The advantage of being on holidays is that you can try to time your surfs around the crowds and conditions.
I had a second bite at the Wall this arvo. The crowd was five and the waves seemed cleaner and better than this morning. The sun was out so the air temp. was nice
The problem ? The zip on my wettie got stuck and after three goes of putting it on and off I pulled it hard enough to rip the zip off the rubber. No surfing for me and it looks like I'm shopping for a new suit tomorrow.
Those guys that were wrapped up got some nice waves with frequent sets rolling through. It was probably one of the better Wall days that I have seen for surfability.
The rain may have died down a little but there is still plenty of wind.
The only place surfable is the Wall. It's not great but it isn't bad either. The swell isn't big enough for it to break out the back but it is hitting close to the rocks on the inside. You have to be careful not to get smashed against the wall but if you get one of those that pushes wider you might be alright.
The crowd when I left was building very quickly and there won't be enough waves to go around, especially without the long paddle back out.
I sat on my camera during my holiday and broke it so these are from my cheap phone.
The front is getting closer and the wind continues to freshen. The are a few out at the Surf Club tying to catch the early lumps before it gets to messy. There is some north in it so there are the odd rideable ones but they look a lot better than they are.
Still a little bit of swell but from a less than ideal direction. Other than the odd dribbler at BP Reef for the micro groms there doesn't appear to be any waves locally.
There are a few cars at the entry to the Bay so maybe there is something for the body boarders. The wind is side/onshore and only likely to get more onshore and stronger as the front expected later tonight moves closer.
The swell had grown slightly this afternoon and although the wind was onshore it wad really light and having no effect on the waves. And there were a few little waves.
Three young guys were out on the beachie at Juniors and two at BP Reef. The wait was long but they all caught enough good ones to make it worth the paddle.
I took hand plane 2.0 out at Barnacles. This was the ultimate test of this shape because I haven't been won over so far. I love the look of the shape but it just wasn't convincing me. But I hadn't tested it at Barnacles, the place where I know how it should do and could compare it to how the other surfed. The result - I caught two of the best waves I have ever got there.
The board still feel "dead" but the more I thought about it the less this seemed to be a problem. I think the problem is not with 2.0 but with version 1 and the Hydro. Both of those were bigger, with a longer straighter rail line so they tended to chatter and bounce over chop and bumps. 2.0 doesn't seem to do this, in fact the rides felt slower but I beat more sections and went further. It is actually heavier than the other hand planes but with it's rounded shape feels lighter and you can swim with it. I'm happier now.
I'm sure tomorrow morning will see the Bay packed full of groms. Might still be some little closeouts to keep them happy.
Picture perfect Autumn morning. With the sun finally starting to bite it is warming up nicely after a pretty frosty morning.
That's the good news. The bad news is although the swell has come up a little it is just a little and there still aren't any waves. There is also a northerly cross swell running to mess it up a bit more.
The ASP has been in damage mode after the feedback on the judging of Adriano DeSouza's semi against Owen Wright and to a lesser extent the final against Taj.
In the semi Adriano did a big floater and got an eight. His other scoring wave consisted of two standard back hand reos. After a couple of standard turns Owen landed big airs on both his waves, scoring sixes. The judges have released a statement saying in part that Adriano's wave were bigger and his floater was more committed than Owen's air because anyone pro can do an air.
My two cents worth - any pro (and most decent amateurs) can pull off a floater. This one was big but it wasn't anything special and the reason he did the floater is because his wave choice put him on a close out. Floaters have generally been either a linking move, to get around a section or something to finish with in the shoredump. If they are the only move on a wave they generally don't score well because it reflects bad wave selection.
Owen selected waves that gave him room to work and surfed them as well as they could be surfed. Yes they were smaller but wave size is not part of the criteria and the smaller ones weren't closing out. He did a series of moves that were committed, different from each other and used the full potential of the wave. If you ignore what Adriano got for his rides you would say they were awarded scores that were pretty close to what they deserve. Compare them to Adriano and they were high eights.
The waves for the final were pretty bad. Taj's waves were pretty fairly scored but again Adriano best scoring wave was overscored by probably two points. He blew his second move, which was a pretty standard backhand reo and did three identical moves. Personally he should lose points for claiming every wave he catches but that's not in the criteria.
The ASP have made it worse by releasing the judges statement. It just looks like they are making piss weak excuses for why they screwed up. Since the change in the judging criteria it has been almost impossible to work out what needs to be done to get a decent score. I don't like judges deciding that they will score tubes higher at his place, on this bank or tide but vertical moves in this round. Judge how the surfer surfs. If he get a wave a Chopes that suits him doing an eight foot air reverse rather than a tube give him the score it deserves. If he rips the bag out of a smaller wave because it is cleaner and holds up, don't reward his competitor who flukes an out of control move on a close out because its bigger. The ASP are starting to lose more credibility and eyes on their events with the inconsistent judging.
The swell has dropped again and there isn't really anything locally worth getting wet for. The wind has a lot of north in it and the same is forecast for tomorrow.
Might give us a few days to dry out the wet tie before the next swell.
Another nice session at the BP Groyne today. The swell has dropped with yesterday's smaller waves today's sets but the wind was still light and there were enough breaking to get your fill.
There were basically three types of waves coming through. The rip wasn't that strong so the bigger set waves were hitting the outside bank before reaching the rip and closing out. The rest fell into two categories the ones that twisted towards the groyne and the ones that bent away.
The ones that bend away were 80/20 closeouts/speed runs. The ones that bent in either were really small and rolled into the shorebreak. The remainder held up in the rip and after take off, tended to back off slightly giving some face or a nose ride section (I was on my mal).
The water was cool but nice freezing (after the first wash over anyway) and nice and clear. The crowd was me and then a body boarder towards the end.
Looks like the swell is still on the wane but it shouldn't be long before there is another kick..
Down south is meant to have been good over the last few days and may be worth a trip if you have the time.
Back from Europe and straight into the water. Well into the water within two days of getting back anyway.
There is a little swell around and a few little banks. Juniors has the winter bank forming and a few out there.
I went out on the mal at BP Groyne. There were two rips making some little corners between the closeouts. Probably one surfable one for every twenty closeouts but there were decent little trim runs. The other guy out was on a shortie and even pulled into a nice clean tube, coming out the doggie door but then pulling back in and getting bounced.
The water was warmer than the Mediterranean but still on the coolish side.
The waves obviously aren't good enough for the blokes so they have thrown the first two rounds of the women in the water. That must start to piss you off after a while.
Both West Aussies, Clair Bevo and Felicity Parmenter, have been eliminated already. The heat I watched was pretty slow for waves with most rolling through green rather than breaking. Coco Ho has combo-Ed Maya G, who's style clearly is suited to massive Jaws not pissy, fat beach breaks.
Webcast etc available from Billabong, which means that unlike the past locally sponsored events the webcast is decent quality and with decent commentators. It's on during the day/arvo in France but night time in Bunno.
Never took up windsurfing even though I thought about it many times. Always though that the flat water stuff was to boring and didn't have the patients to do the basics so I could start doing the jumping and surfing parts which looked fun. Same goes for kite surfing which looks even more fun including on flat water. This video shows some professional kiters who took on a killer slab down south before the session turned to shit.
Parts of the train trip from Florence in Italy to Nice in France ran on the coast. It is an indication of how much I'm missing getting wet that I was watching wind waves no bigger than 30 centimetres from peak to trough and thinking "you could probably body surf that". When one had the smallest little face I was mind surfing it on my log.
I am currently on the French Riveria. The European version of a beach is a collection of rounded rocks and sun lounges. Plenty of budgie smugglers and pasty white flesh.
Maybe I'll luck into a freak day ......... Probably not.
Watching the OP Pro Junior from Trestles on my iPad in a laundromat in Florence Italy. Surf is pretty small but glassy. Not much Aussie intrest in that or the prime event.
Seems from the Coastalwatch emails arriving in my inbox there has been some decent early season swells with good conditions down south. The harbour buoy has been out of action for a few days which lessens my pain.
In the past three weeks I have seen the ocean three times and it has been the super flat Mediteranian. Off to the French Riveria tomorrow. Expecting to see ocean but not waves.
