WHAT IS IT WITH THE PROS???????

[new zealand girl]

15 degrees in winter! nice for some! havn't been surfing all week so was gonna go out today but its 8 foot according to the local surf forecast. i get too wasted in 6 foot so think i'm gonna have to flag again... dreaming of glassy 4ft and water over 10 degrees....might do some of that going to the gym/pool stuff you suggested eh.

[Brent]

exactly, that's my whole point.

People like us who live in the real world work & study for a living, sometimes life does take over, you may have huge papers to write....me I'm working a normal day now and am having to deal with daylight saving at this time of the year.
But, by keeping tuned-up physically and increasing paddling strength by suplimenting it with weights & swimming in the evenings, even just a couple of days a week, even at my age I never lose my paddling strength, and even if for whatever circumstances I can't hit the water for 4-5 days ... it makes no difference. That's the thing, you're training & preparing for a purpose...to become a stronger surfer.

Whatever preparation you do....it's all good.

And I note on the Environment Bay of Plenty buoy website today the water has dipped to 14.5 degrees.....eeeewwwww it's getting cold ;-)
I may have to zip my steamer up properly tomorrow afte work.

Anyway, better fly...take care, B

[nz girl]

hey brent
14.5 degrees? why must you taunt me?!
nah seriously though, the south island has some plus points despite the cold...been up in auckland this last week with a mate, couldn't beleive how warm it was up there, i fully wore a t shirt and shorts all week! went for a surf at st kilda's today and got thrashed. i'd slacked off on the press ups etc all week and i noticed it a bit when i struggled to get out the back. pretty fast breaking wave too compared to where i normally surf! good to be back in the water though, couldn't go surfing up north so now making up for lost time. st clairs was pumping today too, but too many weekenders out. might check it out tommorow though...then monday i'm gonna surf Allans which'll be choice as havn't surfed there yet. hows the surfing round tauranga? i hear it gets pretty good round your way? did you get some good waves from cyclone ivy?

[leolivi]

This has gone way out of topic, but i'll share my experience.

I have a summer house at a beach that is one of the best on the region for advanced surfers. The waves brake very close to shore and it is not uncommon for people tu brake their boards. Some guy even broke his neck a yeah ago. (he survived and is ok.)

I started surfing at the beginning oh this year. So i got a funboard and a rashguard and so. I would allways go to the other surfers, most native and experienced for some advice, since i had no friends there to teach me. One day one guy started making jokes about my stuff, like the funooard, and the questions i was making.

I didnt get angry or anything. I just laughed with the others and said: With this board i can catch some waves, if i had a shortboard i wouldn't be able to. Then this guy anwered: Yeah, that's the right board for ya man, go to the surf!

He did mean it, that was not sarcasm. The guy didn't mean bad realy. When surfers see people around they dont know they see potential kooks, or just people who will croud their beach. If you dont bother with it and just keep surfing you'll be fine after some time.

It is very easy to see when someone is in for the surf or just for making himself big and cool. Most people who shrug beginners off are the ones trying to seem the "pro surfer" or the "big guy".

[Guest]

Hey NZ Girl.
That day was really weird. Ivy was frightening & very humbling. I'd like to say epic. But nope - it was just scary. It was a much better wave further south apparently. Aramoana was pumping but being 1400 kms further south & further away from swell-source the swell had more time to clean up abit. Here it was just a big messy washing machine

Surf here is normally, ...um, ok and that's it. The geography of the area is all wrong for good surf normally...look at a map of the bay of plenty, you'll see its north-east facing and the sea basin of the bay itself is quite shallow. So, normally good surf here is between Nov- March (cyclone season) and as the seasonal lows move up in latitude abit, the ones you're getting hammered by now. What real swell that does head towards us loses alot of it's energy in the shallow bay it travels though to reach us.

To give you a local perspective...the surf here is about the same as Aramoana, same size, volume & consistancy. That break faces very similar angles & has the same swell-window as the BOP. That'll give you the idea anyway.

The nice thing is ...it's 1.5 hours to Raglan, 1 hour to Whangamata, 3 hours to Gisborne...so you get to travel alot & experience most of N.I's best breaks in day-trips away. Heavy locals at Raglan however...never go there in the weekend. ;-)

St KIlda can be quite heavy - it's a deep beach that gets shallow quickly. it breaks heavy & fast...especially by the surf-club. I'd never go further towards Lawyers Heads for obvious reasons ;-)

I've never surfed Allens Beach, or at least I don't think I have...I can't remember to be honest...I may have once or twice, they all look the same in my head those pretty wee beaches on the peninsular.
Water temperature today is 15.3 degrees Celcius.....:-)
B

[nz girl]

so much for planning which breaks i was going to surf in advance. of course it didn't turn on and ended up surfing st clairs which then quickly turned onshore. its 8 ft and onshore today so trying to get a bit of study in... never surfed aramonana, is that quite a good break? as for lawyers heads is that because of seals, sharks or sewerage? i've been going down by the surf club. i hear raglan is awesome, i was dying to go for a surf when i was up in auckland but was up there as a support person for my friend and her sick baby so it would have been a bit insensitive, not to mention i didn't have my wettie or stick handy! i was checking out the photos of Ivy in kiwi surf, it looked pretty sick aye. anyway its gonna be st clairs for me for the next couple of weeks as the guy i'm surfing with is gonna be overseas surfing nice tropical waters...lucky bstrd! sounds like a bit of a mish to go for a surf up north aye, makes me appreciate dunedin more!

[Brent]

The real beauty of Dunners surfing is the profile of the coast and you can be doing it within 10-15 mins from anywhare in the City, thankfully it's so cold or the place would be over-run with fools. The cold water acts as a form of kook-police.

Surfing up here has good & bad points. Things most people don't think about...take most of Northland as an example - if you are within walking or horse-riding distance from a town or similar, chances are if you leave your car unattended at a beach or isolated break and go surfing...you'll get out of the water to find your windscreen smashed and your gear stolen. Those boys don't just try your doors anymore, na mate...they'll smash their way in. Happens almost daily up there.

Sure the water is warmer - but it's more crowded as a result. The north & south islands have different experiences surfing wise - neither is better, it's just different at each end of the country. I suppose it's like comparing Oregon to Southern California. Surfers up here are envious of Dunners surf...likewise Dunners surfers know how much warmer it is here.

I guess the motto is enjoy where you are - for what it offers surfing wise.

PS:Lawyers Head offers raw untreated pooze, discharged off-shore, yep floating tollies. On a calm day, drive up to the carpark above, look straight out to sea about 500-700 meters and you can see the brown/grey discharge discolouration.
Classy !!

[SoCal]

[quote="Boris"] Hah, I remember once being out the back & seeing this guy (no names here) paddle out & paddle up to this kook with something stuffed down the back of his wetsuit. He went up to this guy, unzipped his wetsuit and said "hey dude...is this your carburettor???". Classic ;-)

funny.

I remember "seeing" that same guy with the carbuerator here in California at San Onofre, at Trestles, at La jolla Shores, at Salt Creek etc....hey I even remeber him from Mundaka. Or was it Pipes?

glad ta see you drop in on people with reckless abandon Boris. you're a real model.

you flex your superiority in the line as a local where you take off, how you smack the lip or crank a bottom turn.

Flexing by dropping in on someone is a Kook move bro, local or not. You not make yourself look like an ass by acting like the Barney. If the Barney is next in line and has the right o way you let them go,....

Next time I go to St Clair I'll unzip my wetsuit and crap a big steamin log on the inside in honor of you. You know, its the Golden Shite Rule: "Crap over others as you would have them crap over you"

[Brent]

Read the thread Man, that's the first thing you do.

I was referring to MY experiences growing up and surfing at a heavily localised break in my early teenage years.......
MEANING I was on the recieveing end of stuff like that most of the time...NOT the dealing end.
I managed to divert most attention from myself and basically "kept my head down", What I was describing was what I witnesssed happen to others. Not what I took part in myself.

If you'd read the thread this would be obvious.
Now, move on dude..
B

[Guest]

So Cal the troll, It's spelt....Carburettor, also, the water at St Clair is about 10 degrees Celsius all year round so unzipping your wetsuit whilst out the back for a dump wouldn't be too enjoyable, not to mention the viscosity issues you'd face :-). I know revenge is a dish best served cold...but that's just being silly :lol:
Boris