The Dark Shadow

Totally flat this weekend so decided to don the flippers and mask to check out what lies beneath the South end reef. Always good to know what's lurking beneath your fins as you slide across the wave.

Unexpected critters under there, including the dark shadow resident that I've spotted a few times and scared the be-jezuz out of me. This time confirmed as a cruiser that frequents both here and the beach to the North.

Short vid., the Dark Shadow emerges towards the mid-point.

Below Sea Level

There's been a neat little peak at the local beach for the past few weeks. A magic little setup that's not necessarily epic but is making something of nothing. Last Sunday it picked a fairly weak 1ft swell and turned it into something worth surfing. And this weekend it's still going. Grabbing what there is in a slightly more solid but still small 2ft swell and turning it into something completely rideable. Even a few barrels thrown in for good measure.

Other beaches were pretty much flat or with very little so when I originally posted these on Twitter I got the "shopped" slur. Believe them, it was this good despite the crappy amount of swell.

As always, if you see yourself in any of these shots drop me a note in the comments and I'll send you the high res version of the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Bagged and Tagged

A double. Saturday 16th, up at dawn, perfect 3-4ft waves, great left handers with the odd right. And just trading these with Marcus until, dead on 7, the hordes descended. It was almost like they'd been sitting on the ocean floor and then released, en masse, like spawning coral to bob to the surface and clog up the line up. Got a full sessions worth of waves in 30mins. One after the other, long lefts, prior to the spawning event. And although the wave count dropped afterwards and grabbing the peaks was more work, caught plenty more post the event horizon.

Sunday; dribble by comparison but still caught a few. Onshore, much weaker but the occasional fun one. The biggest downer? A marauding pack of bluebottle jellyfish. Got tagged several times, including one that got wrapped around my hand. Those things look delicate but those bastards are strong. Like nylon. They won't snap or break. And so the only option was to try and untangle the beastie from my hand, getting stung on fingers and opposable thumb equipped appendage until such time as I got the angry blue bugger off me. Went in after that looking a bit like someone had taken a whip to me. For those who haven't had the displeasure of a bluebottle sting they hurt. Not unbearably, but it's definitely not something you want to experience by choice. A memorable session for all the wrong reasons.

Rinse Cycle #8

Absolutely no takers today. And not that surprising given the 6-8ft bombs and gale force onshore turning the ocean into a frothy mess of white water. Waves were breaking about 1/2km out to sea; huge slow motion rollers that it was difficult to put a size on but could only be described as monstrous.

Even novelty spots were out. Went to have a look at C and C. One taker but even they gave up after ten minutes of futile paddling and destruction in the shore break. Prospects look much better for tomorrow with one or two spots likely to be offering a worthy wave. It's going to be crowded though as the weekend crew are going to be hungry and homing in on the limited options.

The wind and surf combo managed to submerge the steps to the beach beneath a long sand drift. They usually standing 4ft proud of sea level so the weather had been hard at work over night. The sand banks are going to be interesting after this. Could go either way, dredged out some fine channels and peaks or destroyed it for weeks.

Australia Day

No photos for this one. Surprisingly good waves despite a moderate NNE cutting into it. Surfed at the North end to stay out the wind a bit. Evil shorebreak that was chewing up swimmers and sand though getting rolled around in just a shortie meant it didn't feel quite so threatening as mid-winter. One guy was out with a hand plane and making good use of it, catching waves from the outside all the way into the shore. Have only seen people use those at The Wedge and Hawaii before so it was a novelty. Though in the Summer it seems anything goes; longboards, yellow and blue foamies, knee boards, surf skis, rescue skis, fish, boards that look like eggs (and surf with about as much finesse as one). With the recent flat spell finally broken they're all out.

Filthy

As the weeks of relatively dry weather pass by the dirt, dust, and general detritus of day-to-day living gathers on the sidewalks and open concrete spaces. Until the heavy rains collects it all up, pushes it into the storm water drains and out into the ocean. At the beach this made itself known at the North end where a stinking streak of filthy brown delineating the point where the outlet drain fed into the sea. If you're from Europe isn't something you're probably used to, many of the waves being more remote and not sat on the edge of a significant population. Coupled with relatively frequent rains keeping the streets free of heavy accumulations of grit and muck big wash pits are rarer.

We started out South of it, mouth closed, head held up to avoid it sneaking into the delicate soft tissue of your nose or ears. Once passed this it was out to where the water was clear blue, with very peaky 3-4ft waves. Glassy smooth with the heavy and persistent rain dampening what little offshore there was.

Heavy shorebreak so it was a sharp drop, one or two moves on a pristine face, and then kick out before an inside gurgling sand machine (mixed in with a brown, seaweed, tennis ball, and who knows what else, soup). Really fun waves, well worth a paddle and not too many out. Rain was far too heavy to get the camera out so you'll just have to trust me on this one.

Heading back now to douse the ear, nose and throat with something that contains alcohol. Probably too early for a beer so will need to raid the meds. cabinet.

Big swell kicking in tomorrow so will be cooking rice or finding a less hectic beach to float at.

Washing Machine

Trip away this weekend in the amazing Killcare region. Plenty of surf options and a small amount of swell but not really surfable with a straight into the beach close-out so opted for sitting in the washing machine zone.

Don't be Afraid

It's been four years since I last bought a board (excepting the 6'6" purchased for an overseas trip a few years back but doesn't see the light of day that often). A lot has changed over that time.

My current board is 6'0" x 18 1/8" x 2 1/8" with a single to double concave through the bottom that gives it great drive and pretty good speed but it gets very flighty in anything breaching the 4ft (overhead) mark. So I wasn't certain if I'd been sucked in by the sales rep chat ("this'll be sick in beach breaks and reefs from junky 2ft to perfect 6ft, man!) when I walked out the shop on the weekend with a brand new board.

Dimensions 5'11" x 18 3/4 x 2 1/4. The shortest board I've ever owned, the widest board I've owned (beyond the board I learnt to surf on which was a 6'8"). And definitely the thickest board I've ever owned. Add to this a super complex bottom contour with a mix of concave and a bit of vee through the tail and I was a little nervous.

The only reference point I had was back in 1993 when I had a go on Jonny's 5'11" Wave Graffiti which slid around underneath you like a plastic bag in the wind. And this beautiful board had a set of channels on the bottom that you could shave with. Without these it would be unsurfable. So as I walked out the shop I wondered if I'd just thrown over $700 at a 5'11" folly.

The local on Sunday seemed like a perfect test; slightly sloppy 2ft on the inbetweeners, up to 4ft on the sets, and a heavy shorebreak for something a bit steeper. There was no need to worry, this board is fantastic. Easy to paddle without the extra volume making it feel sluggish once you're on the wave, loose without being slidey, but balancing this with manoeuvrability and holding turns really well. In short, this is a great board. I think it will be harder to control in perfect, top to bottom surf but in the waves I surf most of the time - good surf but not always spot on - it goes perfectly.

So what's the moral of the story? Taking a direct quote from the rep in the surf shop, "don't be afraid". Go shorter and a little wider. Though do make sure the bottom contour supports it.

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Declaration and disclaimer; the board model is a DHD Eager Beaver. I did look at Al Merrick, Lost, Super, and Chilli boards. All had quite similar dimensions at this length though bottom contours varied. I stuck with the DHD as this is what I current ride and I like the shape. I paid for this board with my own money. I don't have any affiliation with DHD or any of these other brands.

If you are in the market for a new board, do some research first, don't take everything the surf shop rep tells you at face value (there were lots of contradictions in some of the advice I was given and some of the board shapes were quite different, do visit more than one shop to get a balanced view (if you go to more than one shop you'll find some consistency between them - that's the accuracy to focus on. Everything else is largely sales chatter).

If you are thinking of buying a new board give me a shout - happy to be another point of view to bounce off.

UPDATE; like any new board you need to decide on a persona. A name that characterises the sense of its being and how you hope it will perform (my own ineptness in controlling its lunging moves aside). There have been a few suggestions; "The Hulk", "The Green Hornet", "Snot" (which I'm less keen on). Open to thoughts. New photo attached to give you some idea of where the inspiration comes from.

Summertime - breaking the drought

It's been three weeks, for various reasons, since my last surf. Today was as good a day as any to get back into the water with a glassy 2-3ft swell visiting us from Fiji. Worth a paddle.

The Odd One

Although there wasn't much in the way of swell, barely 2ft on the sets, it was much bigger and better than it had been for a while. Early start: at the beach for 6.45am though there was still a crowd. Peppered with folks from nearby South facing beaches which weren't catching any of the small NE swell.

Caught a few - including a small cover up. It was very small and brief. A, "you'd only see it if you frame grabbed it" brief. Nevertheless, I'm making a very weak claim for it.

Forecast looks less than average until the middle of the week when thing start to get interesting again. The Spring wobble seems to have finally sorted itself out. Hawaii trip in T-2 weeks so some swell wouldn't go a miss otherwise I'm going to be largely cooking rice.

Ocean Swim

In the ocean with the fish. On the beach with the hordes of Sunday sun seekers. A few laps of the bay; swim from one end to the other, run back, repeat. Along with a float in the crystal clear water above the South end reef. Stunning day. Off to have a belated Thanksgiving Day celebration this afternoon.

Flat Run Continues

And so it goes on. Aside from a significant bump in swell on Wednesday - that an 8am work commitment meant I had to let the pre-work session slide by - it's been basically flat or onshore. Stuck in the late Spring doldrums of East quadrant, onshore winds and weak, small swell.

This pattern seems to kick in every Spring as the weather systems dust off Winter, try to re-order themselves and t decide what they're going to wear for Summer. Will it be a set of matching solid NE swells? Or will it be a skimpy run of not much but weak wind swell (2010 followed this trend with plenty of desperate surfs in onshore waves, dodging packs of bluebottle jellyfish).

Only time will tell. In the meantime we're destined to watch the wave cams present us with dribbling shore breaks. The next best thing, which requires dusting off the Speedos, is an ocean swim. Flat days aren't so bad if you can still have the luxury of getting into the ocean somehow.

How's the surf in your part of the world as we shift seasons?

Ferrrr-lat

Totally flat this weekend. You could consider the tiny 1ft dribble technically a wave, crumbling as it was, weakly, from the South. No sign at all of the promised 2-3ft swell. Never materialised. Even in an age of super swell models and reams of data it's perfectly possible to get it totally wrong.

Opted for a long swim. Forty minutes worth of back and forth. From one set of flags to the next. Run back. Repeat. Probably not entirely necessary to be so masochistic about it though have a trip to Hawaii in five weeks so need some level of fitness and the ocean isn't co-operating for the usual "doesn't feel like exercise" surfing option.

Shark O'Clock

Despite the report looking abysmal went to wash the day away with a quick dip at one of the lesser visited beaches. Got there just as the sun was dropping behind the hill. Caught more than a worthy quota, somewhat distracted by murky waters and vulnerably dangling feet.

Technical stuff; 2-3ft, quite a bit of chop but since it was shore break the faces were pretty clean. Worth the lengthy waits between sets (despite having to be sat beyond the rest of the pack to do so).

Protect B.C.

I've been seeing a lot about this over the past couple of months as oil companies look to push to construct an extended pipeline and increase oil tanker traffic in the British Columbia area. This would go through some of the most unspoilt parts of the region; probably not the best idea given the damage it could do when something goes wrong. The company behind it, Enbridge, has been at great pains to explain it has spill plans in place that exceed world class levels though has had trouble explaining the details of what this means when it comes to pressing questions. That seems less than reassuring. Add on top of this that the company has had a few major spill incidents over the past few years.

I'm not a Green-y, or prone to standing on a political soap box but what they're proposing to do seems slightly mad. If you feel like taking action you can sign a petition. At the very least it's worth finding out a bit more about it. If you're not environmentally motivated then there is some good surf in the region that could be at risk. Video below has some snippets of the waves in the region.



STAND - power teaser from Dendrite Studios on Vimeo.

Lumpy

Bumped into Marcus who was washing a weekend of Guantanamo Bay sleep deprivation off from a weekend visit to Kilcare.

It was a bit on the lumpy side which is my excuse for going over the falls twice and dropping in once. Marcus found at least one of these funny. Size dropped but quality increased as we moved to shark o'clock by which point it was time to go in. Well worth a paddle.

UK Surf

You might not think it but the UK does get good surf and does have some good surfers. It's just a little inconsistent and a little bit cold. A great video of a known but not often surfed spot in SW UK.

http://vimeo.com/51916997

Too Late

Turned up too late today. The swell had bumped at little to a slightly more respectable level. Still small at 2, very occasionally 3ft. A veritable horde of people out given it's a Sunday and this means nippers; a weekly Sunday ritual of life saver training, sand races, swims, and general outdoor goodness.

Spent 90% of the waves dodging people. Caught a couple that made it worth the while despite a light bump on the surface from a building Easterly wind. This week the SSE swell is back and we get back into the comfortably familiar territory of +4ft swells. A pre-work surf is going to be a must this week.

Summertime

27 degrees, getting excited about small surf. Summer's here. Water still doesn't feel like it yet though. Still battling against the constraints of a full suit. Having said that it is a 2/3mm so feels almost like a second skin after many winter years dressed up in a 4/5mm with only your tightly squeezed face poking out of an over-tight wetsuit hood. Except for the period when I used to wear a wetsuit head band. It did work despite the constant ribbing that it was a fashion statement. Mind you, it looked pretty good too.

There are some lines. Just.

Rooster tail

Optimistic search for a cover-up

Some were game enough to try shorts

Curious.

It's got that definite Summer feel to it.

Party waves are the new normal.

Visitors from overseas are starting to rock up. This is the last signal for Summer.

Stealth Swell

It takes a special kind of talent to be caught out in 2012. There are apps that tell you what the wind and swell is going to do every hour for the next five days, surf forecasts are updated every two days, swell models every twelve hours, and you can watch live video footage of most beaches 24/7/365.

That's not to say it can no longer happen though. With everyone expecting a paltry 1ft (maybe 2ft at the outside) most people opted for the lie-in and Saturday morning recovery. Here's the chain of events;
6.34am; text from Marcus. Much bigger than expected. Very few people out. Offshore.
6.45am; fire up the iPhone and check the reports. Way more swell that expected. Nudging 3 ft on the odd rouge set.
6.50am; pack wetsuit, grab keys, out the door.
7.00am; on the road.
7.20am; changed and sand between the toes in record time. And.....

....looks like the world has arrived before me and been far more efficient about it. Just about the same time as I was checking the reports a large chunk of the rest of the surfing population was doing the same. And probably mirroring the sense of anticipation of scoring fun waves with very few out. At least everyone in the line-up was friendly in their mutterings of "it'd be perfect if there wasn't anyone else here". But as the swell died away, the tide got higher and swallowed up what was left of it, and most waves were a gauntlet of drop-ins or dodging around people, the hope evaporated.

It bought back memories of Uni days when our sole source of surf data was the very dodgy, accurate to within 100 - 200 miles, synoptic charts on the news. We'd sit faithfully in the Student's Union at 9am, lunchtime and again at 6pm, to maximise hope and squeeze as much out of the 15 seconds or so of visual information provided. Desperately trying to work out if a kink in a low pressure system was pointing enough in the right direction to generate some decent swell.

We often got it wrong: a painful experience when you have a 4am start, wrapped up in as many old jumpers as you could find to stave off the cold. Followed by a one hour journey rattling around in the back of a van (or the trusty Astra Estate, or being slightly terrified in the be-stickered mini), all the while thinking about how much the petrol cost was eating into your meagre student budget. When you eventually rolled up to a carpark being circled by 50mph offshore winds that had battered the ocean flat it was frustration and disillusionment rolled together into a ball of disappointment.

It'd all be a painful memory that you think you'd be desperate to forget, but for those moments when your hunch, the collective wisdom of the pack, and the TV weather's accuracy all combined. And then you'd find yourself creeping, ninja-like, through a beachside camp of surfers, the only ones aware of the perfection you were about to experience, shushing each other in an almost comic bid to be silent and avoid waking the beast-crowd so you could keep it to just the five of you for a few golden hours.

As you paddled out, with a new swell bumping the horizon, shaving your way over the shoulder as a mate dropped into an unfettered peak, the optimism and faith returned and you'd be ready to go back to the 4am disappointments and silent journeys back home just to experience being lifted out of it. The combination of your superior forecasting (or so we thought at least), and tenacity being rewarded by scoring perfect waves with just you and four others.

Somehow the disappointments made the days you got it right seem even sharper and more valuable. In many ways I'd prefer my disappointments that way round. It's a far better fuel for the optimism than realising the skill and chance has gone and you're going to end up at the beach at the same time as everyone else.

Climber

For an intelligent animal cats aren't that smart when it comes to putting themselves into positions that they subsequently have to get out of. If they played chess they'd be grand masters. At least so long as they only ever had to move forward because retracting their steps doesn't seem to be a life skill they've been equipped with.

This is a friend's cat in such a predicament. In this case though I'm not even sure how she got up there in the first place.

That's Not a View, That's What I Call a View

Spent Saturday afternoon around a friends house for a photo shoot. Got some great shots which are posted elsewhere. The view from the house was stunning. Straight out into the ocean. That's something to wake up to each morning. One day.

Missed It

Not much to report on the surf this weekend. Except that I missed it on Saturday (a long week and a late night in combination meant rising hours too late); Marcus made sure that I knew it in the nicest possible way. No gloating, no raving about the quality, just a short text commentary that said it all "3-4ft, great fun, stayed out for hours".

Sunday, repeat prescription on the sleep but at least got into the water for a few hours of slightly bumpy, slightly shorebreak-y waves. Where I sighted the first blue bottle of the season (more on this in another post). Summer's almost here.

First Spot

Like hearing the first tunes of Jingle Bells in October as a mark of a Christmas celebration, still months away and far beyond the realms of normal conscious thought, so was the slow creep towards Summer marked today by a first sighting of the dreaded blue bottle.

For those not familiar, these are otherwise known as Physalia utriculus or, more commonly, the Portuguese Man of War. Generally small but the sting is uncomfortably painful and lingers for a few hours, persisting as a heavy tingle and irritation for a few days beyond that. The bane of the Summer season as they usually appear in flocks of hundreds rather than ones and twos and turn the line up into a minefield, negotiated only by careful paddling and a sharp eye. Being tagged by one at some point is inevitable though.

And so Summer is about to join us. More light, hot days and warm nights. But also a dearth of surf, full carparks, more floaters and, of course, Physalia utriculus.

Bothered

Sometimes you just have those days where, despite the waves being pretty good, your diary being completely free, and your list of commitments being very small or non-existent, you just decide that you're not going to surf. And so it was this weekend. Admittedly it had been a pretty brutal week with nearly 80 hours clocked in at work over the five days so I didn't feel so bad to opt for the lie-in over 3-4ft on the Saturday and closer to 4 - 5ft on the Sunday. Sometimes it's OK to just say no. It's definitely going to make the next session feel that much sweeter.

Review; Sony Waterproof Camera DSC-TX5

After two years of use it's about time to give a full list of what's good and not so good about this camera. Before getting started it's worth noting that this camera gets a lot of use. Pretty much every weekend it gets a ritual dip into the ocean - a giant acid bath for all things metal - and it's also been skiing. It lives an active and harsh life but gets taken care off. Instructions on cleaning have been carefully followed. No, really, they have.

The Great

• Images are fantastic; super crisp, very fast at taking photos. The burst mode is ideal for taking action with the high burst setting clocking in at 10 frames a second (of full res pictures no less). Like many cameras it also has a panorama feature that does a really great job of dealing with whatever you throw at it. It sometimes struggles a little with clouds and you can get some strange artefacts (when scanning upwards rather than left to right).
• Easy Zoom; very easy to use, even in the water with a handy toggle on the top of the camera.
• Camera control; different white balances, smile detection shutter, three metering modes (including touch to meter), manual ISO adjustment, three focus settings (including touch to focus) etc. etc. Or you can put it into 'Easy' mode and it works it all out for you.
• Touch screen for quick changes; it takes a little bit of getting used to as it needs pressure rather being capacitive. You're a bright human though so it'll only take a minute or two to get over this.
• Quick start; simply slide down the front cover. In about a second and you're ready for your first picture.
• 1080p HD video; I often use this over bringing a bulkier camcorder. I have a Sony HDR-HC7 camcorder, another catchy name, and the Sony compact often gives a much richer image. If you've watched any of the recent videos posted on this site video from this camera features highly. In a rough ratio of 30:50:20 (Sony compact; Sony camcorder; Canon EOS 5D).
• Minimal water droplets; water doesn't really gather on the lens like other underwater automatics so you don't need to worry too much about water droplets blurring images.
• Really small; much smaller than your palm so you can easily carry it with you everywhere (pushed up the sleeve of your wetsuit, in the pocket of your board shorts...it's light and unobtrusive enough to go anywhere). I don't know how much it weighs. Not much. Less than a bar of wax so you're not going to really notice it when you cutback.
• Smart sealing system; on first look the seal closure, a small switch on the bottom, looks a bit flimsy and a worry. Though it's very smart; sat flush on the bottom of the camera and with a spring on the inside placing constant upward pressure on the seal means it's very hard to accidentally open it whilst in the water. This got a full test in a 5ft shorebreak last year and it passed without issue. You'd really have to try (I suggest you don't).

The Not so Good


Overall durability is not perfect.

• Front panel erosion; the coloration on the front panel of the camera lasted about three weeks. It used to be the same slate grey as the rest of the camera but it's now a silver flash on the front. For the shar paranoid this does make it look a little like a fish darting in the water (it'd probably only attract a small one). You'll probably get over this though whilst it was going through this moulting phase the bits got everywhere. On the lens, in the car, in the bathroom. They turned up in the most random places. It was a relief when it was over.

• LCD screen; this suffered a similar fate after a short time with a squashed patch on the bottom corner that looks like the upper and lower panels of  the touchscreen have squashed together. You can just about see it in the picture. It's also not a big deal though it does question the overall durability. Touchscreen still works mind so perhaps this is just the pedant coming out.

• Some seal degradation; after one year of use it is starting to look a bit battered and despite cleaning it religiously after every use the seal is starting to stiffen (this is normal) but there's also a significant build up of salts on the inside of the seal so some water, although a tiny amount, is getting inside each time. Not enough to cause damage but enough to create a build up of salts over time.
• Sand is the enemy; this is a bit of a nuisance. If you are prone to worry then this might send you over the edge. The sliding front cover does protect the lens. Though when you take it into an ocean churned up to equal parts water and sand, the re-constituted shell and rock/coral mix can creep in behind the sliding cover. With every open and close it makes a horrible grating noise and makes you wonder at the damage it must be doing. This has happened several times but so far there's no damage to the lens. The position of the lens, at the top of the sliding cover, and the gap between the cover and the lens means it'd be quite unlikely to scratch the lens but it would be possible. Something to consider for design iteration #2.

Overall

This is a fantastic camera. You'd be hard pushed to find something that has as many high quality features in such a small body size. The durability lets it down a little but it has been through its paces over the past two years and will certainly last another two before it starts to get questionable. It's not enough for me to not consider buying another one when this one eventually gives up.

Other brands have better durability but the huge downside is that this comes with bulk. This is fine if you have space though it limits your options to stow it somewhere on you without getting in the way. If you're not planning on dropping the camera on a rock then you probably don't need the level of near indestructibility they offer.

If you've got any questions let me know.

You should have been here 20 minutes ago

The swell arrived but with it came a fickle rip, and a horde from who knows where. The downside was plenty of paddling around, arms aching, fighting the rip, moving from spot to spot as the banks collapsed and re-appeared.

The good news - it was good enough to stay in for three hours as the mystery current shifted back and forth, spraying beginners and the uninitiated, into corners both North and South of a left peak which started off fairly fat but got into its stride as it hit an inner bank and ramped up to be very fast, very quickly. 0 - 60 in 4 seconds.

It was worth a paddle but by the time I got the camera out the wind had turned it a little bit junky. It was better when I was in the water. Honest.

Running man	Pulling up a lot of sand in the corner	Wedgy lefts
Decepticon - this looks like a big chunk of spray being thrown off but it's mostly lip crumble. Worth framing though.	Floating off the top	Finding air amongst the white water

Windswept

Small and very windswept it may have been, battling against a 40kmh offshore, but it was still worth a paddle around for the odd 2ft set that squeezed through under the wind. Some nice left hand banks making themselves noticed to an over zealous crowd of floaters.

Monday is the pick with a fabled new South swell arriving just in time for the morning mid-tide.

Wobble

Banks have been below the standard which we have come to expect recently. Not sure what's happened. Perhaps the flat spell left them flabby and sluggish. They are now just beginning to recover but they still aren't making much of the swell with solid lines crumbling in on lack lustre sand to serve up wobbly lefts and rights that have no steepness and little speed.

On the upside the shorebreak has been showing new levels of evil. Saw more than two people suffer at the hands of a sand monster on the inside. It's poor compensation for the line that leads you to there though.

A long run of South swell throughout the coming week. The whisper in the carpark is that this will be followed by a solid East swell. That'll sort it out.

This little guy rips.	Long waits between the sets meant it was pretty hectic out there.	Skating through the white water.
Another victim of the shore-break	Looks nice but trust me, it was fat.	Some managed to get enough speed up.