Sorry

Been really slack keeping the blog up to date in the last few months. I've found Twitter and it is so much more convenient for those quick updates. I won't lie and say that I'll try harder to post but rest assured I haven't abandoned the blog.

I hope you were nice to your mother today because there could be some waves tomorrow. The blow earlier in the week has pushed some sand around and there looks to be the odd gutter here and there. BP Groyne has some of the summer sand washed away and there was just the glimmer of a shape there this afternoon.

The water will probably still be brown and there is plenty of weed around as well. I had a SUP at Fraggles this afternoon, catching a couple of waves to make a very inconsistent and difficult session worth it. However the short dump was pretty ferocious and thick with weed. Needless to say I had to duck under a triple up and came out looking like something from a horror movies. There were even things swimming in the water left in the hand well of my SUP !

The swell is dropping but is still around 0.55. It might not be big tomorrow but its a bit hard to tell how much the onshore today was blowing down the waves.

Humbled !

I've got over 25 years experience riding boards of all types. I've got a quiver that goes from 6 to 10' in fibreglass and includes handboards and a SUP. And I've surfed Bunbury for around 15 years. So after two flat water paddles around the boat harbour surely catching a few waves on the SUP shouldn't be that hard.

Fraggles was the chosen spot. The waves roll in from the deep and its sheltered from the sea breeze so once I'm past the shore break it should be a piece of cake. I'll wear a leg rope but only so when I kick out the board want hit the rocks.

It has been a while since I last surfed Fraggles, probably near to four years. In that time I forgot just how much the water moved around, bouncing off the groyne and the sea wall and surging back from the steep beach. The board that floated perfectly in the flat now wanted to sink and pitch and I was quickly in the water. Try again, same deal. And again and again. Eventually I got up long enough for a couple of strokes but fell in again.

Back to the beach and regroup. I adjusted a couple of things in my stance and actually made it a little way out and a little way in but was soon on the beach for a re-think.

Answer - paddle the thing prone and catch a couple of waves just to feel it out as a surfboard. It paddles prone like the wide long monster it is but I did get one wave. There won't be any off the lips on this board.

The fisherman on the beach was getting a bit annoyed with me going near his line (he wasn't catching any fish) and I'd had enough so that was it for session three. Lots of lessons to be learned and a few things to think about.

Fraggles is still very deep and sharky !

Spring

Day 1 of Spring and we have perfect Spring weather - sunny one minute, raining the next. Winter was a complete dud again but we will still probably get some more bad weather in the next few weeks. There were no real banks formed anywhere.

Every year that I have lived here (and that is quite a few) we've had a nice bank at the Clam but there hasn't been a single Clam day so far this year.

The Wall had some nice sand but not enough swell. The Groyne has had a day or two and Fraggles maybe an hour or two. The plus was the rip bank at Juniors but only for a week or so. BP Reef continues to be MIA and if you tell people that it was once the most consistent winter wave and broke off the back bombie they think you are on drugs !

There is no surf today as you would have already guessed. There has been four surfable hours all week and if you were on it quickly enough you could have had some fun. But I'm guessing most people (including me) just wrote the week off.

The seven day forecast has onshores till next Friday.

0.98 @ 13 seconds, seas 1.09.

LAGO-ish

Light onshore winds late this afternoon and a decent size swell. Some guys out at the BP Groyne getting the odd one between sets on the head and closeouts.

Fraggles looked like it was pumping but when you looked it was hours between waves. Long time to be dangling your feet in the dark copping sinkers on the head from the fisherman so no one was there.

Down at the Bay a couple of guys were using jet ski assist to overcome the wash.

0.8 @ 11

I wonder

On days like today what Bunbury would be like if a massive clean swell hit. There are some huge waves capping and breaking way out and some big walls amongst the carnage.

The harbour buoy is 1.19 metres and Naturaliste is just a touch under six. Winds have been gusting in the high 30 kph since early this morning and as high as 50 at times. Augusta is being smashed as usual with winds getting close to double our worst.

Wouldn't be planning on getting wet for a few days (excluding getting caught in the rain). Neither Fraggles or the wall have decent banks yet but this front will help.

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 !

Hanging around

Both the swell and the crowds hung around all day.The wind did turn light onshore but with the huge storm tide it just made the take offs a little easier.

BP Reef was still the go for rights but Fraggles cleaned up a little from the morning and was offering some decent rides. There were a few making the trek to the Bay but the BPA has locked the gates again so it was a bigger hassle that it should have been.

The swell looks like it is on the wane but there still could be some waves tomorrow morning for those running out of school holidays or lucky enough to have a RDO.

Bianca

There may not have been any rain or wind (yet) by cyclone Bianca has produced a classic surf day. The swell is around 0.6 and is building a little again. The water is bath temperature and it is humid as he'll.

With so much north in the swell the mystical BP Reef right has made an appearanceand so has the crowd. It was chockas this morning, with some less skilled surfers dropping in and ther wereva few hassles. Eden was the only one getting the hard sucky lefts but the rights were the pick.

BP groyne was throwing down sand spiting drainers. Exclusively body boarders only but you could stand on the beach and look straight into the throat of the wave as bit broke just off the beach.

I saw one grommet on the beachie do a take off that looked like small Backdoor and then throw the full Kong hands tube stance before getting a stand up pit and a sand blast smashing.

Fraggles had waves. They were really inconsistent as usual and really bumpy as usual. They were also breaking really close to the rocks and those riding outside weren't being able to clear the inside bulge

My intense hatred for crowds, especially one that was such a mix of skills, lead me to Barnacles and some short but fun take offs and little runners.

Who knows when a summer swell like this will appear again, get into it or you'll miss out..

NIce Day

Perfect Spring weather and a decent ground swell. The harbour bouy has been over 0.75 for most of the day and Naturaliste was just under three. Coastalwatch was reporting down south as solid, clean and 4 - 6'+.

Locally the lack of banks was still causing a problem. Sidewash was popular all day with BP and Juniors drawing a little after work crowd. The Bay was touched by the wind and messy. There were even a few lines showing at the Wall and across the Cut. Fraggles had some steamers coming through but the lulls were horrendous.

The wind will have a touch of north in it tomorrow and the swell is heading down. However you still might get some half decent waves, maybe at Capel, Binningup or down south.

Change

There was a change in the weather and with the clear skies and light winds came some decent sized, ridable waves. Only really Fraggles and the Wall weren't reasonable and even then there were some surf ski at the Wall and waves at Fraggles if you wanted them.

Everywhere from Fawlty Towers to the Bay had people out late this afternoon. Most people seemed to get at least one or two that made the paddle and the cold worth it.

BP had waves up and down the beach from the rip off Juniors all the way to the Groyne (where a decent looking bank is starting to form).

Tomorrow is predicted to have light offshores early with pretty light WNW in the arvo. The swell should straighten a bit so it could be okay again. But it is winter so you never know.

Batten down

The next front is just starting to smash in. The wind has picked up and the rain is pretty solid. Just went to check out the Wall but the rain turned me back. There was a few cars parked at the entry so I'm thinking that people got there before the weather. With the lowish tide it was probably alright.

Fraggles is big and messy and waves along the back beach are very very solid.

Looks like an afternoon to stay inside. I suspect that tomorrow wont be great either.

Wintery

Very much like winter today, onshore and grey.

The swell has come up a little and Coastalwatch are suggesting the Farm, Rockies or South Point could be goers. Locally there were the usual Sunday groms hitting onshore peaks here and there. Four chose the shorebreak at the Wall and even though it was tiny they were having a ball.

Fraggles had some nice but really inconsistent waves but no one out when I checked.

Few out

There are a few out at BP and Back Beach. With just a little north still in the onshore wind there are a couple of soft corners here and there.

One body boarder is out on the inside at Fraggles. If a few of those loose rocks weren't there it would be a fun surf for stand ups. Maybe we can convine the BPA to fish them out ?

Change in the weather

The first real front of 2010 has arrive and brought a fair whack of northerly swell. This morning there were a few school holiday groms tackling BP as the swell started to build. One was way out of position between the southern rocks at Juniors and Barnacles. Hopefully he didn't get too smashed up.

The arvo was pretty huge. The waves were really solid and the wind sort of offshore. BP was wild and waves were feathering way out to sea before exploding on the shallow banks. Three guys tried their hand but after being tricked by an easy paddle out suddenly realised how meaty it was when the first set landed on their heads.

Fraggles had some waves coming through but no takers.

The Back Beach seemed to be the go for most and it was quite crowded. Standing on the beach reminded me of those Pipeline pictures you see in magazines. The waves were dumping close to shore and the beach dropped away from where I was standing so it seemed that some guys were actually going underground.

There were some big drops and some poundings, mainly on the paddle back out.

The light and conditions weren't great for photos so you'll have to excuse the quality. Add the fact that my best camera died at BP and my other isn't suited to shots from the beach.

Swell is up over 1 metre on the buoy but starting to ease. The forecast for tomorrow isn't great wind wise but maybe the Dunsborough side could be ok for an early season session. Apparently it was pretty wild this morning.

Look out the window

The surf is exactly as you would expect. If you want to get wet you probably could but it wouldn't be any good. There were a few body boarders at the Bay getting some shore dumpers earlier.

If the wind doesn't drop off too much and with tide head down from a peak around noon, I'm making a very bold prediction that there just might (and I emphasise might) be a chance of a wave at Fraggles late this arvo.

Another Disapointing Winter

According to the calendar winter is over and it is now spring. Unfortunately someone forgot to tell the weather.

This was probably the worst winter for surf that I can remember in my 14 odd years here.

There was not a single bank at BP all winter. The reef was always a three section left in winter but it hasn't broken on the second shallow take off all year (and hasn't worked for the last four or five). Juniors is never good in winter but we usually get a decent rip bank off the southern rocks. It has threatened to appear a few times but never done it.

The BP Groyne has been surfed a bit but the bank and rip just aren't there. The sand isn't getting washed out and the weed is getting washed in. Fraggles broke about three times early and only once was more than a novelty.

The Bay was a little more consistent but not all time. The Wall broke a few times but you wouldn't have surfed it is there was any other choice.

The Surf Club had a few banks for a few days between swells. The Clam failed to really get one of the good winter banks and was mostly a close out. On the days it did work it was packed.

Bright sides were the opening of the path to the Bay and the start of construction on the BP look out but that's about it.

Fingers crossed for spring.

How Desperate Are You ?

There is a few just surfable waves in Bunbury if your desperate. Its probably the most surfable it has been for the last few days but its not great.

The only place people are out at the moment is around the Surf Club. There is the odd takeoff but it is pretty full and messy.

The Bay has the same problem, full and onshore. There is the very odd steamer at Fraggles but not worth the wait.

The water is brown and there are lots of strong rips around so be careful if you are just starting.

The cleanest waves I saw were off the tug boats !

Avon Descent scruitineering is on at the surf club. They will be hoping it continues to rain like last night in the Avon catchment to make it a paddling not walking race.

Severe weather warning has just been posted for this evening so this might be your last chance for a few more days.

Waves Around

There are a few waves around but pretty lumpy and hard to catch.

From the surfclub to whippies there are waves and people. Saw a spitting death tube reel along the bank.

BP has waves with a few sneakers. The Bay has groms out but the waves look really hard to catch. Fraggles has the odd wave but no one out.

Winds are meant to stay light all day so could be ok later.

Choc Milk

Rain has gone but the freezing onshore wind remains. The water has gone to that familiar Bunbury brown and there is weed everywhere.

This morning was solid with a couple of lids at Fraggles and the Bay.

Late this arvo the wind swung a little more south but no one was out for the LAGO