3hrs sleep, 300kms and 3 puffers

I had had wed and Thursday off to go away for my 7 yr anniversary so thought i might take Friday as well and get some waves down south, it was supposed to be small 2+ ft but offshore.
I had to work Thur night though so crawled into bed just after 1 am and set the alarm for ten past 4.

My alarm wasn't all that well received but i trundled out of bed and began my solo trip.
Mt Compass had a nice little bit of fog.



Got to Knights just as the sun was starting to show



It wasn't looking very good, watched it for about 10 mins and it was too straight and too small





Travelled further south to Parsons, It was a bit wobbly and the banks were pretty shite. Only one person out




Travelled back to waitpinga and it looked slightly better there,clean with a slight wobble but head high, peaky left and rights so suited up and went out. First couple waves were all right, nothing special then got a nice left and hit a decent roll with some good projection. couple more waves then the bloody wind shifted east south east and i had to put up with apple crumbles. Occasionally one opened up a little but it was a bit disappointing. Took some snaps when i got out.






Surfed for a few hours then thought I'd try for a fish on the other side of the peninsular

'Lush'....not a word often heard in SA..i wonder why






Got a few fish but it was too clear and calm and bloody hot standing on the jetty,


Packet up and got home about 330pm. A very enjoyable day off but a little underwhelming on the surf front

No more stormies

Well, i reckon ill give up on stormies. They used to be so much fun but lately they never seem to deliver. Not sure what it is but theres been no shape and the waves have had the worst quality. Went out last weekend with Phil. Christies had a little stormy wave but we went to southport for a bit more size. Turned out we should have stayed at christies as southport didnt deliver. Christies was too small to really have any fun on but we did make one barrel each so i suppose that is better than nothing.

Raaaaahhhhh

Still frustratingly unable to get a good surf in. Went down to victor harbour a couple of weeks back with the family to see if we could spot some whales. Was only one around a long way out from bashams beach so wasnt all that exciting. Managed to squeeze my board in so got a quick hour at knights. The beach was missing a lot of sand so the foreshore was pretty much just rocks and the waves were breaking a lot further out than normal. The wind was a puff onshore and the waves in the 2-3 ft category. Was a bit crowded so just hung wide and picked up some of the wider wedges and closeouts just to keep my wave count up cause i only had an hour. Better than nothing though so i guess i cant complain too much.

Went out on Sunday just gone too, cracker swell predicted, but didnt have enough time to go down south and watch the heatworks pro at knights. So i dragged my bros sorry arses out of bed at 5am and was hopping to get high tide christies Y steps. I checked the bouy before i left and there was 4.5 m around and the wind was offshore so i was pretty sure that it would be working. Unfortunatley the swell must have been more south than southwest and it just didnt happen. it was a slow weak swell refracting around Kangaroo island and christies just didnt have enough waves of a reasonable size. Went round to southport and tried to make the most of the rest of the session on some wind affected 2 footers, managed to pop a nice air on my first wave out but after that it was pretty frustrating. I'm quite pissed today that the surf didnt co operate. I really needed a decent wave, its been very slim picking for quality this year when i have time to get out. Even more madening because there has been some good swell around this winter. RaaaaaaaaaaaHHHHHHH

A few embarrassingly small waves at southport









And some crap footage from at christies

Desperate times

Havent had much time for a wave of late, Got out last week for a quick one on the pathetic mid. Northely affected southport. A few fun peaks here and there but a long way from being good still. Was good enough for a paddle though and at least almost feel like i was bodyboarding. Got a few small barrels in front of the clubhouse for a while then moved over to the hump for some slightly larger closeouts. Propably averaging around 2 ft with the odd set pushing 3. Just an easy paddle into a hard bottom turn for the closeout. fairly ordinary in all. New westuit is soo good though. really keeps the body temp toasty despite having no feeling in the toes.
No pics as i didnt take the cam out.

Suit of armour

Plenty of offshore winds down Victor harbour lately but i just haven't had the time to get down there. With another week of offshores predicted i couldn't resist any longer. It was time to put on the suit of armour at knights. I haven't surfed there for soooo long so was excited but as always way out of practice. This surf would have to be one of the most enjoyable surfs I've had for years. For once i wasn't in a hurry to leave so no 430am alarm. I wasn't in a hurry to get back home for some other duties or work or anything, and its winter and midweek so i didn't have to worry about crowds.

Left home a bit before 9am and got down there at about 1030. A light breeze from the ENE greeted us along with some 2-3ft wedges. The sun was out and a small crowd of about 8 was in the water. It wasn't long though until the crowd reduced to about 5.

Admittedly i didn't have any epic waves or do anything fancy but i was really just trying to relax and enjoy myself. The only dampener on the day was that i was feeling a bit crook and nauseated and probably annoying everyone with my coughing.

First wave was just a small fat wedge that didnt do anything. Next up was a bit of a straight hander but a nice open closeout. Next wave i failed a roll which im sure looked pretty funny. I was getting into the right handers which surprisingly i wasnt kooking like normal. About forth wave in, I scored a nice little shack and shot out just before the closeout. Tucked into a few more through the day and had a fun time re-aquainting myself with knights. Hope i can get there again soon.

I took the gopro out ater a while but the swell had reduced in size a little and a slight onshore breeze had developed. Waves were still ok though but i probably would have gotten better footage if i had taken the camera out straight away.

Below is the vid i made from the session and a few more photos can be seen on the riptide forum
http://www.riptidemag.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4358

Sunday surf

Today my church was the ocean, the congregation the waves and my communion the saltwater :)

Went to the mid with my bro and we got a couple of fun waves here and there, plenty of swell around but it was onshore about 15knots. Started at Southport at low tide but even though there were some headhigh plus sets going through the tide quickly ruined it and fun peaks with cloeseout sections turned into fat waves that wouldnt break.

Moved onto Ysteps which was the plan anyway but it was too small when we arrived and got some fun ones there.
Not too busy but still busy enough, got some fun ones but by no means got the best of it. Wasnt in the right spot on the sets so the good ones went to the other boogers. Fair few dropins were witnessed which is a shame, Saw one fella drop in and get taking down with the lip most likely landing on or very close to the person who was in the barrel. Was a pretty fun day though and the sun was out and was chatting to a freindly fella at southport for a while. Good to share some stoke and surf with people who are just thrilled to be in the ocean, no agro, no attitude. Its what surfing should be like all the time.
Took pics for all of 2 mins after i got out. click on em to make them bigger (blogger will most likely cut them in half in the small view (so craap blogger for pictures)

Ive been working on the railway

Surfed Railways the other day with my bro who's been out of the water a couple of months with a dodgy back. Stoked he could get in the water again. What it is with the victor region when I'm there. The winds are never quite right even when its supposed to be offshore all day. Instead of being NE/NW winds it was straight east and then southeast. Not very strong but just enough to stop the waves standing proud. Found myself a little bank to myself with some backwashy closeouts. Was a bit of fun. On one wave i got hit by the shockie and the backwash at the same time which sent me into an involuntary barrel roll while already inside the barrel. Was fairly amusing. One wave the backwash hit the lip just after it pitch and made the wave throw twice as far as it would have normally. It looked fairly spectacular from where i was inside he he, I would have got footage of it but my gopro clip snapped as i was clipping it to the board. Ive no idea how that happened as its hardly got excessive use. Not having much luck with that thing. Anyway was a little bit of fun as always and so good to be in the ocean.

Waitpinga

Surfed waitpinga on Sunday morning. The wind wasnt really cooperating and was very westerly giving the waves a bit of a wobbble. There were some good ones around but they were rare. Size was in the 2-3ft category. Didnt surf particularly well this day, kept taking too high a line and getting flipped in the barrel, I'm too out of practice. Hopefully get a few more surfs in soon and ireon out the creases in my surfing. Great to be out in the water again though. Big pod of dolphins was swimming and circling us and surfing the waves. Always love it when the dolphins are around.

Took a couple of pics from the top of the hill before i went out. Nothing very good, auto focus and long distances equal fail. It was still early and dark to the images are of poor quality

Mid coast grovels

Its been ages since i was in the water. 66 odd days so when i saw this swell comming i knew it was time. Just been too busy with work and kids so made sure i had a bit of time to get amongst it.


I only had time to go on the mid but i wasnt sure what day would be best. Was a bit worried that the swell would slip a little too far south and might miss the small window that allows swell to get around kangaroo island and into adelaide so i went and checked it out on friday and sunday.

On friday, it was only 1-2ft and slightly onshore but i didnt mind. First wave i'd had for 2 months so just jumping in the water felt amazing. got some fat right handers then when the tide dropped sussed out a little bank that was opening up a bit offereing some punchy but small closeouts.

I tempted Murphey on sunday and didnt take the gopro out. Murpheys law says that if i took the camera i wouldnt get good waves and if i left it behind id get good waves but not be able to record them. As it turned out, Sunday was better, wind was offshore, swell was bigger. Picked up my brother and we got down there before sunrise. The tide was a bit too full so we ended up at seaford which is not usually a wave i would choose to surf but it was looking pretty nice. It got to around 2-3 ft and was clean as a whistle early but also very crowded. Still managed to sneak plenty of nice waves though and had a few barrels and cloeouts, some rolls and some spins. pretty fun sesh, then we headed to southport beachie. There was good size but the wind had drifted to a slight onshore which made the waves a bit crumbly bey it stayed fairly clean. Got a few waves there and found some sections to roll off before calling it a day. We took my brothers camera out and got some snaps but right near the end of the session it stopped working and looks to have taken on a bit of water. Dont know if we'l ever see the photos..Damn olympus waterproof cameras, almost everyone tht has them say they break in a year or so. Overall was soo glad to get a surf again. Cant wait for the next one. There are a couple of swells on the horizon Yeeew

An old surf tale

In the absence of getting any surf lately here is an old surf story from a couple of years back

Me and my bro Phil finally managed to get down to the Yorke peninsular on the weekend after nearly 2 years of being too busy. The trip got off to a pretty crappy start and we nearly didn’t get in the water. We were both itching to take off on Friday but Phil had a gig so we didn’t leave Adelaide till about midnight. The 300km 3 and a bit hour trip through kangaroo country was nice and un-eventful and we rocked up at the national park around 3am. We needed to pay entry fees and camping fees so we hopped out the car and filled the little envelopes with some coin and stuck the sticker on the windscreen. Get back in the car and turn the key………………..nothing ... but a strange clicking noise and 15 kms still to go before we reach our destination. “S#$T! what’s going on”.

My car, a bright red VX commodore aptly named RED, had just been serviced and has shown no sign of anything being wrong ever. Couldn’t believe it, played around under the bonnet for a while to no avail so started to walk to the nearest tavern to find a phone (no mobile reception). After getting a little disorientated in the dark we finally made it to a pay phone and called the RAA. “I'm sorry” they tell me, “cause you’re out in the country no one will be available till 7 in the morning you will have to sleep in your car and call back at 7am”. Pretty peeved we walk back to the car and grabbed our pillows, pushed the seats back as far as we could with the back seat full of eskies and fishing gear and tried to get some sleep.

It was about 415am by now. I slept on and off till about 540am then gave up. The car is no place to sleep for people 6ft. 7am came and I made the walk back to the phone and called the RAA who said someone will be out to us in one and a half hours. So much for our planned dawn patrol. RAA came and tells us that although the battery is not old it is stuffed (something that happens sometimes on long journeys when the battery gets hot or something like that apparently). I’m glad that it’s just the battery and the Raa dude gets it started but tells us to go and buy a new battery because this one is fried and probably wont start again. So we drive 5 ks to the nearest town and I leave the car on while I go into the shop to get a battery. As it turns out, they had batteries just not one that was suitable for my car so we have to drive another 50kms to the next town to see if they have a battery. Some luck finally and we change it over and begin our journey again by the time we get to the shack we were staying at the morning is all but over so we unpack and get some lunch. I get my little gas cooker out only to find that its not working properly and the clip to hold the butane can in place wont fasten (worked fine the day before) so I had to cook holding the clip in place hoping it didn’t blow up in my face. What else could go wrong?

Finally we get to Pondalowie bay and it’s windy, but offshore and the swell is fairly small but looks ok and there’s not too many people out. We head out and catch a couple. About 10 mins in after making a nice barrel I am paddling back out and for no apparent reason my calf cramps up. Now ive had some bad cramps before (usually after a long surf not 10mins) but this tops them all. I just can’t shake it out and its grabbing and grabbing and wont let up. I struggle with it for about 5mins before I called my bro to come over and try to stretch it out. Phil does his best but it won’t shift so he paddles me into shore so I can try and stand up. In total I reckon my calf was cramped for about 8mins before it let up. I sat on the beach thinking, I’ve waited nearly two years to surf here, my car breaks down, had to drive an extra 100ks to get a new battery, my cooker is naffed and now I wont be able to surf because I’ve just had the mother of all cramps for no reason.
Phil gets some nice little kegs while sit on the beach and take a couple of photos. Everyone else has gone in and it’s just him in the water, lucky bugger.
After an hour I started stretching again and jumped back in the water in an attempt to get a surf, and everything was fine after that. Got some cool little waves and didn’t cramp. I think it was a combination of only having 1 hr sleep, sleeping in the car and my dodgy nerves in my calf from a previous injury that gave me such a nasty cramp.
Had a break for a couple of hours then surfed till dusk. We got plenty of little barrels and overall had a good time.

Next day the wind was light and variable before an immanent change that would stuff up the surf so we made our way to west cape and although it wasn’t offshore the waves were heaving and very hollow anywhere up to 4ft with the occasional bigger one. We got a few good ones that morning and then the wind started to pick up so that was to be our last surf for the trip.

We were reasonable content with what we got although it wasn’t epic. Before we left we drove around to a protected bay for some rock fishing and were pleasantly surprised to come back with a rather heavy bag full of salmon trout. A nice finish to a fun but frustrating weekend.

Parsons again

Had a fun little surf at parsons again last weekend. Was only 2ft but the weather was 43C so getting in the water was a fantastic idea. Left home about 530 am and got to my bros house where i picked him and a friend up. We got in the water about 730 and it was already pretty busy. Good thing it is a fairly long beach so there were still a few relatively uncrowded options. The swell was peaky too so that meant there were waves pretty much everywhere. My third wave of the day was my favourite. I was paddling back out when a nice 2.5 footer came barrelling towards me. I turned around and managed to squeeze a couple of seconds of shack time before is sucked me up and dropped me down just in front of the incoming section so i scooted out of my barrel just before the closeout. Had a fun free fall as well on one super glassy wave that bottomed out real hard. I was late on it anyway so didn't make it down the face but just ended up getting launched off the lip and landed in front of the closeout. Pretty funny actually.

Almost lost it

Went to parsons again just before the new year started. The forecast was for an inconsistent 1-2ft so i wasn't getting my hopes up for anything great. When we arrived we were greeted with a nice 3 ft swell. Wind wasn't perfectly offshore but it was still pretty clean and there were some empty ones around so we were pretty happy. Unfortunately i surfed so crap for some reason. I got a couple but couldn't snag a good one and wore most of the bigger sets on the head while paddling back out after catching a wave. It was just one of those days. I was so frustrated. To add to my frustration, my gopro froze up on me and then after getting caught by three 4 footers on the head, the base plate for my camera snapped (see above photo)and the camera fell out of its clip. When i came up from getting rolled i looked at my board to see that the camera was gone. My heart in my throat i quickly realised that it was still attached to the safety line that i had attached to my leash. Phew, nearly lost the cam before I'd even had a chance to get any good footage.
Ordered a new base plate today so will get it back in action as soon a possible. Here are a couple of frame grabs from the day.

Stand up about to get shacked



Booger taking off