Latest Surfs...

[oldmansurfer]

Today I went to the inside reef inside of Blackrock which from the shore looked more consistent and better shaped but when I got out there there were actually 3 breaks about 10 to 20 yards apart all in a line and then the sets broke in a different area. I managed to only catch one reasonable wave (shoulder to head high) but was slightly out of position on the takeoff and it was kind of bowling up so I had a steep late drop and made it turned back onto the face and the wave tubed out a foot behind me then collapsed. I must of paddled over a mile though during all that. I'll be ready if the surf is up next week

[Big H]

Went to Balangan today....was so so, waves shoulder to just about head high on the biggest sets....small swell but big period (1.4m @ 20sec) so I wash't sure what to expect....had two boards in the car, went with the Jimmy Lewis 7' mini mal. I rode that board better than I ever have....I've been riding a short board lately and those movements seemed to translate... I was pumping the board, linking bottom and top turns and cutbacks....I was a lot more active than I used to be on that board, rode it like it was a short board and it came to life in the listless waves today. Wow! Best wave I pumped twice around the middle of the wave then dropped down and made a hard bottom turn to a sharpish top turn into a cutback....I threw a fair amount of spray at the top, used my arms and gave it a good torquey twist to come around......on a mini mal..... I


I really rate this board....will keep it as long as I can.

[BoMan]

Went to Balangan today....was so so, waves shoulder to just about head high.

Your "so so waves" are big for me.

[HaimT]

It is never too late to start surfing!
Amazing experience

[IanCaio]

I need to surf.

Went for a ride in my motorcycle to easy my mind about some stuff, ran into a place being demolished. There was some foam there and all I could thing of was taking it to try to do some board. Once I go to the coast I'll still have to wait a little while until I get my board there, so a crappy board would still be better than none

[oldmansurfer]

My weekend of small weak surf. Yesterday I surfed the sandbar right in front of the parking lot. I caught a lot of waves but nothing worth mentioning unless a ankle high foam climb is exciting. If someone was watching me they would have thought I knew how to surf because "I no fall down". At 210 pounds or more it takes a lot for a wave to knock me off my board. Today i went to a shallow reef area which is unusual for me but it looked like the best choice. I caught a few waves and one that I got a nice backside bottom turn to a snap off the lip before the wave crumbled. Well once again I got a workout and I'm ready for some waves.

[BoMan]

Sunday was a beautiful longboard day between storms and I did a lot of simple cruising. Football playoffs kept the crowd light.

Jetty and Sea Drift channel

Boat Ramp

The Patch

[Big H]

Swell has been small lately....is picking up over the next couple of days but so is the wind forecast....howling on shores today at the spot I chose; east coast awful to unsurable at low tide so no choice...had like a 4 second period it seemed like...all the same the spot picked up every bit of swell and one peak about 250m offshore was breaking at around 6-8ft on the sets so I took the longboard out and made my way through the choppy seas....actually turned out to be a decent sesh with long rides...needed the longboard as there were mushy sections and the waves were lumpy and fat on takeoff due to the onshore, but once up it was ok & had a good time....bottom turns are much better and while my eyes were on the wave, I could feel the board hum through the turns and could hear the sound of spray...important thing was I was drawing better lines and keeping speed with better board handling; lessons I'm learning on the shortboard which is a lot more sensitive to front and back foot weighting....changed boards 2/3 of the way through the sesh and finished off on a shortboard on a steeper but smaller peak that was considerably inside of the outer break but further down the beach....again was able to keep speed better by improved front/back foot weighting beginning with the takeoffs which I've been working on speeding up, smoothing out and improving control so that I don't kill the wave before it starts with a slow or clumsy pop up....was doing something that I think DTC recommended which is popping up and immediately consciously touching the water with my trailing hand....seemed like had better control and the movement was smoother without losing speed on the ones that I did properly....will keep on that until I can do it right all the time rather than the current some of the time...........slowly getting better....good times!

[Big H]

Went to Balangan today....was so so, waves shoulder to just about head high.

Your "so so waves" are big for me.

Hahahaha....jaded already! We should all be so blessed with Balinese "so-so" waves!
Hard to learn on....my first few months I had a lot of days I just couldn't handle the conditions and had to wait for lulls in the swell....glad to finally be able to enjoy the ocean most of the time!

[BoMan]

I..was doing something that I think DTC recommended which is popping up and immediately consciously touching the water with my trailing hand....seemed like had better control and the movement was smoother without losing speed on the ones that I did properly....will keep on that until I can do it right all the time rather than the current some of the time...........slowly getting better....good times!

I didn't pick up on this before and I will try it next time!

[312T4]

Guys!!

you well know that cyclone Victor was blessing the east coast of australia this last weekend...

well.. most of the spots were out of my league.. but Noosa..

for the first time in my life i was one of those guys surfing all the way from National Park to the inside of Little Cove..
I couldnt believe it myself! something like 40sec ride each time.. my legs were in pain!

I should add that yes, the crowd was massive and I didnt ride many waves compared to a normal day. But still.. I close my eyes and I can still see them. Also I distinctly rememeber some moments, some acts..

I'm on the moon.

[dtc]

Stuck inland and it's raining, but at least 312t4 gives me some vicarious pleasure

[drowningbitbybit]

Kids finally back to school... crowds thinned right out... Tropical Cyclone Victor still delivering the goods... glass-off thunderstorms...

...sadly though, my shoulder and consequently my fitness are still not up to the job of waves of real consequence, so I went and found myself a quiet clean corner and got back into it surfing some smaller fatter waves all on my own. Bliss!

[drowningbitbybit]

What a difference a couple of days makes... after the inconsistent but excellent surf of the last week or two, today was just 2ft of onshore slop. But it's sunday, and I needed a paddle

The waves were kinda fun, but the real pain today was that they were the crumbly kind of waves that any kook or newbie could catch, so every time I caught a wave, half a dozen other people would try and paddle for it on my inside. I also had to abort a couple due to a line of people on my inside standing in waist deep water with foamies

Found a little quiet-ish spot to muck around with my take-off technique, so worth the session even in the slop!

[oldmansurfer]

A small wave weekend for me. I got a lot of exercise and the only remarkable things I did is to fall on takeoff on a couple of the waves. I paddled popped up and was off balance so did a falling down carving turn off the wave, actually did that twice once frontside and once backside. I want to blame some debris that was in the water but in reality no clue why just messed up I guess. The report is for bigger waves on my side of the island oh well not at my beach. El Nino has not been good for waves on the east side of Kauai (but it's been awesome for the northside.)

[Big H]

Had a 3 hour dawn patrol sesh yesterday....wind had dropped and stayed down, water was glassy and waves were small but had good shape and some life in them (16sec), about 2-4ft....I didn't want to leave the water it was so good....

Half the sesh on longboard, half on short....practiced cross stepping (I can actually do it with a modicum of control now thanks to tips from W-chan's blog RE foot positioning)...and rode backside most of the sesh on both boards to force myself to practice that as well....it was so sweet; if it had been bigger waves with the same conditions I don't think I'd have gone home....

Swell is smaller still than yesterday....have the longboard in the car....going to try to get this nose riding thing nailed down....(I can get to about 18in from the nose before I have to back off again or all the way to the nose and the ride ends shortly thereafter... )

[oldmansurfer]

I surfed small reef breaks on both sides of the bay I surf in. Nothing much to mention other than today I didn't catch a wave. The wind was cold and the waves were in frequent so I paddled around from break to break and got a lot of paddling but no waves. But I am happy to just have a chance to catch a wave

[Big H]

Waikikichan's Blog @ cross stepping....pure gold!

http://alohaki.jugem.jp/?search=cross+step

What I'd been doing the last few times when practicing was to hold the crossed over position and pause...keeping in balance while crossed is hard at first....easier now that I've figured out some of the feels and more importantly the foot positioning. Have a look guys!

[Big H]

Was out today at the same spot...night and day....light on shores and a fair amount of chop, swell and period smaller so I made do....used the longboard and caught the bumps and plowed through the chop...rough conditions and low tide jacking waves, however small precluded cross stepping and nose riding so instead I had fun making hard bottom turns, setting a line, staying low out of the bottom turn and squatting down dead end closeout barrels....one day I'll get a cover up that I actually come out the other side....

Chinese New Year's Day today....island is choked with mainland Chinese tourists at the moment....had a small crowd playing in the break nearby who would give a small cheer every time I caught a wave.......good times!

[Big H]

Out today....1h45m sesh....conditions were so so going in but it shaped up as the wind dropped and the waves shaped up with the dropping tide.....near glassy conditions by the end and 5ft super clean, peeling barrels right and left on different peaks.....got covered up several times, getting the hang of jamming my hand up to the elbow in the water on takeoff while making a top turn to drop in....problem was like it always is.....I never made it out the other side..... There is no other side as far as I'm concerned.....one of these days......

That was the left....tried to get into the right and my technique backside is lagging WAAAAY behind my frontside.....need to work on that as I never got close to the tube....pigdogging maybe....never tried that.....maybe I'll practice on dry land then the longboard....backside I did get out on the face after dropping down and bottom turning around the whitewater, but nowhere near fast enough or tight enough to get a cover up....

Was a surf school there when I arrived....we shared the water and the instructors were begin a little obnoxious in that their charges were pretty worn out so they just went surfing....pretty greedy and saw them drop in on their own students (not a camp I'm familiar with....should have asked so that I could recommend against it)....I got a wave and was up a few beats before one of the instructors, he glanced and still went, and rode the left breaking wave as a right directly at me who was tucked in going left....he cut out straight throwing up both hands and yelling "sorry!".....ahhhhh....whatever....no harm no foul.....he left the water after that and sat on the beach for the last 20min that the rest of his group was in the water.....embarrased I guess.....

Was working on tail stalls dropping in as well but that didn't go so well....more things to work on!!!!! Swell is up a bit tomorrow and winds are still supposed to be down.....can't wait!!!!
Good times!