My son and heir turns one tomorrow.
It's incredible how fast time flies and I've not even got him on a surfboard yet; so when he becomes world champion in 2020 he can say in his interview - "I learnt to surf when I was one" and put those Hawaiian three year old groms to shame! ;)
I think I'll take him down to the beach tomorrow and get him standing on a bodyboard in the shallows and see how we get on...
Surf wise - I've got Thursday afternoon off but fear family and birthday cake commitments may prevent me from getting wet.
The forecast is poor with a weak low tracking across Wales and the North on Friday afternoon, so we might get some small surf from that before high pressure moves in for the weekend but at least it will be fine for my BBQ :)
My new garage build is crawling along but I'm starting to think about building a nice board rack so any suggestions/links - please leave a comment.
Finally would all you Japanese spammers feck off from here please!
Wednesday 28 July 2010
Tuesday 20 July 2010
The waiting game
Swell: 1.5m
Period: 7 seconds, underlying 5 seconds
Wind: Very light S
Tide: Mid, on the push with HT around Midnight
I've been playing the waiting game recently...
Yes, there's been swell but it's come with baggage - howling onshore winds that blow relentlessly all day and all night.
Each night I wait for it to drop but it lingers...and is still there at first light.
I came close to getting wet on Sunday evening but called it off last minute when the webcam revealed gutless 1-2ft onshore slop.
My compadres bravely went about their business and I watched online from the comfort of my couch for about 45 mins on and off.
My wife remarked "don't go - you never watch it for this long normally, so it must be poor" She had a point...I trusted my instincts and a live web stream always helps if it's 50/50 :)
I later learned that it was dire so I definitely made the right decision.
Groundhog day 4 and here we are again. I'm sat watching and waiting when all of a sudden towards the end of the day I spot clean lines, virtually no wind - just a whisper of a light S breeze and a few people in enjoying the hot weather.
I didn't want to get too excited at this point as it's all been ending in tears lately but it was 7.30pm but the waves kept coming. I tucked into a good plate of scran and polished off a doughnut for luck - I'm in training after all! ;0
Some might think I've gone mad eating all that food pre-surf but what I actually did was force myself to wait for the tide to push in a bit further. Otherwise I'd have gone in earlier and wasted my time...
I hit the water at 9.02pm and there were still a fair few surfers in. The standard looked pretty high and I spotted one grom screaming along the inside and launch into a nice aerial and land it - fins poking out, every which way!
The light didn't last long as heavy rain squalls gathered on the horizon over the Gower peninsula.
I spotted Harv and paddled out into a slightly cooler sea than I'd been expecting. Harv was carving up a few on his speed bump and had a quick chat to blods who was in the vacinity. The waves were clean and punchy 2-3ft with nice bowly sections.
My first wave was a fast left and I 'left' a nice impression on the lip as I planted all my weight + doughnut into the lip. It felt good!
The crowds thinned out completely as the light diminished and I was starting to struggle to spot the sets but stayed in as it seemed to pick up. The waves got pretty hollow and I shoved my head into a few on take off. Good times :)
A girl nearby on a mal wearing what looked like an American footballers helmet?!
was charging and stealing a lot of my waves by sitting further out back! LOL
I kept willing her to fall off but fair play to her - she made every wave!
The tide was pushing fast and I really was surfing in the dark now. My eyesight is poor at the best of times but this was ridiculous.
Time to call it a day. I walked back up the beach past fisherman, quietly standing around their fishing lamps. It had only been an hour but a very productive hour at that!
Tuesday morning:
Looks nice out there currently - 12:56pm, 2ft and clean and the winds gone NE.
Period: 7 seconds, underlying 5 seconds
Wind: Very light S
Tide: Mid, on the push with HT around Midnight
I've been playing the waiting game recently...
Yes, there's been swell but it's come with baggage - howling onshore winds that blow relentlessly all day and all night.
Each night I wait for it to drop but it lingers...and is still there at first light.
I came close to getting wet on Sunday evening but called it off last minute when the webcam revealed gutless 1-2ft onshore slop.
My compadres bravely went about their business and I watched online from the comfort of my couch for about 45 mins on and off.
My wife remarked "don't go - you never watch it for this long normally, so it must be poor" She had a point...I trusted my instincts and a live web stream always helps if it's 50/50 :)
I later learned that it was dire so I definitely made the right decision.
Groundhog day 4 and here we are again. I'm sat watching and waiting when all of a sudden towards the end of the day I spot clean lines, virtually no wind - just a whisper of a light S breeze and a few people in enjoying the hot weather.
I didn't want to get too excited at this point as it's all been ending in tears lately but it was 7.30pm but the waves kept coming. I tucked into a good plate of scran and polished off a doughnut for luck - I'm in training after all! ;0
Some might think I've gone mad eating all that food pre-surf but what I actually did was force myself to wait for the tide to push in a bit further. Otherwise I'd have gone in earlier and wasted my time...
I hit the water at 9.02pm and there were still a fair few surfers in. The standard looked pretty high and I spotted one grom screaming along the inside and launch into a nice aerial and land it - fins poking out, every which way!
The light didn't last long as heavy rain squalls gathered on the horizon over the Gower peninsula.
I spotted Harv and paddled out into a slightly cooler sea than I'd been expecting. Harv was carving up a few on his speed bump and had a quick chat to blods who was in the vacinity. The waves were clean and punchy 2-3ft with nice bowly sections.
My first wave was a fast left and I 'left' a nice impression on the lip as I planted all my weight + doughnut into the lip. It felt good!
The crowds thinned out completely as the light diminished and I was starting to struggle to spot the sets but stayed in as it seemed to pick up. The waves got pretty hollow and I shoved my head into a few on take off. Good times :)
A girl nearby on a mal wearing what looked like an American footballers helmet?!
was charging and stealing a lot of my waves by sitting further out back! LOL
I kept willing her to fall off but fair play to her - she made every wave!
The tide was pushing fast and I really was surfing in the dark now. My eyesight is poor at the best of times but this was ridiculous.
Time to call it a day. I walked back up the beach past fisherman, quietly standing around their fishing lamps. It had only been an hour but a very productive hour at that!
Tuesday morning:
Looks nice out there currently - 12:56pm, 2ft and clean and the winds gone NE.
Monday 12 July 2010
A pleasant surprise
Wind: Very light SSW
Tide: Falling, HT was around 5.30pm
At the beach: Fun 2-3ft bowls
It was a really mixed bag this weekend. The weather forecast was all over the place but it was very warm, nudging 30 deg C on Saturday afternoon. Sunday was nice too and the light winds were in fact very strong, onshore all day?!
I got up for the early on Saturday morning which seems to have become a regular occurrence for me this week and decided against it. The 1-2ft weak period dribble wasn't inspiring me.
Harv, ignoring my advice had gone anyway and claimed it was 2-3ft but he's been eating a lot of out of date pasties recently so this probably accounts for it. I guess lying down on sponge makes everything appear bigger than it is too! ;0
Instead I bided my time; emptied my now defunct garage - ready for demolishion...(I'm hoping to shape a board in there one day) and visited Cardiff Bay for the international food festival.
As expected, it was uncomfortably hot and crowded but we did manage to find some shade, have a beer and listen to a couple of local singer/song writers strumming their stuff on guitars which was nice.
The day wore on and the wind remained light...I got home @ 5pm and spied glassy looking faces at Rest Bay but hundreds of bodies in the water enjoying the small summer waves and sunshine.
I took a walk and found some solitude.
A few guys in but as the tide pushed in most paddled in leaving a handful left, all spread out. The wind went cross offshore and nice 3ft bowls began to fire off left and right. The lefts weren't up to much so I concentrated on the rights and caught a few nice long rides through to the inside shore dump.
One of the guys in had noticed my Firewire spitfire quad and was keen to know how it performed as he'd ordered one recently.
It took me a while to find my stride as the peaks were backing off initially but I tried my best to make the board look good.
It's an odd feeling having someone studying your every move on each wave - or perhaps I was being parnaoid? But he definitely kept glancing over whenever I took off! lol
Aran joined me later and we chatted about fishing and babies like real men! ;)
He's been catching plenty of trout in the Taff lately. By 7.30pm we'd seen the best of it - the tide was a little too low and the wind had picked up turning the waves into weak, choppy surf.
Time to go. The walk back was relaxing, a little sedge warbler flitted along in front of me - so tame he was probably a recent fledgling and there were flowering orchids left right and centre.
I passed a guy explaining to his disinterested girlfriend about the difference in wing shape between a house martin and swallow, and felt some of his pain ;)
The scarweather wave buoy is out of action 'again' so no data available I'm afraid - other than what is left in my head.
It looks like we're in for a decent hit of swell shortly (famous last words I know) but Weds and Thurs look interesting.
Tide: Falling, HT was around 5.30pm
At the beach: Fun 2-3ft bowls
It was a really mixed bag this weekend. The weather forecast was all over the place but it was very warm, nudging 30 deg C on Saturday afternoon. Sunday was nice too and the light winds were in fact very strong, onshore all day?!
I got up for the early on Saturday morning which seems to have become a regular occurrence for me this week and decided against it. The 1-2ft weak period dribble wasn't inspiring me.
Harv, ignoring my advice had gone anyway and claimed it was 2-3ft but he's been eating a lot of out of date pasties recently so this probably accounts for it. I guess lying down on sponge makes everything appear bigger than it is too! ;0
Instead I bided my time; emptied my now defunct garage - ready for demolishion...(I'm hoping to shape a board in there one day) and visited Cardiff Bay for the international food festival.
As expected, it was uncomfortably hot and crowded but we did manage to find some shade, have a beer and listen to a couple of local singer/song writers strumming their stuff on guitars which was nice.
The day wore on and the wind remained light...I got home @ 5pm and spied glassy looking faces at Rest Bay but hundreds of bodies in the water enjoying the small summer waves and sunshine.
I took a walk and found some solitude.
A few guys in but as the tide pushed in most paddled in leaving a handful left, all spread out. The wind went cross offshore and nice 3ft bowls began to fire off left and right. The lefts weren't up to much so I concentrated on the rights and caught a few nice long rides through to the inside shore dump.
One of the guys in had noticed my Firewire spitfire quad and was keen to know how it performed as he'd ordered one recently.
It took me a while to find my stride as the peaks were backing off initially but I tried my best to make the board look good.
It's an odd feeling having someone studying your every move on each wave - or perhaps I was being parnaoid? But he definitely kept glancing over whenever I took off! lol
Aran joined me later and we chatted about fishing and babies like real men! ;)
He's been catching plenty of trout in the Taff lately. By 7.30pm we'd seen the best of it - the tide was a little too low and the wind had picked up turning the waves into weak, choppy surf.
Time to go. The walk back was relaxing, a little sedge warbler flitted along in front of me - so tame he was probably a recent fledgling and there were flowering orchids left right and centre.
I passed a guy explaining to his disinterested girlfriend about the difference in wing shape between a house martin and swallow, and felt some of his pain ;)
The scarweather wave buoy is out of action 'again' so no data available I'm afraid - other than what is left in my head.
It looks like we're in for a decent hit of swell shortly (famous last words I know) but Weds and Thurs look interesting.
Friday 9 July 2010
A bit more umph
Period: 11.8 secs, underlying period only 5 secs though
Swell: 0.7m
Tide: HT 4.44 am, 8.3m - surfed on the dropping tide
Wind: Very light SSW
At the beach: Fun 2ft and clean with plenty of lines.
Did the early again today. Waited till 5.30am to give the tide a chance to drop back a bit further and was in two minds whether to go or not as the buoy reading was a miserable 0.8m.
I checked the cam and spied nice clean lines with no wind but it's hard to judge scale with no other surfers in. Then I spotted one guy paddling out and could see the waves were a good 2ft breaking nicely so I was off!
Pic taken about an hour after I'd left by hugh @ www.porthcawlsurf.co.uk:
I got in down near the walkway and paddled out through the gap. First wave was a nice fast right hander, a quick otl and then a nice hack at the end with some spray - a nice start :)
Much better than anything I surfed yesterday morning so things could only get better! Apparently it was nice last night though with reports of 3-4ft coming in. C'est la vie...I was busy cleaning a washing machine to sell.
Met a nice local fella called Nathan today so we swapped a few global surf stories and shared a peak. He was goofy so went left and I took the rights. Happy days.
I managed to catch one or two longish rides but it was more a case of racing sections and maintaining speed rather than busting out any moves. The shorter wedge shaped peaks offered a bit more power though.
The tide dropped back and the waves seemed to get a little fat. There must be a deep channel down there currently as this has happened quite a lot lately. Once the tide drops over that it seems to get better again and a few bigger sets pushed through.
Stayed in till 7am today so it must have been better than Thursday. Let's see what the weekend brings.
Wind guru has been promising the earth lately and delivering very little!
I'm getting a bit sick of these small swells that seem to come and go on a daily basis - especially when all the other UK buoys including the Pembrokeshire one are going off daily.
It could be time to dredge scarweather sands...
Swell: 0.7m
Tide: HT 4.44 am, 8.3m - surfed on the dropping tide
Wind: Very light SSW
At the beach: Fun 2ft and clean with plenty of lines.
Did the early again today. Waited till 5.30am to give the tide a chance to drop back a bit further and was in two minds whether to go or not as the buoy reading was a miserable 0.8m.
I checked the cam and spied nice clean lines with no wind but it's hard to judge scale with no other surfers in. Then I spotted one guy paddling out and could see the waves were a good 2ft breaking nicely so I was off!
Pic taken about an hour after I'd left by hugh @ www.porthcawlsurf.co.uk:
I got in down near the walkway and paddled out through the gap. First wave was a nice fast right hander, a quick otl and then a nice hack at the end with some spray - a nice start :)
Much better than anything I surfed yesterday morning so things could only get better! Apparently it was nice last night though with reports of 3-4ft coming in. C'est la vie...I was busy cleaning a washing machine to sell.
Met a nice local fella called Nathan today so we swapped a few global surf stories and shared a peak. He was goofy so went left and I took the rights. Happy days.
I managed to catch one or two longish rides but it was more a case of racing sections and maintaining speed rather than busting out any moves. The shorter wedge shaped peaks offered a bit more power though.
The tide dropped back and the waves seemed to get a little fat. There must be a deep channel down there currently as this has happened quite a lot lately. Once the tide drops over that it seems to get better again and a few bigger sets pushed through.
Stayed in till 7am today so it must have been better than Thursday. Let's see what the weekend brings.
Wind guru has been promising the earth lately and delivering very little!
I'm getting a bit sick of these small swells that seem to come and go on a daily basis - especially when all the other UK buoys including the Pembrokeshire one are going off daily.
It could be time to dredge scarweather sands...
Thursday 8 July 2010
Small but warm
Swell: 0.9m
Winds: Light SW
Tides: Dropping. HT was at 3.40am, 7.8m
Period: 11.9 seconds with a 6.5 underlying period.
At the beach: Cleanish lines around 2ft+ but lacking power
I rose swiftly at 5am and crept out - organised for once with everything ready downstairs. A peek out of the gull's nest revealed barely a breath of wind - just a very light sw breeze.
I powered up the chief and headed towards the beach. It was 5.15am and not a soul around :)
Rest was just dropping off the rocks as I paddled out into warm, but slightly choppy 2ft surf. The sea temp is now reaching 17C degs so feels very nice, even early in the morning.
I noticed the tide mark was quite foamy today and brown so not sure what that was but it looked like some kind of discharge to me?
The sets were nudging 3ft but hard to catch as there were quite long lulls so it was a bit random.
I caught a few rights and managed a couple of 'off the tops' and cutbacks on some but the wave was rapidly losing it's grunt as the tide receded.
Three other lads came down and surfed the middle peak whilst I paddled around golf looking for something a bit more inspirational.
I gave up at about 6.25am and was back home tucking into my brekkie by 6.45am.
It won't go down in history as one of my best surfs but it definitely wasn't one of my worst.
I just wish we were having some of the decent swell bombarding the West coast of Ireland currently!
Gull
Winds: Light SW
Tides: Dropping. HT was at 3.40am, 7.8m
Period: 11.9 seconds with a 6.5 underlying period.
At the beach: Cleanish lines around 2ft+ but lacking power
I rose swiftly at 5am and crept out - organised for once with everything ready downstairs. A peek out of the gull's nest revealed barely a breath of wind - just a very light sw breeze.
I powered up the chief and headed towards the beach. It was 5.15am and not a soul around :)
Rest was just dropping off the rocks as I paddled out into warm, but slightly choppy 2ft surf. The sea temp is now reaching 17C degs so feels very nice, even early in the morning.
I noticed the tide mark was quite foamy today and brown so not sure what that was but it looked like some kind of discharge to me?
The sets were nudging 3ft but hard to catch as there were quite long lulls so it was a bit random.
I caught a few rights and managed a couple of 'off the tops' and cutbacks on some but the wave was rapidly losing it's grunt as the tide receded.
Three other lads came down and surfed the middle peak whilst I paddled around golf looking for something a bit more inspirational.
I gave up at about 6.25am and was back home tucking into my brekkie by 6.45am.
It won't go down in history as one of my best surfs but it definitely wasn't one of my worst.
I just wish we were having some of the decent swell bombarding the West coast of Ireland currently!
Gull
Monday 5 July 2010
Saturday
Swell - 1.6m
Tide - Rising, HT around 11am
Wind - light to moderate ssw
Period - 10 seconds, underlying was only 5.9 seconds.
At the beach - 3-4ft+
Better late than never but you can gauge from the lateness of this entry that it wasn't a particularly great session.
Lovely weather though, nice and sunny as I jogged down to my local around 8.15am.
Bus loads of summer surfers and students all had the same idea and it wasn't long before the water was a little more crowded than usual - especially considering how poor the surf was initially.
A few 4ft+ rogue waves were coming though but the peaks really were all over the place and it was hard to know where to sit. The weak underlying period didn't help and I heard Rest Bay was pretty poor also.
The odd wave offered up a nice drop but little in the way of any decent length rides. My first wave was probably my best as I managed to blast a nice close-out reo on a shoulder high right. After that is was downhill for me.
I waited and waited, 40 mins passed and not a wave ridden. This was getting silly. Then a lovely big right began to loom on the horizon. I paddled, early making sure I wouldn't miss another. Turned, paddled, pulled back late at the last minute as some idiot paddled straight towards me. FFS!
He apologised, another dopey student without a clue what he was doing. "Sorry mate - didn't know which way you were going"
I replied: "it was a right, breaking right, so I was going right?"
"Oh okay mate, couldn't tell"
Johnny Stoneman, back after a month of self imposed exile - was on fire! Taking some nice late drops (and actually making them too!) and laying down some turns on the face.
His pro surf school stint in the islands has paid dividends and it is only a matter of time before he turns Pro.
Harv was picking off plenty as ever in his day-glo blue wetty, robbing a few from right under my nose and generally being a wave pest ;)
And in the distance lurked Pingu, aka Johnny Rainbow. People said he'd gone on the run after a tequila incident involving a plastic chicken had gone wrong. But there he was, sat out the back silently waiting.
I saw John catch a few nice long rides and he seemed stoked to be back in the water.
As for me - I wasn't so impressed and very little happened to make me smile. I think I'd peaked the previous morning in slightly bigger, more powerful but onshore waves.
The waves did improve and the paddle out became longer and harder as I kept taking waves too far inside - desperate for something salvageable.
Had one nice long left, took off late and made the section before it reformed nicely on the inside and then had a couple of nice drops on some steep right but my heart wasn't in it. My last but one wave was probably my best but yet again marred by some other clown in the water.
I'd made the drop and hooked into a sweet right just as I spied some guy up ahaead paddling like a madman for the wave I was already on? Why don't people look - I always do - it's not difficult?!
I shouted, he pulled back and that was all fine but I'd had to take a high line up into the lip, free-falling back down but losing precious speed on what could have been my best wave.
Harv caught a few nice sized lefts and it was definitely looking better. I was feeling tired, a bit frustrated partly due to the waves and partly due to the crowd but decided to end on a high note.
I waited patiently for a bigger one to finish on. A right reared it's ugly head and off I went. Bottom turned, the wave began to close so I looked to launch up and over the back.
At that precise moment my whole left felt like it was locked in a vice. It was either a great white shark or the dreaded killer cramp - the sort that makes you squeal like a little girl.
The white water came crashing down and gritted my teeth and waited for the moment when I could grab my leg and try and straighten it out! LOL
I surfaced, in pain, copped a few more waves on the head and then realised I was still quite far out so paddled in with that horrible leg spasming, stinging, wooden leg syndrome that only cramp brings.
Limping up the beach, the dry land brought some relief but I ended the session in a 'downward dog' position stretching out my calve.
You know when it's a bad one as your leg aches for days afterwards. It's Monday and it's still aching.
I've been getting cramp every session lately? I'm wondering if my summer suit is to blame as I don't really want to increase my salt intake if I can help it!
I've had it in my foot, calve, side of my shin?! Never had it there before - weird.
I'll try pre-surf Powerade drinks from now on...
Tide - Rising, HT around 11am
Wind - light to moderate ssw
Period - 10 seconds, underlying was only 5.9 seconds.
At the beach - 3-4ft+
Better late than never but you can gauge from the lateness of this entry that it wasn't a particularly great session.
Lovely weather though, nice and sunny as I jogged down to my local around 8.15am.
Bus loads of summer surfers and students all had the same idea and it wasn't long before the water was a little more crowded than usual - especially considering how poor the surf was initially.
A few 4ft+ rogue waves were coming though but the peaks really were all over the place and it was hard to know where to sit. The weak underlying period didn't help and I heard Rest Bay was pretty poor also.
The odd wave offered up a nice drop but little in the way of any decent length rides. My first wave was probably my best as I managed to blast a nice close-out reo on a shoulder high right. After that is was downhill for me.
I waited and waited, 40 mins passed and not a wave ridden. This was getting silly. Then a lovely big right began to loom on the horizon. I paddled, early making sure I wouldn't miss another. Turned, paddled, pulled back late at the last minute as some idiot paddled straight towards me. FFS!
He apologised, another dopey student without a clue what he was doing. "Sorry mate - didn't know which way you were going"
I replied: "it was a right, breaking right, so I was going right?"
"Oh okay mate, couldn't tell"
Johnny Stoneman, back after a month of self imposed exile - was on fire! Taking some nice late drops (and actually making them too!) and laying down some turns on the face.
His pro surf school stint in the islands has paid dividends and it is only a matter of time before he turns Pro.
Harv was picking off plenty as ever in his day-glo blue wetty, robbing a few from right under my nose and generally being a wave pest ;)
And in the distance lurked Pingu, aka Johnny Rainbow. People said he'd gone on the run after a tequila incident involving a plastic chicken had gone wrong. But there he was, sat out the back silently waiting.
I saw John catch a few nice long rides and he seemed stoked to be back in the water.
As for me - I wasn't so impressed and very little happened to make me smile. I think I'd peaked the previous morning in slightly bigger, more powerful but onshore waves.
The waves did improve and the paddle out became longer and harder as I kept taking waves too far inside - desperate for something salvageable.
Had one nice long left, took off late and made the section before it reformed nicely on the inside and then had a couple of nice drops on some steep right but my heart wasn't in it. My last but one wave was probably my best but yet again marred by some other clown in the water.
I'd made the drop and hooked into a sweet right just as I spied some guy up ahaead paddling like a madman for the wave I was already on? Why don't people look - I always do - it's not difficult?!
I shouted, he pulled back and that was all fine but I'd had to take a high line up into the lip, free-falling back down but losing precious speed on what could have been my best wave.
Harv caught a few nice sized lefts and it was definitely looking better. I was feeling tired, a bit frustrated partly due to the waves and partly due to the crowd but decided to end on a high note.
I waited patiently for a bigger one to finish on. A right reared it's ugly head and off I went. Bottom turned, the wave began to close so I looked to launch up and over the back.
At that precise moment my whole left felt like it was locked in a vice. It was either a great white shark or the dreaded killer cramp - the sort that makes you squeal like a little girl.
The white water came crashing down and gritted my teeth and waited for the moment when I could grab my leg and try and straighten it out! LOL
I surfaced, in pain, copped a few more waves on the head and then realised I was still quite far out so paddled in with that horrible leg spasming, stinging, wooden leg syndrome that only cramp brings.
Limping up the beach, the dry land brought some relief but I ended the session in a 'downward dog' position stretching out my calve.
You know when it's a bad one as your leg aches for days afterwards. It's Monday and it's still aching.
I've been getting cramp every session lately? I'm wondering if my summer suit is to blame as I don't really want to increase my salt intake if I can help it!
I've had it in my foot, calve, side of my shin?! Never had it there before - weird.
I'll try pre-surf Powerade drinks from now on...
Friday 2 July 2010
The west wind blows
At the beach: 3-5ft, onshore but clean faces.
Swell: 1.7m
Period: 11.1 seconds, 5.7 seconds(underlying)
Wind: Light SW veering becoming moderate WSW, 7-12 Knots
Tide: On the push after after low, HT was at 10.40am
I had a nice little dawnie today.
Good to finally get up feeling semi-refreshed at 5am to find swell readings on the wave buoys at last!
A quick peek out of the window revealed a very light onshore breeze so it was time to raise the rabble and get going.
Creeping around the house trying not to wake anyone (baby mainly), I managed to bang into at least 3 loud objects and exited the house in my usual unorthodox style.
Mug of tea in hand (for survival) I headed towards the M4 for an industrial show down with lashings of margarine on top.
I met up with Doc and Rattz and we were in the sea by around 6.40am.
Annoyingly the wind picked up as we got within 500 yards of the beach and the initial sight before us was one of onshore, shapeless close-outs. I almost considered bailing at that point and saving myself for later.
Appearances can be deceptive though and we spied a little right hand peak doing it's thing so we took a wander down.
Expecting a taxing paddle out, doc and I were surprised when the ocean suddenly switched off allowing us a quick, safe passage through.
Rattz on the other hand made a complete meal out of it! LOL
After various failed attempts, a few walks up the beach and a spot of beach combing - he finally made it out.
Doc caught a nice right, taking off late and dropping down into the bowling section before kicking out and I picked off a few smaller clean ones, milking them for all they were worth, through to the inside.
Rattz smiling face eventually appeared in the line up and we then split into groups as I paddled down onto a right I'd be watching and the boys went down in the rip to surf a left hander.
The wind seemed to swing cross offshore then and my little right hand peak began to fire.
There were no barrels on offer today but some nice steep drops and a few longish rides allowing for one or two lip bashes with a cutty thrown in at the end for good measure.
The sun began to shine and the odd blue patch appeared in the heavens above. I sat out back singing Pearl Jam's "waves came crashing like a fist to his jaw; delivered him wings, oh look at him now..." and had a thoroughly good time. It seemed appropriate.
The ocean has good acoustics. Either that or it drowns out the sound...I wonder what the lone fisherman made of my recital? He seemed to be catching a lot!
I could see the boys getting a few but not many and after a while they paddled down to join me. I talked Doc through the intricacies of the peak and he thanked me graciously for my insight... ;)
I had a few nice waves today and it was holding up quite well on the rights. A couple were over head as I dropped into the bowls and were nudging 5ft with clean faces.
Doc caught one nice chunky right, bottom turned and zipped along before it closed out and took a few slaps including one absolute beauty - taking off as the wave turned hollow he proceeded to track sideways up the face, going over in the lip with his board, before surfacing to 2 more on the head.
You really had to be there! ;)
Rattz was get his joy stick arms onto some cheeky lefts and before we knew it - it was time to go.
I had a lovely wipe-out to end on as did Doc - always good to finish on a good one, right?
Not bad considering the wind swung moderate onshore for a while.
Roll on the weekend! Bigger and better on it's way.
Swell: 1.7m
Period: 11.1 seconds, 5.7 seconds(underlying)
Wind: Light SW veering becoming moderate WSW, 7-12 Knots
Tide: On the push after after low, HT was at 10.40am
I had a nice little dawnie today.
Good to finally get up feeling semi-refreshed at 5am to find swell readings on the wave buoys at last!
A quick peek out of the window revealed a very light onshore breeze so it was time to raise the rabble and get going.
Creeping around the house trying not to wake anyone (baby mainly), I managed to bang into at least 3 loud objects and exited the house in my usual unorthodox style.
Mug of tea in hand (for survival) I headed towards the M4 for an industrial show down with lashings of margarine on top.
I met up with Doc and Rattz and we were in the sea by around 6.40am.
Annoyingly the wind picked up as we got within 500 yards of the beach and the initial sight before us was one of onshore, shapeless close-outs. I almost considered bailing at that point and saving myself for later.
Appearances can be deceptive though and we spied a little right hand peak doing it's thing so we took a wander down.
Expecting a taxing paddle out, doc and I were surprised when the ocean suddenly switched off allowing us a quick, safe passage through.
Rattz on the other hand made a complete meal out of it! LOL
After various failed attempts, a few walks up the beach and a spot of beach combing - he finally made it out.
Doc caught a nice right, taking off late and dropping down into the bowling section before kicking out and I picked off a few smaller clean ones, milking them for all they were worth, through to the inside.
Rattz smiling face eventually appeared in the line up and we then split into groups as I paddled down onto a right I'd be watching and the boys went down in the rip to surf a left hander.
The wind seemed to swing cross offshore then and my little right hand peak began to fire.
There were no barrels on offer today but some nice steep drops and a few longish rides allowing for one or two lip bashes with a cutty thrown in at the end for good measure.
The sun began to shine and the odd blue patch appeared in the heavens above. I sat out back singing Pearl Jam's "waves came crashing like a fist to his jaw; delivered him wings, oh look at him now..." and had a thoroughly good time. It seemed appropriate.
The ocean has good acoustics. Either that or it drowns out the sound...I wonder what the lone fisherman made of my recital? He seemed to be catching a lot!
I could see the boys getting a few but not many and after a while they paddled down to join me. I talked Doc through the intricacies of the peak and he thanked me graciously for my insight... ;)
I had a few nice waves today and it was holding up quite well on the rights. A couple were over head as I dropped into the bowls and were nudging 5ft with clean faces.
Doc caught one nice chunky right, bottom turned and zipped along before it closed out and took a few slaps including one absolute beauty - taking off as the wave turned hollow he proceeded to track sideways up the face, going over in the lip with his board, before surfacing to 2 more on the head.
You really had to be there! ;)
Rattz was get his joy stick arms onto some cheeky lefts and before we knew it - it was time to go.
I had a lovely wipe-out to end on as did Doc - always good to finish on a good one, right?
Not bad considering the wind swung moderate onshore for a while.
Roll on the weekend! Bigger and better on it's way.
Thursday 1 July 2010
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