachy will be better too.
Looks like I will missing the best of it today.
Got 4 waves in half an hour. Two close outs, one bail over with the lip and one which held up over the bank and I got a nice wall to ride in.
Edit: Just spoke to Cutts. Apparently DeeWhy point is firing.
Things are looking good for at least some swell and north/west winds for the rest of the week. Another lift in swell forecast for saturday!
22-03-2011
Early Bower session with Al. 4-5ft+ light Northerly wind. Paddled out in the dark about 6.15am and straight away where rewarded for our trouble. Really solid sets rolling in over the boils. Again only 2 out of the three wally sections working properly but still pretty rad. It felt good to get some really nice big rail to rail turns in today. Got to get that back foot driving harder though.
Update:
Apparently swell continued to build through the morning – This shot was taken near the Bra later in the day. Safe to say this looks well in excess of the size predictions!
Coutesy of Coastal Watch: With a solid swell running in Sydney, Maroubra local Jesse Pollock found this bomb off a nearby rock ledge yesterday morning. Despite the promising lines in this shot, things got ugly just a few frames later as the wave mutated and pinched, according to photographer Bill Morris.
18-03-2011
So today Cutts and I jumped in the car and headed down south. The forecast was for a nice lift in swell and a pretty nasty southerly wind. We thought – South Coast southern corners would be the go so we packed up at 6 and headed down the coast (in some pretty serious rain).
Let’s just say that the accuracy of the the original forecast was a little off. The swell was there…although the period was shorter than we expected…. but the wind was killing us. Instead of the southerly/ South westerly we had hoped for it was pretty much howling on shore from the east. If there was south in it at all it was by degrees only.
We made it as far as Kiama checking through Shoal haven and the little state park there. We pretty much found junky heaving on-shore close outs on every beach. The wind was shutting us down. We decided to roll the dice one last time and headed north again to check Sandon Point in Nrth W-Gong. It’s pretty well protected from a southerly wind and can straighten out a lumpy swell on it’s day. No luck. 30+ guys in the water fighting over surf you wouldn’t wish on your mother in-law. Fuck it. We headed of for a coffee in Thirroul and had pretty much given up on surfing for the day. Coffee was good.
That was it we thought and headed back to manly. A 4 hour round trip for not one minute in the water. Bummer. But fate has a thing for irony so our little drive would take one last turn before the day was through. We got back to Manly and I was like – f@ck-it, lets just check the bower. Now I’m not sure if it was the drive, or the absolutely terrible surf we had seen earlier but suddenly bower wasn’t looking so bad. There was no one out, it was a little on shore but hey, between the two of us – this could work!
So we paddle out and hooked into a few lively cross shore sets straight away. Stoked! The wind kept dropping and as the wave wrapped into the rocks the walls where cleaning up and lining up nicely. I’d say 2 of the three boils/ wally parts of the bower were lining up. Not bad considering. So two hours later we had turned the day around completely. We’d caught our fill of waves and with tired arms headed for the car and Mexican for dinner.
I guess this was a lesson in not giving up – or just copping it and paddling out – or algebra. I’m really not sure.
In the beginning….
So I decided to start a surfing journal for the winter. I usually don’t surf much through summer these days because the crowds near my place are nuts and the surf is piss weak between about December and March. So really summer is a recipe for severe surfing depression if you take it too seriously. But winter is here again so the cold kills the crowds and mother nature gets on board with some waves. My favourite time of year to be in the water.
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