Friday, 25th April 2003
As I suspected there was real big surf down south last Wednesday. I went back down the Mid that same afternoon but it was still small and crowded with desperadoes.
On Thursday I went down south with the dogs and it was still reasonably big but crumbly due to the cross onshores/offshores. Good Friday was not only good but also after this Easter, it should be called "Great Friday". Great Friday was followed by Great Saturday, Great Sunday and Great Monday. While the Mid Coast retired into its usual small and weak seasonal winter pattern, the far South Coast began to show strong signs of its promising and typical autumn/winter character.

Conditions on Friday were slightly peaky here and there as a result of the amount of wind from the previous day. It was reasonably clean though, all things considered, the size was good and for the first time in ages the waves looked like they were worthy of a challenge. As the weekend wore on, both the air and water temperature went up a notch with only a slight decrease in swell size and an increase in the glassiness.

The seaweed, which had been lying in large piles on the beach and in the bay, had almost disappeared completely. Unfortunately some of the sand that protects our feet when we launch from the small bay had also gone. Most mornings we were virtually surfing by ourselves for the first half-hour. Surprisingly few people were taking advantage of the conditions; considering that it was Easter holidays there weren't more than 20 people in the water.

Because all days were nearly a similar size, and as were the conditions I'll describe one particular session, which sort of covers most of the long weekend's events that transpired.

The girl and I went out through the rip in the bay, not because it was too big to go off the point but because it seemed to be breaking better there. When we got out the back and looked east, the only person we could see in the water was a lone surfer on the far side of the point.

I was determined to get one of the bigger ones, which were coming through every ten minutes, or so we paddled out a little further than most were breaking. The second we reached the spot a big set came through and I made a late take-off on the third wave of the collection. As I took off it started to pitch up and break, leaving me with my board almost in mid air, but in a pointed dive towards the gut of the wave. The nose of my board pearled and seemed to be heading for the bottom while I followed it in a parallel dive. I rolled myself into a ball, protecting my head and vital parts, as I thought my board would be coming back at me at a hundred miles an hour. It didn't but I sure got one hell of a wash, rinse and spin cycle.

The most unusual ride I had all day was when I took off on one of the larger waves, which had a perfect right breaking shoulder. Unlike my pearl diving, previous wave, I made the drop easy but at a rapid rate of knots. I hit the bottom and climbed back up the wave, smacked the bottom of my board against the falling lip. I thought I'd charge down and across the face and outrun the menacing lip when all of a sudden there was nothing but air below me. I fell sideways, and as I fell I was turned back, facing the way I had come and landed on the nose of my board in a sitting position. Strangely enough I rode it for about another 20 metres in this ridiculous fashion until I decided I'd had enough of entertaining my fellow surfers onshore and around me.

Meanwhile the girl was struggling to pick up a wave and was starting to show signs of her frustration, so we moved closer to the point.

After we'd come in, the whole south coast disappeared under a slowly-drifting freaky sea fog, with winds still light and variable. Visibility was down to 200m at times.

Thursday, May 08, 2003
After having described our Easter surf as terrific, I would have to specify today's early morning session down south was a bloody ripsnorter. The swell had risen considerably from the previous day, which saw my mate, Terry Towelling and myself, riding 3 foot plus, glassy waves, all to ourselves.

The girl and I had checked out the mid coast just before sunrise. Even in that dim light we could see small lines coming in but it was hardly breaking. One or two blokes were out at Threepoles and one at Seaford but it really did look disappointing. So with a quick "G'day" to an old acquaintance, Allen Odgers, who was checking the surf out with a coffee in hand and wearing his mum's slippers, we headed down south in anticipation.

Through the morning haze we could see the whole south coast was a combination of golden autumn colours of the land and a pale glassy blue of the sea. What a gorgeous morning…I really do love this time of the year! We weren't worried about the wave size, as we'd been promised an increase in height, via the various WAMs and virtual buoy reports. So as we pulled into the car park it was no surprise to see a couple of people already out. Mark Fletcher and the irrepressible Maureen were riding the far left while Peter Cox was the lone surfer in the bay with Terry Towelling being the only person on the cliff top checking it all out.

After a quick exchange of "good mornings" we offloaded the boards from the car and got changed while Terry scampered off home to get himself geared up. The girl did have second thoughts about going out for a brief moment and said, "Do you think it's too big for me?" I answered her by saying it wasn't and she could easily handle the conditions. Moments later we could be seen walking down the road towards the rip, every now and then glancing over to the left and catching the activities of Coxy riding the bay.

I could see he was still wearing his spring suit, which made me feel better because I had donned mine, thinking I was going to be too cold. The only reason I was wearing it was because my old steamer had just about had it and I was still feeling the effects of the rashes I had earned from wearing it the previous day. On reaching the small rise at the top of the road near the grassy turn off which would take us to the beach, we spotted another local, Jock Gordon, who was taking his puppy for its usual morning's forced march. I yelled out to him to go get his board, and he murmured back something with his broad Scottish accent, which because of the sound of the surf we couldn't hear.

As we entered the water I thought to myself, "Hmm, seems to be no second thoughts here about what we're doing, looks like it's going to be a real memorable session". The water was cool with a bit of a nip to it but after a while I forgot about it and started thinking of where we were going to sit.

When we had arrived at the desired spot we found ourselves alone as Coxy had caught a wave and had ridden it a fair way in. We sat there for about five minutes waiting for a set, in the meanwhile Coxy had made it back out to where we were sitting. In the middle of saying good morning a big set rolled in. Being the furthest one out, Coxy yelled out as he started paddling, "Are ya garn left or right?". I yelled back, "Right!" I don't know why he even bothered to ask, as he dropped in on me anyway. There was no need to make a big song and dance about it, as there were plenty of waves to be had and minutes later I had had two big lefts to my credit, while the girl had two terrific rights. At one stage I was paddling back out after a ride and I saw her taking off. I could see it was a pearler of a left and I yelled out to her, "Go left, go left!" which she did. But despite it being such a good-looking takeoff I don't think it ended it up as the ride of her day. Her second ride ended abruptly as she was climbing to the lip and got interrupted by a beginner on a longboard. She had to push his board out of her way to avoid collision.

About a half an hour into our session a real big set rolled in and caught us all inside. We all turtle rolled and I cursed as I saw each wave of the set roll through with a perfect looking right hand shoulder going through unridden. It was just after this we were joined by Terry Towelling, who gave us a detailed and laborious explanation why it had taken him so long to get out. Apparently he had rung all his mates and told them how good it was, then spent the next half-hour doing his morning ablutions. Talk about getting one's priorities right!

He wasn't out there five minutes when he, just like the girl, caught a perfect looking left. Once again I yelled out, ", "Go left, go left!" which he didn't and he ended having an awful ride.
As time went by more and more of the locals made it out, such as Barbary O'Brien, Jock Gordon, Ian Fuller…just to mention a few. Despite the number of the larger sets, which came through during our session, I only caught one, which gave me my longest and most satisfying ride of the day. If it wasn't for that one I would've had to be content with all the smaller rides I got. But as I think back now and remember all those big ones I missed and how good they looked, I can only kick myself for not being in the right position.

Friday, 9 May 2003
We've been real lucky again and copped some very good waves in the middle of the week, with the best day being yesterday, Friday. Unfortunately the girl had to work, so me and the doggies dropped her off (she's been doing temp work at Centennial Park Cemetery) which makes me a bit nervous before going for a session. It was a warm morning with an overcast sky and a threat of rain in the air but the winds were light and offshore and that's all that mattered. Just to pump my stoke up, which I really didn't need, I had a tape of the "Beach Boys Greatest Hits" blaring into my ears along with a small black dog barking in time, as I sung along with all the tunes. It must have worked because I had one of my best sessions for ages, in conditions that were close to perfect. When I got down south and saw the quality of the surf, I was so excited when I was getting changed I nearly put two wetsuits on.

When I finally got changed etc I ran down the road with my board to the bay with leg rope in hand and my wetsuit still unzipped. I had a quick word with a mate and local, Jock Gordon, who was walking home after he just finished his session with a terrific looking ride. I asked him if it was as good as it looked and he said, "Better!"

I made it out the back in a real hurry, saying G'day to a few of the usual suspects I knew and paddled over to where my new mate Terry (Towelling) Rowe was sitting. He looked pleased to see me and said something which meant as much. I like surfing with Terry, as he provides plenty of conversation and entertainment between sets and he laughs at my piss poor jokes. While we were waiting for a set he asked me if I could see any waves coming, as he wears goggles because he's short sighted. I said, "Nope! It's too glassy".
He kept on muttering away while we were waiting about another local surfer, Barbary O'Brien. He repeated, time after time..."Barbary's still out here, she's been out as long as me...I can't believe it". Just to humour him I replied, "It's ok mate she's allowed to stay out here as long as she likes". He came back with, "she never stays out this long, I can't believe she's still out here!"

For the first half-hour of my session it wasn't very consistent and not many of the unusually large Friday crowd were getting any rides. All of a sudden the crowd thinned out and it started to pump. Terry and I were virtually surfing all by ourselves now except for a couple of blokes sitting inside. Both of us got some great rides and I vividly remember Terry paddling back out after one good long ride and almost frothing at the mouth with excitement. He was burbling so much that I couldn't shut him up. I got some great rides myself and was probably surfing better than I have for over a month or so. It's surprising what a little bit of extra height, power and quality of a wave will do to one's performance.

In the end he went in after having a super long session and I followed him about three quarters of an hour later. I was getting changed and just about to go home when Terry came by on his bike. He was still raving about his session and how good the surf still looked…I'll never forget how stoked he was. Just before we parted company he said to me, "Can we dare to think it will be the same tomorrow?" almost pleading. I looked at the ominous clouds in the sky and pointed out to him how still the air was. Small insects, which you see before a cool change, were flying all around and it was starting to sprinkle with rain. I'm sure as I watched him peddle back home he was going home with a hope in his heart that he'd be back the next day. And me? I can only say I felt the same.
It really was a good session and the surf was excellent.

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Photos by Sibylle Martens

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