Some of the locals

The Senior Citizen's Surf Sessions 2

What a week for surf!

If I thought the surf last Tuesday was all right then the conditions on Thursday the 22nd of March 2001 were even better, followed by Friday, with Saturday and Sunday being slightly smaller. Firstly I'll tell you about last Thursday, as that was the day that one can relate to with the latest photographs that the girl took and are on this page.

Here at home in the gulf it had been blowing strong North Westerlies for the last day and a half with the promise of a change from the South West later in the morning. I had given up all hope of going for a session until I checked out the images I saw on the "Southcam" and realised that the swell which had dropped on Wednesday had risen again on Thursday.

Regardless of being a late starter it didn’t really matter as only the local crew were out there, which is good, as it makes for some very harmonious surfing. After I got out the back and said my good mornings to just about each and everyone, I set about the task of trying to catch a few waves. I didn’t have much luck for the first 15 minutes or so and had to be content to watch the likes of Barbary O’Brien, Jock Gordon, Ian Fuller and a few others ripping it apart.

Barbary O'Brien's ride sequence

At one stage I was paddling out further to get over a big set and realised the last wave of the set was of excellent quality and definitely needed riding, and as I wheeled my board around to catch it I noticed that Barbary already had. So from behind I witnessed her ride and I must say I was a little envious as it certainly was a ripper and she did ride it well. I guess that just about everyone who was out there that morning saw that ride, and she received the richly deserved accolades from each and every one of us as she paddled back out.

I wish I could say that when I finally caught a few my, that wave choice was excellent but it wasn’t. You see the waves were holding up very straight with the stiff offshores and looked like closing out. Instead, some would feather at the top and as they rolled over the shallowest sandbar inside, they turned into near perfect lefts and rights. I do remember taking off on a particularly big one in the early stages of my session and suffered the full wash, spin and rinse cycle as I tried to make a non existent right hander. Just after that and while I was paddling back out, Jock who was doing the same said to me, "I really took a hammering myself on that last set, and got spun around like a Rag Doll". I can understand that, as there isn’t much meat on the little bloke, as he’d only weigh about 50 kilograms wringing wet!

Wipeout sequence

By about 8:30 the bay was getting a little crowded, so I decided to paddle down to the point that appeared to be working a little better. I managed to get a few half-reasonable rides and I was careful to make them short ones, as I didn’t want to have to paddle out through the numerous breaks that were constantly coming in. A short time after I got there I was joined by Ian Fuller and we shared a bit of banter about the nicknames of various surfers. You see, Ian is the unofficial nickname giver of all the people who surf here and he’s given some real beauties. I said to him that the girl and I had thought up one for him but wouldn’t tell him what it was and he retorted with, "Well! I haven’t told you yours yet, have I?" to which I came back with, "I don’t really care" with a grin on my face.

I must have been out there for nearly three hours and hadn’t done much in the way of setting the place on fire, until a real nice looking wave came through, which I caught. I won’t go into details about that ride but I did receive some unexpected compliments from the girl who had taken photos of that ride from the top of the cliff. Shortly after that I came in and had a short break and went out again because I wasn’t sure when I’d get the chance to ride in conditions like this again. By the time I got out the back again the sea breeze had sprung up and the wave faces weren’t as good as they were before, so I decided that I’d had enough and caught one wave which I rode all the way in.

Since that session I’ve been out another 5 or 6 times but on these occasions the conditions have not been as good as on that Thursday. And even though I didn’t have to best of days in my books, it will be one I’ll always remember for the beautiful conditions and the camaraderie that I was fortunate enough to experience once again.

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Photos by Sibylle Martens

© R Taylro & S Martens