Midweek special

Swell: 1.5m
Wind: Moderate SSW veering light SE
Period: 10.9 seconds, 259 degs
Tide: 9.7m, Rising > HT @ 7.44pm

Well we had a nice surprise yesterday and for once, the winds played ball.
It had been blowing a 'hoolie' all day with moderate to strong SW winds but the forecast was for the winds to ease early evening and turn Southerly.

We arrived at our local spot to find chunky 4-5ft waves pounding through, with defined lines and long enough gaps between the sets to make paddling out fairly simple.

The waves were pretty choppy on the face though and had steps in places as the waves struggled to find their form on the large incoming tide. I caught a few lefts to begin with and after a couple of initial wipeouts found my feet. The larger sets were probably pushing 6ft and nailing anyone inside but it felt nice to be out there in more sizeable surf.

I felt physically tired last night and was carrying a slight injury to my chest but tried not to think about the banana in my rucksack, which I'd forgotten to eat...doh

The other guys, grant and johny rainbow drifted down in the rip but I was determined to try and stay on the nice left hand peak which was starting to form alongside me. It was hard going against the rip and wind and after a while I succumbed to it.

Around 6.30-7pm the wind completely died and a handful of us were left with gorgeous left handers, wrapping into the bay at 4-5ft with sheet glassy faces.

The waves were jacking up nicely now, rights and lefts and after a nice easy drop, you were greeted with a supersonic bowling section ahead of you so it was a race to the end with one eye on the wave and the other on the pebble bank, a few metres to the inside.

A nearby beach at around 5pm with the still wind on it:

Aran and Sven arrived and we shared a few with everyone being fairly spread out due to the rip which made for a seemingly long paddle back after each wave.

The waves were perfect, not a drop of water out of place at times but inside I was feeling a little broken and despite catching a few lovely waves, didn't feel like I surfed well.

It was great to be out there though, blue skies, and as the sun set, a large oval moon rose up and the waves kept coming.

And then the walk back... a 15 minute solo romp back through the dunes is never enjoyable when you're feeling shattered but the 'almost' full moon peering over the dunes at me and the abundance of wildlife all around, made it more than bearable and I kept stopping, wishing I'd taken my camera with me.

Even the stacks looked nice last night, with plumes of smoke rising gently upwards - always a good sign for us surfers.

Back at the car I saw one very rotund, sweaty guy who'd obviously never surfed there before, complaining loudly to his mates about the long walk and how lost he'd become in the twilight.

Here's hoping...