Two days late

But it was two years ago on the 31st January that Bunbury got the classic Cyclone Bianca swell. I still thing the Iggy swell was better locally but down south Bianca uncovered a gem near Inji, which has been willed into life every time there is some north in the swell.

 Here are some reminder videos and pics.


 

More Iggy

Two new videos from Cyclone Iggy courtesy of elsegoodproductions.com. Jay Davies and Taj get shacked in waves that are only slightly smaller than Bianca but way more gnarly.

iggy storm from Elsegoodproductions.com on Vimeo.

sneaky peaks from Elsegoodproductions.com on Vimeo.

Ouch !!!!!!!

Went to Dunsborough to look at a new board today. Mark "Hillzy" Hills at Yahoo Surfboards lent me a 6'4" Kelvinator to try out.

There is hardly any swell but I decided to try it out at very small Shallows. Normally I wouldn't have bothered but it was clear, offshore and empty and I wanted to try the board anyway.

It wasn't that hot but to my dismay the path down was firey black sand. I haven't lived further than a k from a beach for 30 years, must have gone to the beach thousands of time and been down that path 50. Until today I had never burnt my feet. The soles of my feet and most of my toes are covered in blisters. It's a bit off putting when you stand up and can feel the blistered skin squishing around in your wax.

Regardless the board went really well, especially as it was so tiny. The board is a thick slab and I'm planning to replace my 7'6" mini mal with it. It needs to be able to surf crappy Juniors and if it can catch waves today, it can catch them anywhere.

Needless to say I put in my order and hopefully it will be ready soon.

Locally it is flat, proper flat. The harbour buoy is at 0.17 and the wind is blowing any chances of swell towards South Africa. The forecast isn't looking great but the cyclone could change it. Don't expect a Bianca swell though.

Same

Still plenty of north swell pumping through but also still choppy and a bit wonky. Whippies is the pick but all along the back beach there are waves.

While I was checking it out about 3.30 a single wave set came through at a solid 4 foot plus and really workable if you were out far enough (which no one was).

Coastalwatch indicates that there are some waves on the Dunsborough side of the cape. With the Naturaliste buoy showing over two and a metres of due north sea and a two metre plus west swell they probably are. I bet there are more than a few out at the Wedge near Inji hopping for a few mor Biancca style pits.

Fridays

I think I have said it before but there are few things I like more than getting into the ocean on a Friday afternoon. Especially that moment when you duck dive and see the setting sun glow through the falling lip. Very zen.

Today two groms were sharing little runners of what is normally a winter bank off the end of the southern rocks at Juniors. Not great but they were enjoying themselves.

I took hand plane version 2.0 for its first spin but stupidly left my fins at home. That made it very difficult to get into waves early enough to set a line before they closed out. The jury is out on this new board. It rode a little soft and didn't seem t want to bite into the face. I'm leaning towards the quality of the waves and the lack of drive from fins as being the probable cause. We'll see.

It looks like a little front may brush past over the weekend. Winds should have some north in them. Apparently the secret spot that shows up in all of Taj's Cyclone Bianca footage was breaking again on with Sunday's little northerly pulse and TB, CJ and the Snake were all over it, probably recovering from the Margaret River celebrations the night before.

Sorry

I know that twice before I have said that this is the last Cyclone Bianca video but Taj and friends have released yet another angle of Mitchell Rocks grinding. Just when you think that Taj or Jay Davies or Dino Adrian can't possibly make it out of this grinding sandpit they do.

Keep an eye out for the guy getting sucked over the falls sitting on his board !!!

Call me when February is done

Fen is always a shitty month for surf in WA. It hasn't mattered where I've lived it has always been the same. Bunbury is probably the worst because when it's flat, it's flat everywhere. At least when I lived in Dunsborough you could go hunting to find enough dribble to push you a little.

I was looking at the blog entries from last year and they are basically the same as these (minus the cyclone swells !). The only positive is that as the shortest month of the year it's almost gone.

Cyclone Carlos seems to be tracking on a similar path to Di and Biancca. It's predicted to be stronger for longer than Dianne so maybe we'll get something a little biggerband longer than Monday. However it wasn't was well formed so there is a very good chance of jack. Anyway if it does arrive it will probably be on Sunday and packed again.

Don't get excited

The forecast is for a very short lived 2 metre swell tomorrow with north easterly winds.

One report claims it's from Cyclone Dianne but it is probably too far away at the moment. The winds are up to 160 odd kph so there could be some swell from it but considering how close Bianca had to get to send a day of waves it might be a bit early to wax up the gun.

I lied

One more Bianca video. There are no waves in the foreseeable future so you need something to keep your spirits up.

Just a tip - if you're watching a wave and thinking "gee its pretty fast but that guy seems to be making them", make sure "that guy" isn't Taj Burrow !!!!

Last of Bianca

Nothing to write about for this weekend unless you are aiming on windsurfing to South Africa !

Instead this is my poor quality video of the Cyclone Bianca waves. My reasonable camera was smashed a little while ago and hasn't been replaced so this was shot on my little camera with no zoom which is my excuse !

More Bianca

Some video has started to surface of the waves from Cyclone Bianca. Coastalwatch has some of the deepest tube riding probably ever down south and definately at this spot (because it never breaks). One tube will leave you shaking your head. Click here.

And here is some footage taken of other side of the moon.



Cyclone Bianca hits the Moon from Rory Gollow on Vimeo.

Dribble

Flat again. Just had a quick swim with my board and grabbed a couple of 6 inch take offs at Juniors. Not really surfing just a nice way to wash away work.

Some rumours of a small pulse in the next couple of day which would be good as there are a couple of funky banks from Cyclone Bianca.