Latest Surfs...

[jaffa1949]

What an unusual photo. I thought something was off, it does look like it's breaking away from shore
Nice wave thought. Tropical setting, warm water, mmmmm

I just thought I'd add a little shot from Kandui Resort's archives, showing a small Karangabat wave in the centre of the picture and and John Candies or A frames back behind the boat.
4 Bobs is just to the right of shot and all these are right out in front of the resort.
These are not my shots but Kandui resort is happy for them to be published ( Thanks Kandui)

You might consider it an expensive trip but with 25+ waves within easy reach and air conditioned comfort, hot showers and good food all laid on, as is boat to any break.
Well worth it, there are other camps in the area less salubrious but a good budget option and of course boat charters.
You can go as your funds and comfort level allow

[dtc]

Jaffa - how shallow are the reefs? I have seen shots of people effectively surfing in front of bare rock, which just seems a little crazy (unless you never fall off)

[jaffa1949]

That particular reef you can see is about ankle deep when you step off your board but varies with chest deep holes but you run along the edge at angle. karangabat is considered a soft wave, as is Burger World and BengBengs and Pitstops. But they are better most of the days you get at your bog standard breaks near home.

Basically in Indo if the wave barrels, you are on or over a pretty shallow reef if it slabs you are over an even more shallow reef apart fro some rare spots Indo is reef breaks. Some were death slab so far as I was concerned or full on barrel s that stretched your barrel riding skill to the optimum. Eg Rifles a right or Kandui a left.
Rifle, Kandui, Bankvaults are several levels up from where I feel comfortable. Hideaways is also a race the cheese grater underneath.
One thing about reef breaks is they make the swell break consistently , get the break figured and you're good to go.

You get some beatings figuring it out.

Indo has humilated, humbled and exhilarated me, given me what I would consider the wave of my life and a couple of near death experiences. So I continue to go back for more.
BTW my idea of what I want to ride has changed since I first started going in the 1970s.

Current choice, long wave medium to largish carvathon waves with barrel sections hit at speed. Will accept small and performancy type waves if that's what is offered

May Trip planned and wife permit issued as Taiwan didn't produce much
T/land do your home work and see where the next set of uncle Jaffa travelblogs will come from. Sadly no foot cleaning fish or hot springs here but my wife has gracious consented to sit by the pool and have massages and cocktails and we can afford it as there are no shops within thousands of kilometers.

[dtc]

Thanks Jaffa. I am showing my lack of experience here, but how do you actually surf over a 1ft deep reef without injuring yourself?

Sure if you dont fall off its fine, but everyone falls off. I understand that if you fall as the wave is breaking, you 'land' on the water that has just come from the lip of the wave and is now underneath you. However, on a wave with any power I would expect to be pushed/fall at least a couple of feet under the water (and, indeed, need to be underwater in order not to be picked up by the white water).

Presumably it can't be as difficult or as painful as it seems in theory, because otherwise no one could surf the breaks.

Or is it that you pop up in slightly deeper water just before the reef (the pop up being the highest risk of falling), surf through the shallow areas and then out the end when the reef ends? So while you are surfing across 1ft water, you only do so during the 'safest' part of the surf - having already stood up?

[jaffa1949]

Wiping out over a reef is something you have to make up as you go along.
Getting to know the break and deciding how to fall and protect yourself is important, sometimes you can project yourself through the back of the wave and that works other ways are to pancake yourself and try not to penetrate the water over the reef, sometimes the warp your self into a ball method works and you just get superficial scratches.
No matter what there are times when everyone just gets pitched or slammed, and the more your push the more it could be like this
http://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/6105 ... n-teahupoo.
You hope your wipeout is not so bad!
.
Be assured though if you pull back or hesitate in your wave selection and drop taking the results will be much worse than having a fullhearted go at the wave.

If you have considerate reef it has a deeper water take off and time to set your line and gain your speed to make the wave, beyond that everything is increments of skill>
Watch Teahupoo take offs , the speed and skill the pros organise themselves into the severe drop and set their line immediately. More a drop down up than a pop up!
They know they could die here ( I probably would and it would be of fright) but they trust their skills.
I am happy to take my skills to their edge, and it is way below that.
Reefs hurt, lime juice or iodine after picking out the coral, untreated, high risk of serious infection!
Surf with care>

[spectrefish]

got out at El Porto this morning before work. We've been doing tons of overtime lately and I haven't gotten out much. It felt awesome but 2-5 footers with really nice +sets kicked my a** this morning! By the time I paddled out past the break I was pretty exhausted. OT sitting at a desk all day is good money but it wreaks havoc on my physical fitness!

It was good to get out though. Last wave of the morning was worth all the effort. Got to work on my lacking pumping skills.

Think I'll sleep in tomorrow and skip the bigger sets coming in.

maybe a couple of these tonight to ease the muscles...

[Wave4Surf]

Went out to surf in Zandvoort today. The first surfing day of this season! The waves looked great and were great. Although it was FREEZING cold (water temp. 6C, air 11C and a chilly wind) many surfers shared the same thought as I did. I stayed in for about an hour, as it got too cold. Even last year the 26th of March the sea and air were warmer than this year april....

[jaffa1949]

Here is the presentation from Huey over last weekend. For our Nederlander crew water temp 19C air 18c and this to boot

You got to test your lines on long walls

You could check the skill of your roundhouse cutback

there were fifty in the water and some manners were sadly lacking. One drop in and two more to come!!!!

[surf patrol]

What's going on in the bottom pic? tut tut

Did you get a surf yourself Jaffa or are you still resting?

[Nandomaer]

Surfed yesterday Huntington Beach by the pier, pretty small and choppy.

Check out my blog. A Spaniard living in California. Its in Spanish and English...so you can practice

http://surfeandocali.wordpress.com/

good waves

[surf patrol]

Hi Nandomaer, welcome to Surfing Waves.
Obviously you want to promote your own blog, but how about posting some photos here for our visitors?

[Nandomaer]

Hi Surf Patrol

Yeah I wanted to promote my blog but it is just for fun. I hope you like it.

Here is one of my pictures 3 months ago surfing in my hometown Barcelona. Although is the Mediterranean, sometimes we can find fun waves like this one.

Thanks

[surf patrol]

That's great Nandomaer, I look forward to your ongoing participation.

[nokten]

my last time i almost had an accident, im quite a newbie

[jaffa1949]

Uncle Jaffa's Tland adventures.
15 days of really good surf with mellow offshore winds with the surf ideally getting bigger to double overhead after a little bit of learning the break.

Easy start

practicing bottom turns

The high line on the face was the way to make them

Heading to the speed run

A lazy cut back before the the run

Last two day were express train barrels at a fair imitation of Gland , Uncle Jaffa's big nosed longboard could not penetrate down the wave face against the wind at over 20 knts and I ended having the tail of the board beat the nose to the bottom with resulting over the falls wipeout, all the subsequent surfs would have dealt the same fate it was pointy nose Indo gun territory from there on in.

This was with the reef exposed at low tide , half the wave face is below the reef

the tide on the last two days was a 7mtre difference between high and low, at low with the huge off shore winds half the wave face is below the reef, still absolutely surfable.
The photos of Uncle Jaffa were taken by Ryan Williams a roving photographer across the islands, a good guy if you see him support him

[dtc]

Wow, that first shot shows the importance of the rails!

I guess the over the falls didnt result in hitting the reef, you still look pretty intact. How long were the rides - I know they advertise very long rides (up to 1000ft)

How did your wife enjoy the resort itself?

[jaffa1949]

All was good, for us both , my wife did lots of swimming in the pool, nobody comes to hassle you to buy, she had 3 massages, and a full body scrub, painted scenes and read books while I surfed, I did dawn patrol and came in for breakfast.
The smaller days there are three takeoff points on the wave The Point

which connects to the Pyramid and if you choose them well you can run into the mountain about 300 to 400 metres long rides at high line drive speeds.
This is the Pyramid

and it runs down to the mountain

[kitesurfer]

Very nice uncle J. Very jealous.

KS

[surf patrol]

Very nice. Very very nice.
By the look of those photos you had a great trip. 15 days of really good surf with mellow offshore winds - what more could you ask from a surf trip.
I'll post them up in the photo gallery if it's OK with you Jaffa.

[jaffa1949]

That's fine , they are all by a guy called Ryan Williams, I'll post mine shots later, Ryan was OK with posting them we discussed putting them on the forum, I paid so copyright rest with me!