Latest Surfs...

[oldmansurfer]

Hahaha yeah but if you are like me then it's going to make you surfing less fun having to mess with a camera.

[oldmansurfer]

this weekend was small surf (head high) in the sandbar area with lots of current. I got a lot of practice doing cutbacks and yesterday had one wave that allowed me 4 cutbacks. Today it was slightly different I caught one wave that took off and I raced it down the line then it suddenly stopped and I was too out of position to do any maneuver so I stalled and waited for the whitewater to catch me and I kneeled down because I often get flipped off the board in those type of situations and got pounded a bit and then as it let up I saw it start walling up so I jumped up and it started to pitch over so I attempted to tuck in but was slightly off balance and got my head clipped by the lip. I got rolled and did contact the bottom but I did a shoulder roll and came up no worse for the wear to see my wife on the beach looking at me. I was sure she couldn't see the big grin on my face so I gave her a shaka sign to let her know I was safe. Later on she told me that she was thinking about what she would do if she had to go out and bring me back in LOL. Anyway fun days but both with lots of current and an area of dirty water right next to where the waves were breaking

[oldmansurfer]

Part of the current was due to heavy flooding in the river which caused the death of an unfortunate kayaker http://www.staradvertiser.com/2016/12/04/breaking-news/search-resumes-for-missing-kayaker-on-kauai/

[oldmansurfer]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that my wife told me she could see me in the wave meaning I was in the tube however I was upside down .....so does that count ? I guess I thought I was surfing in Australia

[oldmansurfer]

So really small surf this weekend so yesterday I skipped it and spent some time making turkey and taro soup from left over Thanksgiving turkey and bones that I had frozen and some fresh taro from my garden. Today I went out by the rivermouth it was small but nice conditions. Nothing spectacular to report, but the tail of my board go tubed. The way I learned to tell the size of waves if the faces were under 4 feet it's called "small" as in no sense in trying to figure it out more than that but for your information the peaks might have been shoulder high but the walls were waist to knee high

[oldmansurfer]

There were three days of decent surf Wednesday to Friday (double overhead long walled waves). I had to work late every day and couldn't get to the beach while it was still light but on Thursday I did make it in just enough time to try to take some pictures to show what I missed. My camera was trying to autofocus and trying to get me to use the flash but I did get a decent picture of the surf that I missed

I did manage to surf my usual Saturday and Sunday sessions. Saturday still had some of the ground swell that was coming but only set waves and only shoulder high. Sunday was back to being stormy but a little bigger. I did manage to get a cutback in on Saturday which I am still working on. Sunday my best wave was well overhead and I took off behind the peak and had to bottom turn around the peak section but then had a nice long wall which unfortunately I spent all my time trying to keep up with it and not get too far ahead so just kind of stayed in the pocket with some small turns then it came to a steep inside section and I tried to pump to get some speed but was unable to so had to kick out through the lip. Today there was a shortboarder who was always in my way. He must have messed up at least three waves because he was right where i wanted to go so I fell off my board trying to change my direction. I would have had a nice cutback and another fadeback but he was in the way. Damn shortboarder and I bet he was thinking that old man always falls all the time when I am paddling out., Gah! and I paddled over to another peak and he follows along inside of me. Luckily a set came in and I was able to paddle way out and got to it and he was out of position to be in my way. There was also a longboarder but he never was in my way.

[Leipuri]

GO CHECK THIS OUT
Kitesurfing on ice with hockey skates!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdvCxdyFg-s

[oldmansurfer]

I had a 3 day surfing weekend but this time with a sore lower back. I did something to my back on Monday and haven't been able to arrange to get it checked out yet but it has improved a little. I was worried that surfing might make it worse but it didn't. The theme of this weekend is blue is bad for surf. On the first day it was shoulder high and there were some guys with bright blue boogie boards that they left on the beach and went out body surfing? Not sure if they bodysurfed because I didn't see any of them catch a wave but right next to them was a nice little peak however once I went out there they swam over to inside of me. So I thought "Not this again!" and just paddled over to the next peak down the lineup that I thought looked interesting and there I caught a bunch of waves unhammpered by anything. Yesterday I went out and it was a bit bigger and overhead waves and I paddled out and caught a bunch then noticed a guy in a blue shirt standing on the beach and suddenly there was no waves. There was a big lull and when the waves did finally come in I was both out of position and time so I went to the next peak over to catch a wave in and was out of position for 2 waves and noticed the guy with the blue shirt had walked down the beach in front of me. On the third day today it was overhead but windy and choppy and probably the choppiest conditions I have ever surfed in and let me tell you I go out in some choppy stuff. But I love it when the ocean is stormy. All this chaos around me and me sitting calmly on my board. I love that feeling. Anyway it was way better to be out in the ocean than on the beach. I could hardly walk down the beach it was so windy. My board was pressed so firmly into my chest and I was leaning over so far it was like some kind of bizarre training program and then it started to rain just a drizzle but it was a cold windy drizzle and i was so glad to get into the ocean where it was warmer and the waves blocked most of the wind. It was so choppy that I got bucked off my board by chops on the first three waves. I think part of the problem is that i hesitated on my popup because of the back problem so I got bucked off just when I stood on 2 waves and then the third after riding it a bit but come to think of it that might have been a backwash. Anyway I let the current take me down to the next peak over and saw a blue car on the beach and suddenly no waves again. Oh well I figured my wife was freezing on the beach so I went in. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday time or no holiday time as well. (no blues for you is my wish for the Holiday season)

[BoMan]

A small, windy day at Bo.

The waves were FAST and required a hard paddle to catch - especially the extra strokes after the board started to slide. A cross current and wind chop forced me to grab the rail on bottom turns to keep from getting bucked off. I also got a lot of practice cross stepping. On most rides I had to walk to near the nose to keep from losing the wave. Cheater 5's....ooh rah!)

I stayed out way too long but feel today.

[oldmansurfer]

Another three day surf weekend for me. I went out to Horners all three days once to middle Horners because I am still sensitive in my lower back but the other two days to the outside break . The first day it was shoulder high to overhead and the second day overhead and the third day about head high to overhead. I managed to fit in one nice cutback every day and on the second day a nice backside snap off the lip. Today I wasted the last 10 minutes of my 30 minutes out of synch and position with the waves. At Horners you need to be right in the right place to takeoff. I paddled in and bodyboarded my last wave to the beach because I was out of position and needed to get way over to the left to exit so I just rode it laying down because I am fairly sure I would have been tossed standing up. Fun waves every day but nothing spectacular.

[jaffa1949]

Finally uncle Jaffa nailed a surf with some quality, stomach muscles after the surgery (and the gradually increasing rehab exercises) , the wave 3ft and the holiday crowd (parting for me like the Red Sea for Moses) I had the stamina to get 3 waves and ride them with acceptable skill for the full 300 yards.
Muscle aches everywhere but the good kind.
Further news the kneeboard is finished and the knee pads went on and should be cured for a surf in the next few days. Swell dropping likely to double under head again.
Guy bitten by a bronze whaler shark this morning at our beach

Happy new year to our holiday visitors, not a bad bite fortunately. But it is happening along the entire NSW. Coast.

[dtc]

Yay jaffa - the 'regulation' 300 yards!

'Good' to the bitee was just swimming and his surfer brother was totally fine. I think sharks have a thing for surfers!

[jaffa1949]

The yards are for all those who haven't gone metric would have been 900 inches longer if I'd gone 300 metres!

[oldmansurfer]

My wife would appreciate the length of the ride

[oldmansurfer]

This weekend I went to the sandbar area in the middle of the bay both days. The first day I shared the lineup with a SUP surfer and a shortboarder. The shortboarder was on a peak over form me and the SUP guy who knew my shaper and I have met before. It was too choppy and very cold for him but I was fine and managed to get maybe three cutbacks done on different waves including my last wave which was my best wave and I managed to do a foam climb or two and a bunch of speed turns then one or two top to bottom turns and a cutback on the end and I was going so fast it was a powerful cutback I really carved into the wave on that one but I did have another cutback on a previous wave that was kind of good too hitting off the whitewater to change directions back to down the line. Today the waves were inconsistent and I shared the beak at first with a couple SUP guys then a longboarder. I really didn't catch much exciting but managed a cutback or two. The most exciting thing was an boobie bird fishing nearby. I love boobies....... except when I am fishing and they are going after my live bait.

[oldmansurfer]

Small waves on the east side this weekend. It was shoulder to knee high waves for me. Yesterday I caught a few fun waves and one that I really got to do a bunch of turns on. I surfed one of the two shallow reef breaks that I mentioned elsewhere called Crookeds. I caught this one wave that I was a little deep on but managed to get in front of the break and do a bunch of turns then run up on the nose (8 foot fungun) and connect to an inside section and managed a few turns there too. Originally I was going to surf the inside section but two kids paddled out and I could have wave hogged the break but I wanted those kids to have fun too so I went out further. Today i surfed the inside part with my wife and caught a couple waves that allowed me to turn and got the tail of my board tubed a few times and my ankles at least once (also on my 8 foot fungun)

[oldmansurfer]

I had a one day surfing weekend due to high wind causing me to wake numerous times in the night then a power outage at 3:15 am and I couldn't get back to sleep. Went to work my usual half day then came home a little bit late because I got my shingles vaccine the last of my routine health care stuff so that I am all caught up from having a roundrobin of primary doctors. My old doctor got old and retired and he was replaced by a younger guy who I got along with well and he left apparently after some personal problems and was replaced by a guy who was a surfer. I thought how much better could this be but he left suddenly and finally replaced by a female doctor. Anyway she seems thorough and has a good bedside manner and this is the last thing for me for a year. Anyway back to the surfing , I came home after my shot and ate lunch then took a nap because I was so tired from not sleeping well the night before and napped too long. I am 63 years old......I need my naptime Anyway it was still very windy so maybe just as well. Today was windy but not as bad as yesterday and the waves were overhead maybe up to double overhead or slightly bigger and it was stormy with just me and a kite surfer out at the entire beach. My wife refused to go out due to being too cold for her. But I got some good exercise and managed to do a nice cutback on a choppy faced wave but it was a lot of jockeying for position with the current and random set waves breaking outside of me trying to keep me from being lined up. I probably did 15 or so duck dips today. My board is too floaty to do a proper duck dive. It was a good workout for me I felt really good after I was back on shore relatively unscathed.

[oldmansurfer]

It's another one day (30 minute) surfing weekend for me because of lack of sleep again. When I was younger I could only sleep for 4 hours a night that was it so I had to find stuff to do during the time my parents sent me to bed and the time I was supposed to get up for the next day. Now I need at least 6 hours. Not too long ago I could do with 4 hours a night for weeks before it got to be too much or maybe just 2 hours one night then 6 the next. Now I am tired at work if I miss my sleep and too tired to go surf. Well I made it out today and it was small. The middle sand section at a glance looked completely flat but there were waist high waves breaking at one spot with not too bad form however there were shoulder to head high waves breaking on the outside reef break and some similar sized breaking at the middle reef break. So I went to the outside break. The first wave I caught was about shoulder high and didn't break for the 30 yards that I rode it. Then I caught a couple waves the same size that broke and while the form looked nice they had little power but i managed some mediocre turns. Then I decided to try the middle break and I caught a couple there with more mediocre turns and two that I almost connected to the inside wave but fell off just a couple feet short of where I would have guaranteed to go on. Anyway it was sunny and other that about 30 to 40 guys in one man outrigger canoes and a few SUP guys involved in some kind of race I was the only one out. When I came in an SUP guy was getting ready to go out and he would have the whole beach to himself since the race started and all the racers were gone.

[jaffa1949]

One of the ways to get match fit again is to gradually increase the amount and size of the surfing you do!
Especially after surgery or injury
Went for a dribble surf some time last month and the latest surf conditions since then gave this sort of opportunity

Double underhead for weeks on end

[dtc]

I took up snorkelling ...