Latest Surfs...

[jaffa1949]

Ombak bagus, definitely tidak apa apa

[drowningbitbybit]

Perfect offshore clean barreling conditions this morning...

...if you were 7 years old and 4ft tall.
And indeed, there were plenty of 4ft tall 7-year-olds getting barrelled (goddam school holidays! Can't wait til next week when they're all back in school).
But for the proper grown-ups amongst us, it was catching small waves that were barely breaking at the last moment. I crouched down really hard... really really hard... but I still couldn't get into that 1ft barrel

[drowningbitbybit]

Small but perfect clean waves today

The waves were a bit gutless and so needed a bit of work to keep a shortboard going - lots of bouncing about and limbs flailing here and there to keep moving. Zero points for artistic merit!

[oldmansurfer]

Finally some overhead waves today to try my new board. It seems like the beginning of a long and happy relationship I went to middle Horner's which is a left (so I am backside) reef break (fairly deep water, meaning I don't hit the bottom). There was an older woman surfer out (not bad looking to someone my age meaning she is probably around my age). I have seen her a bunch of times but still haven't asked her name. On my first wave I wiped out (but the women surfer rode the wave), took off too deep for me to make it around the section and got swallowed up by whitewater. The second wave was awesome, kind of a late drop and I tried to turn before the board was in the flats at the bottom of the wave but it felt skittery like I if I was going to jam a hard bottom turn it would slide so I went straight a bit and the board settled down then I jammed a hard bottom turn and by then I was way behind the breaking part of the wave but to my surprise I made it around perfectly going right inches away from the whitewater and right up into the pocket smacking a hard turn back down there and then bottom turn and repeat then I got swallowed by the whitewater. It was a great wave for me ...not much to say about it if I were Kelly Slater but I am not. One of the boogie boarders there complimented me on my wave. I bet he was thinking "That old man can surf" . I never had quite as good of a wave as that one for the rest of my time but it was fun. The new board is definitely more difficult to catch waves with but rides nicely. I had three waves that I had to abort the takeoff on because the wave got too steep before I could popup. On two of them I managed not to go over the falls but went over slightly on the third one. I am riding it as a thruster and at some point will change it to a quad to see what the difference is.

[oldmansurfer]

Went back out today and the waves were down but still some overhead. I only caught two waves the first one didn't break at all but I rode it for 30 yards hoping it would. The second one I caught after I felt too crowded at the break and decided to come it. It broke in a number of sections and I just did a bottom turn around them all. I hope the shark that came too close to me appreciates how nice I am to let him have all the waves

[oldmansurfer]

Wouldn't you know it being Shark week and all

[drowningbitbybit]

Cool, crisp, clean conditions this morning

Surfed at Lacey's, which is the break sort of halfway between the point and the beach, and surfs like you'd imagine. Frustratingly, there were a lot of SUPs out there taking the best waves

Last wave of the day, and the first two waves of the set had cleared out all the SUPs. I was in perfect position for a good set wave, and so I paddled like mad for it, 100% commitment. Caught the wave, just as it jacked up to about headhigh, got my weight nice and far forward... too far forward... catch a rail... board dragged up to the lip with me freefalling behind it

Right, that's enough comedy flailing for the day, time to head in

[oldmansurfer]

I went out to Horner's today which is a left reef break. It was overhead with some waves having about a 10 foot face (5 foot Hawaiian) but I wasn't able to line up for any of those waves. I didn't see my friend the brown finned shark that I see often like the last time. I only surfed there for 15 minutes because I tried to surf at middles first and it was too inconsistent so by the time I got to outside break I had used up 15 minutes of my allotted time. I managed to catch one nice wave which made my day. It was just a backside bottom turn to cutback (all the way back into the whitewater) then another bottom turn and cutback before the wave died off. Nothing spectacular but for me a nice wave

[oldmansurfer]

I forgot to mention that yesterday there were some guys surfing a couple peaks over from where I was yesterday at Horner's. More waves over there but not as good. Today some kids were riding the inside part of Horner's but no one was outside and the waves were overhead and more consistent so the boil that I use to line up the break was useful today It was a fun day. I took my first insanely steep almost freefalling drop today with my new board and it did perfectly although I did move my front foot to the inside rail on the drop. I don't think I moved my front foot back for the rest of the wave but I did a bunch of bottom and top turns and even pushed really hard on one of the top turns and made the fairly steep drop that followed and I rode it all the ways to just past the rock (maybe 40-50 yards) I didn't fall down yesterday or today at all. I guess I wasn't pushing it too much but even though it may sound like I am not very cautious I usually am. I think the lack of rocker in this new board is made ok by the increase in speed it has down a face. So far I haven't pearled except the very first wave I caught with it

[IanCaio]

Haven't been posting much, typing on a cellphone is annoying!
Have surfed two days since I came for winter break. One on a new spot, about 1h30m doing a track on a motorcycle, some hollow waves but small that day. 2ft hawaiian, maybe a little bigger on sets. Nice beach though, uncrowded since it's a bit remote. I have been noticing some issues on my pop up. Sometimes I nail it perfectly, but I've been wiping out on some waves because of bad foot positioning on the pop up. I've been doing it one motion though, maybe this is why I'm having the issues now. Before I guess I positioned my back foot before poping up, but you guys told me it was bad on late drops. Gonna practice on dry a few times and see if it helps (never did it before, maybe a few hours repeating the movement will help).
Second time on another break with more weak conditions. Same thing, some good waves, some wipe outs due to late drops and bad foot positioning. Will work on it though.
Also, I got a new board for my quiver from a friend as a gift, gotta fix it though. A 6'0" shortboard, but more thick and wide than my 6'1". Looking foward to try it!

[drowningbitbybit]

Bitter mid-winter surf here on the Gold Coast.... 26ºC air and 21ºC water
I was too warm in my 2mm spring suit.


Waves were nice and clean today, but the Sunday crowds were a bit much... got 3 or 4 then called it a day before frustration set in. The waves will still be there tomorrow and everyone will be at work

[Big H]

Yesterday was at Balangan, barreling reef break that is pretty fast....still trying to get the place wired....took off too deep on one and got creamed just as I got to my feet....bounced off the reef that time and twice more again....fairly shallow and was thankful it was more rock than coral and that I had a wettie top on.....a lot of learners out there but one guy was doing it right so I followed his take off positioning and had better luck.....was a day that I felt like I definitely learned a few things and took something away to build on; doesn't always happen that way so it's nice when you happen on a productive sesh that reignites the stoke....was psyched to get out this morning and while the conditions didnt cooperate, I had a better surf than I had been having.

[oldmansurfer]

I surfed a river mouth sandbar break that was about was about waist high and murky water. I was wearing a 0/0 wetsuit and it was just what I needed to keep warm There was a weird sideway backwash on the inside but I never ran into it surfing. Just got some exercise paddling, no notable waves. I did catch a few but nothing worth mentioning

[oldmansurfer]

I went back out to the same river mouth break. The waves were slightly larger.... some shoulder high waves and the water was clean and it was sunny and fun day. Still no waves worth mentioning, I tried to get tubed a few times and failed but I got a lot of practice learning how to lineup, paddle for and surf small waves. Probably a smaller board would be better to ride them but more difficult to catch them. These waves go from kind of sloping to pitching over in about a yard or two space. I normally try to lineup for the big ones and sneak a medium sized wave because the bigger waves are way less frequent but for these medium waves even if I was in position I needed to paddle well before the wave gets too me and can't catch them from the lineup for the bigger waves. Anyway it was a fun day and much more beautiful conditions (and great exercise)

[IanCaio]

Had 3 sessions since the one I last posted.
First one was not really a session, but me getting pounded and going home with my head down .
I even got thrown in the sand in a shorebreak wave, and thanked for the fact it wasn't a reef break, or I would have some gnarly reef scars on my back! It would look really bad ass though

Next session, way better. Had some fun waves, nothing much but enough to recover a little bit if my pride and self steem.

Today, some wierd conditions. Good size (around 2ft hawaiian) but not really strong (probably because the period wasn't high, like 8s). Didn't ride a good line, since I was losing speed on the wave a little fast, maybe because it was a little weak. I did think I improved my late drop, could drop in the critical section a few times. The secret seems to be "get on your feet quick". I do need to practice my foot positioning on the pop up though, I need more consistence, since I missed some waves because I was too busy trying to balance on a bad foot stance.

Fun session though!

[oldmansurfer]

I took some photos today just because it was nice day (not the waves so much)

shorebreak

Shorebreak where I usually surf it was starting to come up as I left probably due to a south swell that is hitting the island

crookeds

The next break out from the rivermouth called Crookeds nice peak but goes fairly flat after breaking

rivermouth

The rivermouth where I surfed. I didn't wait to get a photo of a good wave but his type of wave was really consistent

blackrock

This is blackrock further out from crooked and the rivermouth. There were 8 to 10 SUP's out there when I arrived and I considered going out there. Normally I can lineup on the inside of them and take stuff they don't catch but it makes me have to take evasive action all the time to avoid getting whacked by Sups so I decided not to go.

[dtc]

so are blackrock, crooked and the rivermouth all on the same beach/bay? Just further out from each other

[Big H]

There is a stretch of beach about 5 min from here like that....five different named peaks in 700m. You have to be a regular to te the difference from one to the next.

[Tudeo]

There is a stretch of beach about 5 min from here like that....five different named peaks in 700m. You have to be a regular to te the difference from one to the next.

Geger!

[Big H]

Was in reference to mushroom, blackstone, et al but if you include Geger to the headland with the temple to the side of the resort there are like 10 different peaks in that 1.5km stretch. Kinda like canggu....start at brewa and go north to echo it is just one long stretch of beach with a different peak name every 150m or so it seems.