Day Seven

Last chance to surf in 2011 and there is swell but no waves. There is a little pulse in the water but the tide and banks means its just surging and dumping.

Bit overcast and sharky as well.

Day 7 - 31/12/11
Waves : 9 inches
Wind : SSE
Quality : 1.2 out of 10

Day Six

Bit of thunder, dribble of rain and south winds. Nothing wave wise this morning but a few little peaks this afternoon. Two guys were tempted out at Juniors but it was way too small to ride.

Day Six 30/12/11
Waves : 8 inches
Wind : moderate southerly
Quality : 1.1 out of 10

Day Five

Just as flat and hot. The wind has moved to the north and by evening it has clouded over.

The forecast has gotten a little better but it isn't showing in the water.

Day four

Flat and hot. The end.

Day Three

Read days one and two but think smaller and not as windy.

Three more sharks were seen yesterday including one believed to be up to five metres long. Imagine Luc Longley standing on Luc Longley's shoulders and that's about the length.

Day Two - Part Two

The wind swung onshore this afternoon but not very strong. There was some chop but no waves.

Day Two - arvo
Waves - 7 inch wind chop
Wind - moderate SW
Quality - zip

Day Two

Still flat, not that it matters because the tide is so low. There is reef sticking up everywhere.

The pluses - there is just a trickle of swell and it's offshore, very offshore.

Day Two - 26/12/11
Waves : 6 inches
Wind : strong offshore
Quality : 0.9 out of 10

Seven waves in seven days 2011

For the past three years I have been documenting the last seven days of the year at BP/Juniors. This year I'm going to try and do the same.

Looking back we should get at least one clean small swell but the forecast isn't that great.

Today started as a dud. No Christmas swell or even an afternoon onshore bash. The wind was offshore all day swinging strong SSE late.

Day One - 25/12/11
Waves - less than 6 inches
Wind - SE turning SSE late
Quality - 0.5 out of 10

To see the previous year click the 7 waves in 7 days label on the right side of the page.

Merry Christmas

Hope you get what you want and spend time with those who you love.

Special shout to all those that have to work.

Andy Davis Holiday Animation from Billabong USA on Vimeo.

Eleven

Eleven seems to be the number this year. It's 2011, Slater won title number 11 and there were 11 sharks sighted in Bunbury yesterday.

Apparently the sharks were following a big ball of whitebait. They were in close and quite happy to strand themselves on the reef at Juniors for a feed. My source watched it happen and was on the water as shape after shape hit the pack.

And it wasn't just sharks. The dolphins were having a go as well. So much for dolphins scaring off sharks.

Hopefully they will all move on soon. If you are interested in a feed there is some good sized taylor chasing the bait as well.

This week

The Naturaliste buoy is back over a metre after the super flatness of last week. The chart looks like there is a massive spike but it's just that it got as low as 40 centimetres.

There was just the slightest wind wave yesterday afternoon but with silly beach closures it was empty. I'm not sure how closing the beach between the surf club and Hastie Street but leaving BP open makes sense.

Weatherzone.com.au through Swellnet.com.au predict a jump in size today for Marges but easing for the rest of the week.

Margaret River 5 Day Surf Forecast
Monday

New SW swell to 2-3ft, building further to 6-8ft during the a' noon. Light S to SSE winds with light S'ly seabreezes.

Tuesday

Easing SW swell with a morning peak to 6-8ft, easing during the day. Light SE winds with SSW'ly seabreezes.

Wednesday

SW swell to 3-4ft, easing during the day. Light WSW winds.

Thursday

SW swell to 2-3ft, easing during the day. Light SSE winds with mod S'ly seabreezes.

Friday

SW swell to 2-3ft, easing during the day. Light SSE winds with mod S'ly seabreezes.

Six sharks a swimming

PerthNow.com is reporting six sharks sighted by the surf life saving helicopter off Bunbury this morning. The helicopter attracted a bit of a crowd as it hovered over Noah's at Hungry Hollow, Mangles Street, the harbour and Dalyellup.

Add that to yesterday's story and there are fins everywhere. That's what happens when someone is looking, they see stuff !

Still flat

Another week almost over and still not even the smallest glimmer of a wave. The Naturaliste buoy was a massive 0.6 metres this morning, an very rare occurrence even in the middle of summer.

I have no confidence that there will be much of a turn around in the next few days although Coastalwatch is predicting a little pulse on Monday. Weatherzone is similar and has thrown up an all day onshore and maybe some rain tomorrow.

The only other thing of note in the last week was a report from a fisherman at Hungry Hollow that he caught a salmon (unusual) and then watched a 2 metre shark launch itself onto the reef. He thinks it was a bronze whaler. I'm sure there are always sharks around here so be careful. No weeing in your wetsuit !!!

Good call

Set my alarm for the early just in case the swell from yesterday afternoon formed into something. But after a quick check of the net I decided to stay in bed.

Still here

It's been a very busy few weeks. I have been away from home for most of the last three weeks and busy working or getting ready to move house when I am here.

Add that to the fact that it has been FLAT and the ASP events boring and in the middle of the night and you get no posting for a little while.

This afternoon there was the first inklings of a swell in the water. It had a very long period and was only showing spasmodically at a few places with the high tide. Nothing surfable around 5 but with a little potential. The Naturaliste buoy has jumped from just over a metre to three today but has started to drop. The period is over 14 seconds.

It's meant to be strong-ish SSE winds over the next couple of days so maybe there might be a wave. With just under a full moon the tide might be a bit funky.

Mushy

Mushy onshore conditions by the time I got to the beach. A few out at Yalls and Rabbits but they were just paddling and getting cleaned up.

Smiths was cleaner but the swell was a bit small for it to any good.

Weekends

Down in Dunsborough for work over the next few days. The conditions are not great with strengthening southerlies but some swell.

There were a few out at Rabbits battling the rip. Smiths had a crowd on the beachies. Inji had some little wave and a group getting cleaner longer rides at the Point.

Nothing was worth writing home about.

Taj wins

Taj Burrow has won the Reef Pro in very un-Hawaiian waves. This obviously gives him the lead in the Triple Crown.

The waiting period for the next event at Sunset starts tomorrow. Taj has done well here in the past as he has at Pipe so he must have a good shot at the crown.

Yesterday

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday was good and today is crap.

There doesn't look to be any swell and the wind is howling from the north. Your best chance for a desperation session is if there is a small sideways wind wave later.

And it's going to be hot.

Days off

Got a couple of mid week days off as I'm working the weekend. Emailed a few friends with view to heading south. As usual people started dropping out here and there until it was just two of us.

Conditions were nice. The swell was pretty small (around 1.4 on the buoy) and the offshore was howling but after checking three spots we decided on a beach break just north of Supertubes.

The waves were only about 1 - 2 foot but super clean and wally. Even at that size there was plenty of push.

The warning of a washed up whale carcass bringing sharks kept us watching and the super clear water had every piece of weed looking like a creature.

It took me a while to get some rhythm, missing a lot of waves and getting stuck behind the section but my friend was surfing better than I had seen before. We swapped board and he pulled off a couple of big slashes on my short and loser dhu-fish.

The only negatives were having to leave with waves still pumping in, ending up with a swollen elbow from a rail collision and sunburn.

Did I mention that we were the only ones out ?

Elsewhere there were plenty of winter banks hanging around. The stretch from Rabbits past Shallows had a number of peaks and quite a few surfers. Mitchell Rocks may not have been throwing up the Cyclone Biancca wedge but there were one or two peaks. They did look a bit frustrating as the surfers tried to decide to wait out the back or inside for the suckier and more consistent one.

Hot and offshore over the next few days. It doesn't look like there will be much swell but you can always be surprised.

Contests news

The Hawaiian season is just about to kick off. The Vans Triple Crown is back thanks to the ASP giving some events extra points despite not meeting the prize money thresholds.

The first event a Haleiwa has been on hold for the last few days. It will be webcast in the middle of the night at http://vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com/reefhawaiianpro2011 and is expected to start tonight.

Over in Italy the final event in the World Longboard Tour has finally started in one foot wind swell 180 ks away from the primary venue. Apparently a solid overhead swell smashed the venue the day before the event started and it has been billiard table flat since then. The WLT has smaller fields so they hope that the little pulse will allow them to finish the event today and crown a world champ. Heats are in the water right now but due to the change in venue there is no webcast.

Boost

More Taj and Jay Davies down south boosting in onshore crap.

1111 from Elsegoodproductions.com on Vimeo.

Something different

This doesn't look quite as scary as I thought it would but I bet in real life your heart would be pounding out of your chest.

Small again

Some small but fun waves this morning. The bank at the south end of Juniors was throwing some hip dribblers onto the rocks but the crowd of four was massive for the compact take off spot and the number of waves.

There were plenty of people enjoying the sun and the shallow close outs up the beach.

I surfed like a kook. This time I can't blame it on the waves, my board or my disintegrating back. It was all me. And I broke a leggie for good measure !

Not to sure what next week will bring. One forecast is for wet weather at the end of the week but another if for a stinker ??

Not a good day

To be going to work !

There is some wind swell in the water and light SE winds. It looks like it might clean up as the morning goes on.

If you're up and thinking about it, a run down south might be worth the effort.

Little

A little wind swell in the water with some light mainly offshore winds. BP has some peaks but the low tide has exposed a few rocks at Juniors.

With the light winds it might not be worthwhile for long.

Now

It's eleven

Oops

Slater isn't the eleven times world champ yet. The ASP have messed up and miscalculated.

To win he needs to get through one more heat or Owen Wright to lose. To lose he would need to not win another heat and Wright would need to win the the Search and Pipe.

Look for some make up scores for Slater.

This is a huge stuff up for the ASP. Kelly's win was getting mainstream publicity but now all the focus is on their inability to understand their own rule book.

With judging controversies, the mid year cut off causing angst, Bobbies rant and now this the ASP is not doing a good job of convincing surfers it is the best way to go.

Perhaps now that they awarded the title on the anniversary of Andy Irons death they will leave the contest on hold so they can make it 11 on 11/11/11 !

There have been a few lay days in a row because of bad weather. The rumour is Monday is the next go day.

Ke11y

Kelly Slater has just won world title number eleven.

The Search round three continues. Taj is out, losing by less than a point.

Search on

The Rip Curl Search San Francisco has just started in wobbly beach break conditions.

Slater just needs to make two heats to win his eleventh world title and his first in mainland USA.

Webcast looks good again.

Sunday Night Movies

I've been in Perth for the last week but I get the impression it has been flat. Here's a selection of some of the best videos from WA recently surfacing on the net.

Pumping waves down south

Brenno Dorrington // North Point from Tom Jennings on Vimeo.

Bunny Bay from Taj Burrow on Vimeo.

And up north

Low tide delight..gnaraloo from nate brejnak on Vimeo.

And a bit of both

Bummer

I've got another day off because I'm in Perth for work for the rest of the week. I was hoping to get wet after deciding to wait out yesterday's crowds. Unfortunately it's basically flat with strong offshores.

Still waves

Still some waves about especially at Juniors again. The wind was a bit stronger and more south.

Got a new camera so expect some better quality photos in the future.

Grey

Grey and drizzly today but that also means light winds and glassy.

I was surprised by the lack of people surfing because there was still some swell about.

I had a late session of the Juniors to again. The swell was slightly smaller but with frequent sets. The lefts were a bit better but the rights were just a little closer to the rocks. Unfortunately this meant that the best section for a move was right on to of the rocks. Still it was worth the paddle.

The down side was that after the others went in I was alone and wishing I hadn't read about the shark attack at Rotto before I came to the beach.

It's my birthday tomorrow so I might be able to eke out another session after the morning festivities.

Spring break

I ended up with a surprise day off and some nice little waves at Juniors. The rip was causing an A frame peak and the swell was only about two feet but it kept coming.

The rip was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that it made the waves break and that you could let it drag you back out if you caught a right. The curse was that it moved the take off around a little and it pulled you to far out and pushed you north.

I tried a couple at BP Reef. It was breaking way inside but one rock just after the take off was nearly dry sucking and that tended to ruin it.

The crowd maxed at four while I was there but that was about the limit it could take. Luckily everyone was pretty cruisy because one wave hog would have ruined it for everyone.

Looks like rain for the next few days.

Slater close to 11

By making the final of the Rip Curl Pro Portugal, Kelly Slater is a ninth away from an eleventh world title.

After winning two heats with last minute waves Taj had the tables turned when Slater pulled out a 10 in the last minute of their semi. Ironically Slater had joked in his interview after the quarters that he would have to beat Taj in the last minute again after the two have had some epic heats this year go to the wire each time.

The waves and surfing at this event were some of the best I have ever seen in years of watching pro surfing. On the last day most people lost heats holding at least a nine and some, like Julian Wilson, holding a ten ! Even though most scoring waves were tubes it wasn't boring pull ins like Chopes and the easy paddle out meant plenty of waves were caught. Despite the long days the webcast/broadcast was top quality and the commentators did a good job







Taj has moved to fifth with his third and Adriano up to third with his win. In reality Kelly would have to crash very early in the next two events and Owen Wright win for him not to be world champ yet again.

Next event San Francisco. I bet Kelly would love to have win a world title in mainland USA.

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.67
2 – Kelly Slater (USA) 14.73

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.50 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.87
SF 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.83 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.03

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.94 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.50
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.70 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 7.67
QF 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.60 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 17.53
QF 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.10 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.60

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING HEAT 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Julian Wilson (AUS) 6.83 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 3.50
Heat 2: Heitor Alves (BRA) 15.40 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.74
Heat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) 18.93 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 17.96
Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.44 def. John John Florence (HAW) 17.06

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.13, Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.70, Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.10
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.30, Heitor Alves (BRA) 17.20, Chris Davidson (AUS) 13.40
Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.30, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.64, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.67
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.00, John John Florence (HAW) 17.84, Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.10

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 9: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 11.60 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 8.10
Heat 10: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.56 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 12.30
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.27 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.54
Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) 17.33 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 16.96

ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 5 (after Rip Curl Pro Portugal)
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 58,150 pts
2. Owen Wright (AUS) 45,650 pts
3. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 42,450 pts
4. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 41,100 pts
5. Taj Burrow (AUS) 40,950 pts

Bazzas

Portugal is pumping again and there are nines and tens everywhere. Currently it is the quarter final between Slater and Alvez.

Already they have finished round three, all of rounds four and five and the first quarter. The current plan is to crown the winner today.

Taj had surfed twice for two wins including in round four where he got a high eight with less than 30 seconds to go. In his quarter he beat Julian Wilson by 0.4 with a nine on his first wave and a high eight in the last minute to match a killer from Wilson that scored a ten.

John John Florence had treated the place like Backdoor Pipe without the consequences and getting shacked of his nut. However he just lost to Bede in a close heat that was starved a little for waves.

The swell is dropping but there are enough waves that almost every losing surfer has at least two eights and every winner a nine.

With Owen Wright and Jordy both out Kelly can put one hand on number eleven with a win.

Six more heats or 250 minutes of water action left. The webcast is consistent as is coverage on FuelTV.

Wow !!!!!

The Rip Curl Pro is turning on one of the best days of pro surfing in ages. The waves are grinding beach break pits breaking a few metres from shore and going both ways.

Round two has finished and they are well into round three. Taj has won both his heats today.

The last heat Kai Otten and Julian Wilson was all time. Both started with a nine. Otten's first wave looked like he had been caught in the tube twice but he busted out for a deserved claim. Wilson backed his nine with one of the biggest waves, a solid six foot plus and a deep, perfect tube ride.

There is another two or so hours of surfing left in a marathon day. They have talked about knocking over the event tomorrow which could see the winner surf six times !

FuelTV and the webcast are amazing.

Round two

Taj through. No upsets yet.

Live on the web and FuelTV

Taj third

Heat three and Taj suffers from an interference in a heat slow for waves. He gets a second chance against Taylor Knox and Dan Ross goes through.

Owen Wright in the water against Pat G and the local wildcard.

Dane Reynolds has decided not to turn up again.

Portugal is go

Round one has hit the water a few minutes ago in some clean beach break waves. The swell is expected to build over the day and Parko has already got barrelled.

Rip Curl's webcast is on and working and it is being shown live on FuelTV for those with Foxtel.

Swell

Plenty of swell around. The major buoys are all over four metres. It's already 21 degrees so it might be a big day for the clubbies.

Don't forget that the fun run is on this morning so Ocean Drive is closed and the carparks full.

Too late

The breeze did a 180 about noon and it is blown out.

It looks like another bigger swell is in the water and overtaking the first one. The forecast for tomorrow looks good for swell and winds again.

Before it got too bad I snapped a few picks of a guy at the Groyne and some groms at Fraggles.

Made the drop and got smashed in the tube

A micro second before getting smashed

One of those day

Sunny, offshore and bulk loads of swell locally. A front that didn't do much weather wise is pumping a solid swell at our corner.

I haven't had time for a good look but there does seem to be some waves between the close outs. The only real negative is that the tide is pretty low

Rookie wins

In the battle of the next generation Gabriel Medina has beaten Julian Wilson. Medina has only just made the tour at 17 and two years ago he won the "King of the Groms" section at this same even two years ago.

Wilson has had a second half comeback after a poor start to his rookie year.

Next event - Portugal

Taj out

No old bulls left. Taj lost to Julian Wilson and Taylor Knox has just been beaten by Media. Gabriel had a neat perfect 19 plus semi score.

Julian and Jordy are part way through the other semi.

Old bulls v Young Bulls

Today is finals day in France and its young versus old for each heat except the one in the water at the moment. So far its one all. Taylor Knox has continued his run beating Michel Bourez but in an upset 17 year old rookie Gabriel Medina has thrashed Slater 16.66 to 8.60.

The current quarter is Jordy v Alejio Muniz followed by the old bull Burrow and young bull Julian Wilson.

I would love to recommend that you watch it on the webcast but again it just jumps backwards and stops then jumps backwards again. It is 100% unwatchable. Shame Quiksilver shame.

Finals Day ?

Round four is over with Kelly and Taj both through.

The webcast is a disgrace again and it is impossible to watch as it skips backwards and plays the same minute over and over. From the two minutes I could see it seems that Slater got another over score to beat rookie Gabriel Medina, who was on fire.

The judging is a joke. It seems to change from event to event and sometimes heat to heat. Some of the top ten appear to be getting favourable scores every time they take on the newbies. Every wave takes forever to be scored, making it appear all the more suss.

The contest is on hold for the tide. Days are long in France so it might finish today is some contestable waves.

More of the same

Taj, Slater, OwenWright, Julian Wilson and Jordy Smith are all through to round four. Taylor Knox is having his best contest for ages and new boy Gabriel Medina is also through.

Taj just made it after beating Travis Logie by a fraction of a point. Taj's two scoring waves were short on manoeuvres but those he pulled off were massive. Martin Potter and the other commentator didn't think he got the score on his last wave, a big backhand smash and finished the heat off talking up Logie. Unfortunately for them the score on Taj's last wave took forever to get locked in and wasn't final until seconds after the heat finished.

Logie is one of my least favourite surfers on tour. For years he clung to the bottom rung, barely winning a single heat all year but to give credit where its due his surfing this year has improved massively. He had a third in Tahiti and is only just losing a couple of other heats.

After some fog this morning France time a lay day has been called.

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE REMAINING ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 9: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.70 def. Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 12.60
Heat 10: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.53 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 6.50
Heat 11: Brett Simpson (USA) 13.76 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 7.67
Heat 12: Kieren Perrow (AUS) def. Chris Davidson (AUS)

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taylor Knox (USA) 9.77 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 6.50
Heat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) 13.76 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 11.60
Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.34 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 12.00
Heat 4: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.83 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 10.26
Heat 5: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.56 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 10.96
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.90 def. Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 6.90
Heat 7: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.16 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 13.83
Heat 8: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.60 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 8.76
Heat 9: Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.33 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 7.07
Heat 10: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.47 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.34
Heat 11: Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.00 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 11.34
Heat 12: Owen Wright (AUS) 15.17 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 8.57

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 4 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Taylor Knox (USA), Michel Bourez (PYF), Jeremy Flores (FRA)
Heat 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS), Gabriel Medina (BRA), Kelly Slater (USA)
Heat 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Alejo Muniz (BRA), Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 4: Taj Burrow (AUS), Damien Hobgood (USA), Owen Wright (AUS)

Windows

It was offshore this morning with some small swell but by lunch time the wind had swung southerly and got stronger. There was a small window just as the wind was changing where the rip bowl at Juniors started to throw up some fun waves for the two guys out.

BP reef almost came to life and there were a couple of bombs that near the old outside take off point. People who have surfed around here a long time will remember the days when the ride at the reef was twice as long because the wave broke on the outside ledge. In those days you wouldn't bother paddling out if it was only breaking in the currents spot. No one seems to know why the wave has stopped but there doesn't seem to be as much sand movement as in the past. Perhaps we are wearing the consequences of construction and dune stabilisation around Dallyellup.

I just missed the window so went for a hand plane session at Barnacles on version two. I got a few fun lefts but the rip and the drift were pretty bad so I found myself getting washed to the edge of Juniors a couple of times. Still worth the effort.

The forecast for tomorrow is moderate easterlies before a SSE change. More importantly Bathurst is on and it is the one day a year where I sit on my fat arse and watch sport. Go Skaffie (or any Holden).

Live blogging

Can't get much more up to the minute than a posting from the BP carpark.

Great conditions today, sunny, offshore and plenty of swell. Mostly closeouts in town but if you have the time head south, even if it is only to Capel.