How hot

I drove down south by myself again, as the girl had to work an early shift. I left foggy and overcast Adelaide rather late, at around about 9:00AM and found the sun was shining. The surf was a reasonable size, dead glassy with very few school holiday kids out at Middleton. I had one of the longest sessions I've had this winter, nearly three hours, until the coldness of the water overcame me. I had heaps of rides and I thought no one had seen them until I got home and logged onto the Internet to read my email.

Dug from Southcam must have been there to clean the camera at the time, sent me the attached picture from the cam in his email saying...
"Hey Ron, you weren't off Middleton Point on Friday were you? The webcam may have snapped you...or perhaps it's your stunt double!!"
Afterwards I thought this would have been a good scenario for "big brother is watching". Eg: imagine a bloke who should be at work and the boss logs on to check out the surf-cam for himself… "Hmm, there's young Bernie Schwartz out getting a few you beauts, wait till I see him in the morning!"

We both left this morning early and found the size of the surf slightly bigger than Friday but a bit crumbly looking. Strange, it was like this, as there had been no wind all night and now there was a slight offshore blowing. I wasn't keen to go for a wave but the girl insisted I did, because it had been more than a week since she'd had a wave. Not only that, she insisted we launch through the bay, whereas I would've preferred going off the point. She had her way as usual and we made it out the back easy. Even while paddling out the surf started to look a little bit better, as if the offshore wind was having a positive effect on it.

I wasn't expecting much from this session and intended to get a couple of "splash & giggle" rides and go in early. I was more surprised than anyone else when I managed to pick up three belters in a row.

The girl managed to snag what appeared to me a decent sort of wave and rode it reasonably well from what I could see, albeit it was a short ride. Shortly afterwards we moved down to the other side of the point, towards the left, to avoid the crowd. I intended to go in and keep my session short, I was still feeling a bit stiff from the previous day's workout.

I picked up one of the bigger waves of a set and as it closed out I proned out and rode it all the way into the beach. While I was getting changed I kept an eye on the girl and watched helplessly as a big one broke right on top of her. For a few seconds I couldn't see her, she was covered in a huge wall of whitewater. She finally surfaced only to get hit by another one. This time she was lying on her board, facing the shore and it picked her up and carried her all the way in.

The surf was visibly smaller today but it was perfectly lined up and appeared to be breaking nicely. We went off the point and had it all to ourselves for half an hour. It really was a beautiful day with clear azure skies and even the water seemed slightly warmer than the previous two days.

As good as the waves looked it was hard to get a good ride, or was it the fact that I'd had my share on Friday and Saturday and was a little too weary. As the crowds started to appear I decided to paddle a little further east, where the left hander seemed to be working a little bit better. It really didn't matter and although I got plenty of rides I wasn't happy with my performance. The girl was getting pretty upset with me catching all the waves while she wasn't getting any. At one stage when I looked over to her I could have sworn I saw the water boiling around her, such was the look on her face.

I tried to explain to her that she was sitting over a gutter and as she was paddling for a wave the swell was moving over it, making it a large rolling uncatchable lump. I'm afraid my advice fell on deaf ears and after about an hour and a half of trying she went in. I stayed out there a half an hour longer. I don't know why, as my poor form continued. Finally I gave up and paddled over to the point and caught a wave in.

Overcast skies blocked the morning sun in Adelaide but down south it was completely different with patches of blue peeking through the clouds now and then. We could even feel the warmth of the weak winter's sun on our bodies while we were getting changed into our wetsuits. Warm enough in fact, that a quick thought went through my head: I'd rather stay here in my warm wetsuit than hit the icy looking waters!

The swell had picked up overnight and the wave was strange kind of glassy looking, with small slashes of ripples on the surface of the sea, left over from an overnight onshore wind.

We went out from near the point just after a big set had gone through and we hadn't paddled more than twenty metres when I spotted another big set on its way in. I yelled back to the girl, over the roar of the shorebreak to paddle faster. I turned back to face the incoming sets of whitewater and when I looked back for her I'm afraid she had drifted too far to the left and had gotten herself caught in an invisible drift.

I got beyond the shorebreak and into clear water after a few minutes and looked back to see if I could see her but she was still struggling. I caught a couple of rides and after finishing them I looked to see if I could see her but her struggling continued. Sad to say eventually she gave up, turned around and went back into shore.

I thought she might go in and make an attempt from the bay but I know she really doesn't like going out that way. I kept on looking towards the shore and the car to see of I could see her. Eventually I spotted some movement around the car on top of the cliff and I felt a sense of relief that at least she was safe. I knew she'd be feeling pretty awful so I decided I'd only have a couple of rides and head back in myself.

There had been four days of surf for myself and three for the girl. When I think about all those sessions I'd have to say the rides I got on Saturday were the ones I remember as being my best. Strange, because Saturday's conditions looked the worst and I never took it as a serious session. Which proves what I've always thought: you don't necessary need to have the best looking wave going to have a great session. Any wave on any day could be the wave of your life, no matter when or where.

Down south it was big and breaking way out. I didn't even bother going out as there was a bit too much west in the offshores and it wasn't looking the way I like it. When I rolled up, young Mark, the local plasterer, told me after he came in from his session that he'd had a helluva time getting out. Although it looked good from the cliffs it was a bit choppy, you could also see that there was an extremely strong drift down towards Day Street.

I hung around for about three hours hoping that when the sun came out, the wind might drop and the overall conditions might improve. Well the sun did come out and that's about as far as the improvements went for the day.

I sat on the cliff and watched two Longboarders launch from the point and drift almost down to Goolwa before they decided to turn around and head back into shore. Their attempts were about 5 minutes apart. I remember thinking to myself when the first bloke came walking past below, 'Hmm, are you gonna give the point another go or are you gonna be smart?' He was smart and waddled down to the bay with his (tail) leash between his legs.

But the second bloke, what do you think he did? He went off the point again!!!!! He was still trying to get past the shorebreak some 15 minutes later, while the first bloke who went out through the bay was getting rides in front of the point. Eventually he made it out, and I can tell you he looked really buggered from doing so. How should he describe his session if he was going to be honest about it....maybe.....'Oh, I had a real beaut session today mum, an hour paddle out, three quarters of an hour drift, one wave (the one he came in on) and an hour's walk back to the car.'

If that wasn't enough entertainment enough, a number of shortboarders and one lid tried the same thing a little later. What made it worse for them was the water being right up and almost washing over the point by that stage. The tide was coming in rapidly and it was almost funny if it wasn't so serious, seeing those blokes running backwards and forwards as each big set came in. How any of them escaped serious injury is beyond me. Talk about "Kook Day Thursday"!

On Saturday morning I took the girl to work early with my board on the car and the dogs for company. It was a real pity that she had to work because conditions and swell size were just ideal: it was extremely glassy, and it only felt cold on my hands initially, as I hit the water.

For the first half hour or so I kept on messing up my rides. I'd take off, complete a reasonable bottom turn, and in my impatience to do the wave justice I kept digging my left rail in. I was trying to charge down the face of the wave to get through a tight section or two. I said to myself, I have to go back to basics and take it easy and just ride the wave. I'm pleased to say that this strategy worked out fine and for the rest of my session I got some half-reasonable rides.

I would say the highlight of the day was when I was sitting out the back, in the middle of the bay. I heard a loud whooshing sound, followed by what seemed to be the chiming of a large dull bell. When I looked out to where the sound was coming from I saw the plume of spray from a large bull southern right, which seemed like it was trying to get it together with a much smaller female. All in all it was a good session and nothing beats surfing in classic, mirror-like good sized surf on warm winter's day with a clear blue sky.

Sunday was almost identical to Saturday, in all ways except my rides where much better. Unfortunately the girl had another shocker, even when we changed boards mid session. On the way home we discussed the matter, as I reckon she needs another board that suits her better. The one she has she picked out but it's too heavy for her and the nose is too blunt. The next one she has I will pick out and it won't be for the pretty colour of the damn thing. It's gonna be a functional board that anybody can catch a wave on.

The girl had to work yesterday, so I did a few chores around the house etc, like cleaning up the entire dog poop in the yard. Then refilling those poop machines with more tucker. I then went down the road and checked out some of the local board shops for a new vehicle for the girl. I saw a couple that were ok but wasn't impressed, especially by the latest prices.

Afterwards I came back along the sea front and noticed a small swell coming up the Gulf. I logged onto the Net and saw on the surf cam that conditions were the same as the previous two days but a bit bigger. So around 2PM I drove the car into the city to pick the girl up, who was finishing work at 2:45.

It was another unusually warm, beautiful winter's day with the sun shining brightly but by the time we hit the south coast a sea fog had moved in. It was like thick pea soup and looking from the cliff top you could only see the point and nothing more. While we were checking it out and deciding whether to go out or not, John Hardy, a friend and local rocked up. He looked at it and said he was going out, so we decided to join him, although from what we could see it didn't look too good. Even though there was fog blocking our view of the outside conditions there was a slight onshore blowing.

We made it out easy enough and weren't surprised to see a number of shortboarders riding the inside left in the bay while way outside we found another sitting out there by himself. He didn't seem too interested in catching any and I didn't see him going for any.

At first looking around you could only see about fifty or so metres in any direction. We couldn't see the point or the reef over to our left at "Suicides". It was only once or twice when the fog lifted that we got a vague glimpse of the point and a couple of other surfers who were riding the right of it. It wasn't so much spooky being out there, not for me anyway, but every 5-10 minutes or so a big set started breaking out beyond us. I think the worst thing was you heard them before you saw them. One set came through, which was heaps bigger than the rest and a huge mass of white water came thundering towards us. When it hit we did the old turtle roll but the second one was slightly smaller and hadn't broken yet. The first one had taken most of the water out of the trough so this second suddenly pitched up and broke right on top of us, giving us all a sound thrashing.

After that the girl headed towards the right of the point with the intention of going in, I followed, if only to keep her in eyesight. I could see that she was going too far, so I yelled and waved to her to turn her board and try and get the next wave in. After another final pounding by a big set she did, followed by myself shortly after. I guess the unusual thing was that after our session by the time we hit the top of the hill that overlooks the south coast, the fog had lifted and we witnessed a glorious sunset on the mid coast. Today, the forecast is for a warmer day with offshore winds with a rising swell. And seeing the girl has a day off today we'll be down south reasonably early.

At 8:00AM I logged onto Southcam to check the surf and found conditions perfect as predicted, albeit a bit smaller than Monday night. So without further ado we headed down south, as strong northerlies were forecast for sometime during the day. During the time it took to get there they had already sprung up, threatening to flatten the surf. I decided that we should go off the point as it looked easy enough but once again the girl got caught inside by a big set and decided to go back in and head out through the bay.

I was having a real good time picking up the waves quite easily. I'd had about 4 good rides on reasonable sized waves when I decided to go for a smaller one. It had real good shape to it and I was riding it as good as it deserved to be ridden.

Towards the end of the ride it started to wall up in front of me nicely, so I decided to take a stroll down to the nose. I got there alright and rode it for a few seconds when all of a sudden the wave hit the shallow inside sandbar and jacked up rather sharply. As it broke I went off the front, spinning around and hit the water facing the opposite direction in which I had been travelling. God only knows what the board was doing. As I resurfaced I saw the nose of my board coming back to me at face level. I had no time to dodge and the next thing I know is that it hit me just above my wide open right eye, whack!

At first the pain was excruciating and I let out a few expletives like, 'Gee! Golly Gosh! That smarts!' I put my hand up to my eye to feel the damage and the coolness of the water seemed to ease the pain a little. I thought that I had better get out of where I was because I had landed just a few metres in front of the point and I didn't want to get caught inside by a big set.

I started paddling back out, all the time grabbing hand fulls of water and sort of bathing my eye to take the pain away. I got out the back quite easily to where a fellow club member, Keith Fynaart was sitting. I said to him, 'I just got hit in the eye by my flamin board'. He said, 'Yeah, I know you've got blood pouring from it'. I put my hand up to my eye again and pulled it away to see it was covered in blood.

I thought I'd better get out of the water fast, because of the obvious, not much good spoiling someone else's session with a big nasty or two hanging around. I made it back to the car alright and told a bloke who was just heading out to go and tell my wife what had happened. I said, 'Tell her I got a bit of a whack, no real dramas and to come in when she's ready'. He said 'Ok' but must have told her that I was mortally wounded because she came in almost immediately.

While I was standing there with my towel up to the wound I noticed Keith was swimming just a few metres away from the smaller inside point. His leash had snapped and the next thing I saw was his board hitting the point. When he had recovered his board he came up top and was walking towards me to take a closer look at my injury. While at the same time I was walking over to check out how much damage he'd done to his board. It was lucky for him that there was more damage done to my head than his board.

By the time the girl had reached the car I had changed into my clothes and was looking for a bandaid. She had a look and thought that my injury would make a good subject for her photographic course, so she got out the camera and took a pic. Afterwards she whacked a large bandaid on it and grabbed her board and headed back down the cliff and out to finish her session. I yelled out to her as she disappeared down the steps, 'Thanks for the sympathy Lovey!'

I hung around and chatted with Keith for a few minutes until he packed up his gear and headed home. After he left I sat in the car and watched the girl, who was finally getting plenty of rides off the point. I thought to myself 'Bugger it! I'm going out again, and anyway the salt water will do my injury good'.

I made it out without any drama and got more than a few good rides. But every time I wiped out I stayed under the water longer, as I had visions of my board coming back at me again. After we had had enough we headed towards home and on the way we called into see my favourite quack, Doc Waterman to see if I needed any stitches. He's a real funny bloke and while he was putting in the three stitches needed, he said to the girl, 'Is there anything else you want stitched up?'

To say I've seen the point working any better than this Thursday would be a gross understatement. The surf was just the right size and a slight breeze was whispering from the right quarter. For the first half an hour or so, after we arrived out the back it wasn't so perfect but as the tide headed towards its zenith the break improved remarkably. In this time the girl and I had the point to ourselves before a hand full of other surfers ventured out and joined us. And despite the weak winter’s sun straining itself through high wispy clouds I noticed the clarity of the water and I remarked to the girl as much.

We hadn’t been in the water for 2 weeks because prior to this session there had been persistent onshore winds and insufficient swell, in general miserable surfing conditions. The first few waves I picked up I rode like a complete goose, and reasoned away my poor form for the lack of water time over the last couple if weeks. However, I did manage to pick up my quota of reasonable rides while the girl struggled once again to come to terms with the swells moving over an annoying outside gully. Even some of the larger waves would be almost on the edge of breaking; they’d stand up, feather and almost break and then drop to a huge benign lump as they rolled over the gutter.

Some of the larger ones broke outside, making this problem negligible, with the odd one or two peeling all the way outside and almost all the way to the beach. Late in my session I was fortunate enough to get one of those and rode it so far in that I ended the ride right near the rocks in shore. There wasn’t much point in trying to paddle straight back out again, so I decided to go in and make my way out off the point again.

As I was paddling out I looked up and saw the girl, laying prone on a large mass of whitewater heading towards shore. I guessed she must have thought I had finished my session and was coming in herself. I tried to signal to her that I was on my way out again but she didn’t see me. I watched her, and to my amazement she got to her feet and I would have to say that she rode that whitewater surprisingly well, all the way into the beach. To me she looked good, well in control, with a promising looking style and when I eventually caught up with her again I told her so.

By the time I made it out the back again the point was working at its best, with most of the waves peeling perfectly, with the aid of the offshore breeze and the current height of the tide. It was during this short period that I got some of my best rides, until the coldness got to me and I had to come in.

Friday, 31 August 2001

The forecast temperature for today was supposed to be higher than yesterday but standing on the cliff, checking the surf with an icy cross-offshore wind blowing, I could’ve sworn the bureau had got it wrong. The swell had increased in size and some of the waves coming through didn’t look that bad, so after an hour of deliberation I decided to go out. The girl elected to stay on shore and take some photographs, as I don’t think the size and conditions appealed to her.

I made my way out through the bay and once out the back I moved in front of the point. Further over to my right Ian Fuller and another regular, Steve, were sitting on the left while a handful of shortboarders were riding inside the bay to my left. Even though the size was there the quality of the surf wasn’t, resulting into some pretty ordinary rides by my standards. In addition, the conditions were neither appealing nor as good as the previous day, and due to the cold cross-offshore the waves were peaking all over the place. Despite it being desperately cold I persisted; then out of the blue, this larger than usual, perfect shaped wave came to greet me. I decided that if I caught it, it would be my last ride in, as I didn’t think I could stand the cold much longer.

I did manage to catch it and it turned out to be the wave of the day. It seemed like a wave full of mixed emotions, as it had so many different faces during its journey into shore. I remember I did that wave justice, reading those emotions to the best of my ability.

Back at the car I was shivering from the cold so much as I was getting changed that I didn’t notice the girl sitting in the front seat sobbing. When I prompted her why she was crying she said she had just realised she hadn’t put any film in the camera. She thought she had taken at least fifteen photos of my last ride but in fact hadn’t taken any. Strangely enough I wasn’t really disappointed very much and consoled her by laughing it off, saying, "Well at least there was the two of us who witnessed it, and that’s all that really matters.

Middleton Winter Montage

There have been some really cold days this winter mixed with a few odd, warm days. All in all though, surfwise it has been a wonderful winter and one I won't forget for a long time. In fact it's been one of the best ones I can ever remember.

Click here for A Wonderful Winter

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Photos by Sibylle Martens