Middleton - September Sessions

The forecast was for north to northwest winds before a change, so at 6:00 AM we took a chance and headed for the Mid, as a huge spring full moon was setting. By the time we reached Port Noarlunga, the light northwest wind had picked up; and driving along the cliffs at Southport we noticed that it was having a distinct influence on the swell. We pulled into the carpark to check out Threepoles but conditions there were horrible, so we jumped back in the car and headed down south. I had heard from a previous source that the surf had been pretty big down there the day before. This was confirmed later by a bloke I call Scotty who I was talking to out the back at Middleton. He spoke of broken boards, hold-downs and a near drowning at Bullies the day before. When we got there I was pleased to see that the wind wasn’t so intense yet and was coming from the northeast, with some reasonable sized overhead swells coming through. I was also pleased for the girl; the previous day’s swell size had dropped down to a level that I reckoned she could handle.

Looking down to the south east I could see the early morning sea mist giving way to the sunrise and what a beautiful one it was too. There were about two out in the bay with another two, way over to the left of the point but apart from them the place was almost deserted. We got changed, waxed our boards and headed towards the bay as I thought that with the size it was breaking, the girl would feel more comfortable going out there. Dare I say it? Another dry hair paddle out to the back!

Take-off

The turn

Kissing the lip

Another turn

Hmm!

For the first ten minutes or so it was pretty quiet. And those we went for had too much water in them, plus the wind had sprung up a fair bit, making it that much harder to catch them as well. While we were sitting there waiting I warned the girl to expect a sneaker set to come through at around about every twenty minutes. No sooner had I had said it, then one did. Here it is, and in the girls own words…

‘We were sitting there, facing seawards, when Ron said, "I can smell a freight-train coming!" We looked at each other and then I could hear it: The sound of the spray hissing off the back of a wave breaking far behind the one that was coming towards us. We started paddling like mad, went over the first one and I immediately saw the left-hander bristling towards us. Up the face of the wave we went and I JUST scraped over the top. Actually the lip of it went over top of me, but Ron had to turtle-roll. That was so much fun! There is always the odd rogue one, isn't there! Thank god it wasn't as big as the one Ron encountered one day out here, earlier this year. Apparantely he heard it feathering from miles away, it caught him way inside and it had a solid 10-foot face!’

I asked her later how she felt about it and if she was scared. She said she was more curious than anything else, which I thought, was an encouraging answer in her learning curve. Because I reckon the time to feel scared is before you hit the water, not after and the proper word for that feeling after you’ve committed yourself to the vagaries of the ocean is stupidity.

The drop in

Catching up

Another day

Making a choice

Bottom turn

The tide was on the march in and the wave shape was starting to improve a bit, making catching a few a lot easier. A particularly nice looking one came through that we both caught together, I did my usual bottom turn and started heading right. I took a quick look back to see how she was doing and from the split second look I got she was doing fine, up until the time she supposedly fell off. Shortly after this she went in and for the next half an hour I was completely alone, which I don’t mind so much these days. My solitude was short lived however, as four other longboarders who all seemed to be mates joined me.

It was during this time period that I caught some of my best rides for the day. I picked up one larger wave than the usual from way out the back. I was well into up and riding it when one of these blokes decided to drop in; probably thinking that an old bastard like myself couldn’t cut the mustard and do it justice. I had just completed a bottom turn and was looking straight at him, saying to myself 'I'm after you pal and I'm going to give you a lesson on how to surf'. I climbed up the face of the wave and from there into green water, smacked the lip with a kiss from the bottom of my board and dropped down, to his surprise underneath him with an accelerated bottom turn. He nearly shat himself from the shock of this manoeuvre. I had about another half an hour out there, then I came in to find that the girl was really impressed by my surfing during that session, although I reckon that I’ve had far better ones on other occasions.

Going off the Point

Loacl bird life

Sunrise off the Point

In the Bay

The Shortboarder

Nevertheless it was great being out there again in the conditions I love. Don’t get me wrong, I like riding the surf on those super glassy days just like the next bloke. But I don’t know, there seems to be more action and emotion involved riding surf when there’s a good offshore blowing.

What a damn frustrating evening it was last night (Tuesday). I couldn't log on to the local weather bureau to see what the forecasted winds were, so I had to revert back to the old tried and true system of sticking out the wet finger. Nevertheless we left home at 7:00AM to arrive and find the Mid blown out with a north westerly wind. With the amount of swell hanging around in the Mid I knew it would be a reasonable size down South, and it was.

I must say my mood was a foul one and not conducive to productive surfing, even so I persisted and the two of us went off the point. Although the size of the swell was not huge it was very consistent; the tide was high, making the inside shorebreak one hell of a struggle to get through. We almost made it out but we copped a fairly persistent number on waves belting us, and the girl signalled to me that she wanted to turn around and go out through the rip in the bay. Being in the indifferent mood I was in I followed her in and ten minutes later we were out the back the easy way.

As I said the waves were consistent but getting onto them was another matter, as only the bigger ones were worth going for, while the smaller ones were holding too much water due to the incoming tide. I managed to get a couple of rides here and there but nothing memorable, so after about an hour and a half I came in.

By now it was about 10:30 and the morning sun was giving off a bit of warmth. I hung around in my wet clobber soaking the rays and having a durrey with a can of cola, at the same time watching others going out and performing. After about a half an hour I got this silly thought in my head and said to the girl, "Bugger it! I'm going out again", and off I went.

When I got out the back and noticed that the wind had swung around a bit more to the west and now had a real chill in it. I thought, "This is bloody stupid, I'll just catch one and ride it all the way in and that's that!" Well I went for a big one from way outside and to the left of the point that appeared to have a good shape to it. I knew I was far enough out that when I caught it I had no fear of hitting the point, as the distance was adequate enough to miss. What I didn’t know was that this wave turned into a real belter and held its shape, almost all the way to the beach. I finished up riding it the furthest I can recall having ridden a wave here in I don’t know how long. It was definitely my wave of the day and certainly worth all the trouble of going out, even if only for that one wave, but most of all it changed my frame of mind remarkably.