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Wave model 5th September

Sequence of one ride 5th September

Holger, Antje & Ron

Visitors from Germany - Holger and Antje's stay

(By the Girl)

Saturday 8 Sept. 2001

I picked Antje and Holger up at the airport, everybody being a bit awkward at first, trying to overcome the barrier of meeting strangers. They were so YOUNG!

When we arrived at our place, I made them a cup of tea and offered some biscuits. They were a bit overwhelmed by our hospitality. After having travelled along the East Coast for three weeks in a campervan, both appeared to have been bitten by the Aussie-bug and the surf bug. At about 10.30 pm we all retired to bed.

On Sunday, after a wholesome brekkie we put the boards on the car and went for a drive down south with Ron being the tour guide. When we arrived at Middleton it looked pretty horrible. We drove on to Bullies and the Dump, both of which weren't breaking, then through Victor, giving them a bit of information about the history of this place and Encounter Bay. We went up the Bluff to enjoy the view and continued to Waitpinga and back home, past the Midcoast. I had to go to work and suggested they might want to come to town with me, to which they agreed. Antje was keen on browsing the book shops, so I dropped them off with a map and train schedule at Hindmarsh Square. They arrived home at 8.30 and went straight to bed. We’d already told them there would be surf the next day and to expect a dawn patrol

At 7 am on Monday we arrived down south to find it small and slight off-shore – just perfect for learners! Eagerly we got changed but Antje declined to go out for the time being. Holger had chosen to ride Antje’s Minimal and was having lots of problems catching a wave. The waves were a bit full and the size of the board was not suitable to be sitting out the back that far, he should have paddled in a bit further. Ron was ripping as usual, even though he originally was complaining about the lack of size! Even I managed to get a reasonable ride, a few fall-offs and drop-ins completed my successful session after more than an hour. Holger had already come in.

Ron decided he wanted to go out for another session before the wind stuffed up the surf completely, while I grabbed the camera and walked to the point to take some shots. We convinced Holger to give it another go, this time with my board. He was much more successful, catching at least half a dozen waves. I was clicking away madly, hoping the photos would turn out ok. When both men finally came in we got packed and left for the bakery as we were all starving.

It was decided we’d stop at Moana so Antje could have a surf in the shorebreak, since there were no rocks or reef. When we arrived there, she was very hesitant in going out by herself, worried that we might be bored waiting for her but I said we came here especially so she could have a surf and there was still time to spare before I had to go to work. Ron convinced Holger, who already was suffering from spaghetti arms, to go out with her to give her some tips and keep her company. He told them where to go out and where it was breaking properly. We suggested to Antje she should try my board due to its good buoyancy. They went out okay but never ventured past the shorebreak and started to get blown south by the wind, ending up a good 200 meters further down the beach. Eventually they both came in and we went home. Afterwards Ron took them to Marion to have the photos processed.

Wave model 10th September

Holger

Even though according to the weather forecast we expected there to be no surf on Tuesday, the winds had been slightly off-shore all night. We went down south at 6 am, stopping only at the supermarket to get Antje some Strepsils for her sore throat. It was overcast and glassy and the swell had definitely increased. The lines were clear, the tide was strangely enough very high, nearly the whole point was under water. It was a decent size, with bigger waves of at least five foot.

Our visitors were a bit concerned about the size and stood there contemplating. Middleton has the impact of looking a bit daunting to people that don’t quite know it, and Holger muttered something about "a bit big". We suggested not to go out if he didn’t feel comfortable. Antje wasn’t going to go out either because she feared being stuck in bed with a cold for the rest of their holidays. Initially we were going to go out through the rip, considering the size of the waves battering the point. Ron was as keen as mustard and in his eagerness paddled straight out and promptly got punished while I, being smart for once, saw the oncoming sets and no way was I going to get clobbered. So I stood at the point, watching Ron getting battered and washed in and nearly ending up on the rocks. When I could see no more lines on the horizon I jumped off and had a dry-hair paddle out. Ron arrived shortly after. We could see Holger and Antje still standing at the car, him pondering whether to go out or not. Even though conditions had improved compared to yesterday, it wasn’t breaking better because many of the waves were closing out. After about half an hour we saw Holger paddling out – he’d timed it well and never got his hair wet. He was a bit intimidated because you could clearly see the waves rolling in, stretching all the way across.

I didn’t ride anything worthwhile mentioning, just a take-off followed by a fall-off. We saw a big set approaching and started to paddle towards the horizon. I turtle-rolled the first wave and tried the same with the second, but it broke right on top of me, I lost my board, got the rinse cycle, came up for a short breath of air and got another rinse, until I popped up with my board a fair way away. I saw Ron looking at me worriedly, asking if I was alright. He said he’d seen my board and it took a while for me to come up. I paddled back out and asked Holger if he’d made it and he said he did, he’d paddled like crazy to scramble over the top. Maybe he'd been right, calling the waves "mini-tsunamis"?

I went in shortly after, without catching another wave. What a pleasant surprise to see Peter Zesers saying hello to us, so we introduced him to our visitors and he in turn introduced them to a respectable sized huntsman spider on his car. The huntsman ended up being the subject of Antje’s photograph.

On the way home, after checking out the Mid, Ron expressed a great desire to pop into the Cheesecake Shop. After a lengthy debate we bought half a choc-vanilla baked cheesecake and to our embarrassment and the amazed looks of our visitors got stuck into it straight away with our bare hands, breaking pieces off and shoving it into our mouths like greedy grubs. We finished it off within ten minutes flat. At home we had a well-deserved rest.