Latest Surfs...

[dtc]

This is on the other side of the Pacific now. No one is allowed in the water.

Hey BaNZ, did you get through OK? Looks pretty nasty

[jaffa1949]

Finally the crowds cleared, the clouds cleared perfect three foot bar seven out knee worked on each and every wave, surfed till shoulders tired, crowds came out too late for them wind came up and blew it all away. good enough and timely enough to almost be a dream.

The Whiff of Chinese liniments alerts me that it wasn't. Tonight whiskey, tomorrow moxa.
Life is sweet

[IanCaio]

Hey folks,
I'm back to the country side, my winter break is over. Had like 5 or 6 sessions in the 20 (or something) days I was at the coast. I don't know, a few times I was kind of disappointed with my surfing. Maybe I'm just expecting more, I don't feel much consistence right now.. I had a few good waves, and when I mean good, I mean just being able to ride the line for a while, and maybe trying a little snap (not the vertical, which I think it's called "off the lip", more like an more agressive top turn). But there were the days where I was struggling, more like battling the ocean then flowing with it. Guess it's what learning is all about, at least I'm having fun out there.

I have a new board on my quiver now, just didn't ride it yet. It's a 6'0", thicker and wider. I expect some more stability, so I'm kinda looking forward to test it. It was an older board from a friend, that had a crack on the middle. I fixed it, putted a deck and bought a set of fins. The closer breaks were off on my last weekend there, so I just tested it on the flats. Felt the paddling was easier, and the board felt much lighter than my "rock solid weight" board!
I'll post some pictures of it here (when I get them on my cellphone)

By the way, I'm planning on some functional training on land. I feel out of shape, getting tired quicker than I want. Since I can't afford to lose a day of surfing because it's bigger than usual (after several miles traveling), I want to train so I can feel confortable out there on more solid and stormy days (like 3ft to 5ft hawaiian, peak a little overhead). Maybe I won't be able to surf it that well, but I won't be under major risk if I lose my board or get caught inside. I'll get one of those yoga balls to practice at home, and swim 3 times a week. What do you guys think?

[IanCaio]

Here is the board:

[oldmansurfer]

I hope you fixed that crack strong enough. I think swimming and other exercises will help. What I do that seems to help me the most for bigger waves is hiking up and down a hill fast enough to keep me slightly out of breath the whole time. I am on old man so fast walking is what I do but you can get cardio workout swimming too just make sure you go slow at first and work up to it. I think getting used to exercising while out of breath is the key. There is no replacement for surfing but cardio workout is important to keep you from being tired.

[IanCaio]

Thanks OMS, I used two layers of fiberglass, one stripe and a diamond-shaped piece over it. I also fixed a few cracks that seemed like they could open soon on the rails and made the tip of the nose with some resin.

Maybe I will try some running too to work on my cardio. I'm not a bad swimmer, maybe I should work on small details, cardio and foot work (I believe I swim mostly with my arms). Everytime I was a bit scared to go out (usually on storm conditions where the outside is further out) it wasn't that I was scared to wipeout, but mostly scared of being tired out there. Since, so far, I always at least try to go outside and surf, I would rather do it with some more confidence I won't get into trouble

[oldmansurfer]

I think you can get a cardio with swimming or lots of other sports but often be it running or swimming or whatever get into a comfort zone but what I think needs to be done is to get slightly out of that comfort zone and keep like that for 15 to 20 minutes or so. I can hike up and down my hill and not get much of a cardio workout but if I push myself out of that comfortable pace I get a workout.

[oldmansurfer]

I went out at Middle Horners today and had a lot of steep drops. The waves were lurching up with a narrow takeoff zone. I had one drop where I had to go straight down because the lip pitched over on both sides of me while I was popping up. I was committed and had to go so I went straight down although I had been doing an ankle turn at the top for the rest of the waves. The nose went underwater about less than an inch and I put pressure on my back foot bringing it back up. I tried to ride the wave to make a connection to the inside break but couldn't keep going. I think a longer board might have been able to do that. Anyway lots of fun but no great waves.

[sirkook94]

Haven't been able to surf a lot for about a week or so because of work, but I got to go out this evening for a sunset session. Onshore winds created a lot of chop and closeouts. Wasn't able to catch anything tonight, so I got a little frustrated. But hey, it's better than being at work or doing anything else! Going out early tomorrow morning to beat the crowds and the winds, hopefully it will be better.

On a better note, I've been getting a lot better on a fish board that I got recently. Able to catch about shoulder to head high waves and make a decent bottom turn on it. Enjoying the stoke!

[CutbackBretto]

Had a great surf today... 2-3ft Sunshine Coast beach break... Just me, a mate and perfect little A-Frames

[drowningbitbybit]

0–1ft this morning, but I needed a paddle. It's been tiny for about 2 weeks now - typical QLD winter flat spell - and it's getting a bit desperate.

I went out this morning and tried the beachie, but the small waves were just flopping onto the shore, then tried the point, but it was hideously crowded.

On the plus side, it's a gorgeous day, and the water is warm and crystal clear at the moment - not bad for a mid-winters day even if the waves were a bit pathetic.

[drowningbitbybit]

Day 206 - The Wave Drought continues...

Surfed at Kirra on the point this morning, which sounds good and exotic, except it was about 1ft

Got one half-decent wave at the end and decided to quit on a high (although not very high).

In total, I caught about six waves, which if you added them together might just have been headhigh

[dtc]

Is it getting crowded with all the N Nsw surfers heading to sharkless (hopefully) environs?

[drowningbitbybit]

Is it getting crowded with all the N Nsw surfers heading to sharkless (hopefully) environs?

Not crowded (or at least no more crowded than usual) but there are a few NSW surfers out there. I met one guy in the water during the week who'd driven up from Ballina and who knows one of the shark attack victims - first time he'd been out in weeks and he couldn't face going in with the sharks still hanging around, so he drove up from his bit of the world (4-5 ft, offshore and pumping) to the GC (1 ft, offshore, not pumping) to get back in the water.

On my one good wave yesterday, I did see three large-ish "fish" (let's just call them fish. 2 m?) through the wave as it approached me - quick mental calculation that it would be better to catch the wave and be standing on the board than it would be to duckdive underneath it

[oldmansurfer]

My neighbor is selling all his surfboards.....well at least the ones he isn't using anymore which is about 10 or 15. He has repaired them all often taking a PU board and ripping the old deck off and replacing it with epoxy. Anyway he is selling them to make money to get dental work done. He offered to let me use one so I took out an old PU 7'4" x 20" x 2.25". It was heavy to feel.... in it weighed a lot and in the water when I sat on it only my chest was out of the water. I missed a lot of waves because I didn't know how to use it and finally the string that the board leash was attached to broke so I took that as a sign to go in. I may purchase it as a donation to him later when I have discretionary money to spend but for now I wished I took out one of my boards with lots of floatation because there were some fun looking waves

[drowningbitbybit]

Oh thank god, some waves!

1ft all day with strong offshores... popped out at about 4pm because, well, you know, it's sunday... gotta finish the weekend with a surf. Wasn't expecting much, but in between the 1ft waves was the occasional bombset of around 4ft
Hard to catch due to the strong offshore, but then even the wind dropped just before it got dark for a magic last half hour. There weren't even any crowds as noone was expecting this bump of swell. Good times

[Nogs]

Finally got some good weather AND swell here in the north, just a really rare combo. Been the shittiest summer - probably only 3-4 days with temps around 20C. Strong offshore made it really difficult to see anything at all at the pop up (anyone got some tips here - I really struggle with the offshore wind just throwing water everywhere making it impossible to see anything at all at the pop-up and drop).
A tourist in the water had the full "attention" gear, we're talking neon green board, go pro and a spiderman colored suit. He took priority on every other wave but was never really going to make the drop - chickened out every time which was really frustrating. Paddle for the wave son, but my god, please try to take it for the sake of the rest of us waiting morons.

Anyway, wind should calm later on today - we're in for some nice days here!

[jaffa1949]

Talk to tourists like that explain the local rules re priority ie continually miss and someone else is going to take off under you if they can.

Do you get many tourists up there? or local wanna try its!

Keep the faith and your vitals warm , you are making a "tough" Aussie winter feel puny

[Nogs]

Yeah, should've! But, I'm a rookie too, and I didn't want to lecture him and then drop in or doing some stupid stuff myself. Besides, there are not that many people in the water, so it wasn't a huge issue.
Actually there are some tourists, and I actually met one from Sydney in the water yesterday morning. Really cool that people the trip, especially as the conditions are just the most random ever - can go from world class to utter xxxxx. But most people come here with different equipment so if the surf's not on, you can always climb, hike, MTB, fish, go kayaking - it's an outdoor paradise. Biggest issue is unfortunately the price level in Norway, which is sky high. But there are ways to get around.

The conditions mate - I'm actually sweating in my 654 Xcel nowadays. That will change when the snow comes, but I'm sure you'd manage

[oldmansurfer]

Went out today and caught a bunch of waist to shoulder high waves nothing too great but it is always good to get out in the water. I had one wave worth mention because it wasn't very big but it was sucking water back toward it and I just sort of stayed stationary in one position paddling while the wave came under me then I popped up.