Wonderful winter

I for one can honestly say that I wasn't looking forward to the coolness of this winter, as I get older they seem to get a lot colder. So you can just imagine my pleasant surprise when we received a bonus week of exceptionally warm and sunny weather with some good quality surf to go along with it. I surfed every day out of the seven and I have to say that this is the most consistent I've ever seen the Far in all my years of winter surfing. We took photos every day and I've tried to keep them in some sort of order in regards to the chronology of events but some may be out of sequence...

Middleton

Wednesday, 27 June 2001

It was good both Wednesday and Thursday with slight offshores to dead glassy. The size had been the same both days (big) and breaking way way out. The tides have been extremely low in the morning, making the inner shorebreak a bit of a nightmare for paddling out and getting caught in if you made the unfortunate choice to ride a wave too far. The break improved remarkably in the afternoon on Wednesday as the incoming tide made the size not so intimidating.

Before I went out we observed one bloke going off the point and drift east for nearly two hundred metres before he made any distance south. He was only out the back for 5 minutes or so and came in to change his leg rope which had apparently snapped. I didn't feel like going out first thing because it was so bloody cold with the slight offshore blowing right through my bones. Plus the fact that it didn't look appealing, being overcast and sort of closing out.

I eventually went out later with Peter Zesers through the bay and got belted on the way out, while he made rather easy on his new Cutloose shortboard. I expected the water to be icy cold but it was surprisingly mild, probably due to the winds being so calm. We sat in the bay for half an hour and decided to move over to the point where it seemed to be working better. Once we got there Peter said to me, "take a look at the bay now!" And we saw a big set peeling perfectly towards the point but isn't that always the way?

I managed to get a couple of good rides while Peter's son Daniel was getting some absolute screamers on his shortboard. I I don't think Peter had much luck though but I guess that's expected when you're trying out a new board for the first time.

If I had one wave I will remember it was the one with the highest dismount I've ever had. Yes, that's right, the highest dismount! I had ridden this wave almost into the shorebreak when it suddenly started to pitch in front of me as I was on the way to doing a bottom manoeuvre. Seeing this I increased the weight on my back foot to try and flick the board over the back of the wave. The falling lip caught my board and carried it shoreward while I went up in the air in the other direction. The timing of this difficult manoeuvre must have been critical as I would compare it to a car hitting an oncoming vehicle, where the person is slung out through the windscreen upon collision. In my case I felt as though I went several metres up in the air in a crouched position and hit the water face and body first. I daresay it must have looked hilarious to anyone who saw it, while I found it quite funny myself. I must have looked like a big black frog.

The highlight of the day was the three whales (two adults and one calf) that were frolicking about 400 metres out from the break for most of the day. It always terrific to see these magnificent creatures that have made such a comeback after near extinction. I've only ever seen them over the last few years as they weren't around in the early sixties and I really do feel fortunate. I do get a little annoyed when people like those two got closer to them on what looked like paddle boards when they moved further west towards Bashams Reef.

Thursday, 28 June 2001

Thursday, it was the same size as Wednesday but it was quite sunny with a slightly stronger offshore breeze. The girl had picked up a cold overnight, so I went out with young Mark, who was the only other person around at the time.

At first he said he was going to go off the point but when he saw a couple of extra large sets coming through he changed his mind and decided to come with me out through the bay. On the way down there he related to me a story of a bad experience of being caught inside, in the bay and nearly coming to grief on the rocks. I tried to reassure him that he'd be all right if he followed a couple of precautionary procedures. I don't think it made him feel any better and he was more than welcome to go back and try off the point, as I'm not into trying to convince people into doing something they don't want to as far as the surf is concerned.

I reckon he felt a lot better about his decision, as we got out the back without the slightest amount of bother. I managed to pick up a couple of short rides and got off before the shorebreak, not wanting to get caught inside by one of the bigger sets. Mark was struggling to pick anything up and I think he rued his decision to ride his shortboard instead of his longboard this morning. In the meanwhile we had drifted almost out of the bay and were nearly sitting in front of the point when an extra large set came through. Even though these waves were quite big they didn't give us much trouble. I'm only glad we were sitting out a long way further than normal and nowhere near that bloody shorebreak.

Eventually Mark moved further east of the point towards the left leaving me by myself for a brief moment. And just as I thought I had the point to myself I looked to the east I could see another surfer had made his way out and was sitting in the middle of the bay. Squinting with my eyes in the early morning light it seemed to look a lot like Ian Fuller, when I called out, "G’day" and received a reply I realised I was right.

I didn’t have a long session because I knew that the conditions would be similar the next day and I wanted to save a bit of energy for it. But it was rather strange to see and surf conditions this good with only three of us out for most of the morning.

Wave model for 28th of June

One ride sequence

Friday 29, June 2001

If Wednesday was good and Thursday was perfect then what words am I going to use to describe Friday?

After checking out the Mid and finding it 2 foot plus and affected by cross onshores we made our way leisurely down the Far. The wind down there was straight offshore and brisk. The swell was a bit smaller than Thursday but it still looked enticing. The girl’s cold kept her out of the water again and despite the size I had a bit of a struggle getting out from the point; it took me at least ten minutes.

About a half an hour into my session the wind dropped and it became almost dead glassy. I got heaps of rides, more than I’ve had for I don’t know how long. I had two exceptionally good long rides that had me so stoked that I’m almost too embarrassed to write about them. All I’ll say is that I got the ride of my life. Some of the lefts were as good as the rights, especially those that were heading straight into the point.

At one stage I just laid on my board out the back with the sun shining down on me, I thought how lucky I was to be here this day enjoying the all the beauty that the sea and sky was offering. I almost gave a silent prayer of thanks to the greater power for allowing me to share what was freely on offer. I lost all track of time and from the amount of rides I got it seemed that I’d been out there for hours. It must have been that I was so weary from all the paddling that I’d been doing. I came in after catching a nice long ride and once again, like so many times before when it’s been this good, I looked back out to sea and thought to myself, "This day is not over yet and neither is this session, I’m going out again after a brief rest".

As I made my way down the steps to the beach I was followed by one of my dogs, Cindy. At first I thought she wanted to join me in my last session but she really only wanted me play ball with the seaweed balls instead. This time I had no problems getting out and enjoyed another hour of this watery pleasure before weariness overcame me and I went in.

Wave model for 29th of June

Saturday, 30 June 2001

I wasn’t surprised to see that the swell had picked up again, as it was a new one but was pleasantly amazed to find the water warmer but the offshore wind was colder than Friday. There were plenty of guys out early, I guess the word had spread around that it was really firing down south. In fact a lot of them were even out before the sun had come up. Despite this I had the point to myself for about an hour until the amiable Chris Bowen joined me.

After about an hour it got extremely crowded with the "South of the Port Boarders" taking over the point with a competition. So eventually we moved a bit further east of the point where we still managed to pick up the odd, good ride or two. I’m not sure whether you would call it a highlight but we witnessed a bloke and his board getting blasted into the rocks by a wave while launching from the point. I really don’t know what some blokes are thinking when they see the tide so high. Because when it is, every now and then a big wave comes through and washes right over the point, making launching from there pretty stupid.

Wave model for 30th of June

Sunday 1, July 2001

The Girl writes...

How fortunate have we been with regards to the surf, with a solid swell hanging around the South Coast for more than a week. The first couple of days however, I was somewhat handicapped from the effects of a cold, so I resigned myself into watching the surf through the viewfinder of my camera. After shooting endless rolls of film, observing dogs digging, whales tail-fluking and husbands expertly doing backhand bottom-turns for a consecutive three days, I listened to a fellow surfer, Chris, who, grinning wickedly advised never to listen to a doctor but to go for a surf instead and clean the sinuses out.

This, I promised myself, I was definitely going to do, come hell or high water. Well, the tide was nice and high, the waves were clean, glassy and small, resulting in a dry-hair paddle. Ron was getting wet feet while setting up the tripod on the point and I was happily paddling for the waves.

The first righthander I caught was a beauty, unfortunately not to be captured on film, since a certain person was busy wringing out their wet socks instead of looking through the camera! There was no wind, and even though I hadn’t been in the water for nearly two weeks, the water was still pleasantly warm, allowing me to stay out for an hour. I didn’t do much good after that, so I went in and Ron went out. I was soaking up the warmness of the sun, being dazzled by the glistening blue sea. observing my other half on his surfboard weaving his way through the crowd, intentionally avoiding some of them by inches.

On the way home Ron and I were talking about personal surfing skills. We had observed that certain surfers, who expose themselves to the water on a nearly daily basis, never seem to change their style of surfing or even attempt a risky manoeuvre or try something out of the ordinary, yet still being practical and not showing off at the same time. Their level of surfing never seems to alter, which we think is a shame. It makes you wonder if they will ever know what it is like to reach the peak of surfing abilities, yet never stagnate or take it for granted. Based on the personal efforts, frustrations and perseverance I have put into my learning curve, I most certainly want to improve and find out what else there is to it.

The longer I watched, the more I wanted to go out again. On a day like this, going home seemed such a waste! I eagerly went to Ron when he came out of the water and begged him to go out again with me. After ten minutes of recuperating, we paddled back out and caught a few more, just enjoying this magnificent winter day, a sunny, blue sky, clear water and plenty of waves.

Wave model for 1st of July

Nick from Cornwall

Monday 2, July 2001

The Girl writes...

The next day conditions were not quite as perfect. There was a light offshore wind blowing. The size of the swell hadn’t changed but the waves were a little harder to get onto as the wind held them up and they often closed out. We stood and watched for a while. Being Monday, there was no hurry to battle for space in the water anyway.

Suddenly a young guy approached us and asked if we knew a good place to get a cheap longboard, preferably a McTavish. We listed the half a dozen or so surf shops between Middleton and Adelaide. He had an accent and told us he was from Cornwall, staying at his dad’s in Goolwa for a while with his wife. He’d hired a longboard the last couple of days and wondered if he could buy a nice second hand surfboard for the time of this stay.

He seemed like a genuinely nice sort of a guy and keenly showed us his "Surfrider in Europe" Surfing Atlas, pointing out where exactly he came from. The distance between the North and the Southcoast of Cornwall was 40 km, and he pointed out that the Northcoast was generally breaking bigger, but the Southcoast was breaking more frequently. We were chatting away about the surf and it turned out that he had been out yesterday as well, keen to get his wife to take some photos of him surfing, because he’d seen Ron with the camera at the point, but unfortunately his wife fell asleep in the car.

We proceeded to get changed while the guy quickly drove off to the local surfshop, and by the time we were ready to hit the water, he’d already returned, put his wetsuit on and paddled off the point. In the meantime another man had turned up in his squeaky-clean stationwagon and, while annoying us with his blasting music, squeezed his well-rounded waistline into his sparkling new wetsuit, lovingly scraped the old wax off his board and put a brand new layer on it.

We joined the young Pom who paddled for a wave and got a nice long ride. I’m not usually into chatting in the water unless I want to annoy Ron, but in between sets, the English guy, who’s name was Nick, and me had quite an animated conversation going. I couldn’t help being captivated by his stoke and sincere happiness of being Down Under. Again and again Nick pointed out how he couldn’t believe how warm the water was. He wanted to know whether our winters were always like this. On one occasion I said to Ron, "look over there, look what he’s doing!" – and sure enough Nick was lying with this back on his surfboard, lolling about like a seal bathing in the sun! Nick told me that it was so freezing cold in Cornwall that they used to surf in full clobber, hood, gloves, rashguards, thick wetsuits and still their lips would be blue from the cold and their fingers would be so numb and frozen that they had problems turning the key in the car door. In addition the water around the part of his coastline were pretty polluted, to that extent that a lot of surfers had to give surfing away for fear of catching Hepatitis. Apparently there were many caravan parks in that area, discharging the sewerage directly into the sea.

He sure was one dedicated dude and most appreciative of the waves to be had in our part of the world. Animatedly he was chatting away in between catching some closeout waves, me enjoying his permanent smile, friendly nature and good sense of humour, eg. when he mentioned that the water in his bathtub was colder than at Middleton and also suggesting that the dropper-inner-guy had probably gone in to let the air out of his tyres, while he himself could plead ignorance for being a Pom.

Aside from that, we were also talking about his vehicle, a beat-up old Jeep-thingy, which was making funny noises when running. He told me that his mum had blown up some part of the exhaust and he was now a bit hesitant in starting it up again and also thought that the bull-bar was slightly over the top. I nodded in agreement, saying that he wouldn’t want to mow over a roo, but aside from that it was a nice surfmobile. His ears pricked up when I mentioned our national animal, and he said he was keen to see some real ones, not in an animal park. He didn’t believe me when I said I’d spotted a roo hopping along the Esplanade at Surfers and even had a photograph to prove it, but hinted that also a good place to keep an eye out for the hopping mob would be the road to Waitpinga.

My toes started indicating that an hour had passed and the cold was getting to me, so I turned to Nick and said, "It’s a tad chilly today," to which he grinned and said he had to go in to return his hired board. I indicated to Ron that I was going to catch a wave in. Ron grinned, pleased with himself after having some more beaut little rides, one of which I watched, him milking the wave until he’d reached the shorebreak. I smiled at him and said, "What are you so happy about!". "I’m not happy, I’ve got wind!", he replied with an evil smirk on his face, obviously totally oblivious to the fact that the dropper-inner was sitting right behind him. "Just keep the noise down," I warned cheekily and eventually caught my last wave.

As I was walking past Nick’s car, I introduced myself and Ron to him and couldn’t help telling him, "It was a pleasure sharing your stoke, keep it up!" It was so nice for an outsider to cherish the cold, clean waters of South Australia, which are often neglected to be mentioned or explored by travellers in favour of the crowded, infrequent surf of the Eastern states, but instead he totally counted his blessings and had no qualms in displaying his stoke.

I wish part of it would bounce on some of the regulars, who seem to take the quality swells that are hitting this coastline much more often than on the East Coast, for granted and arrogantly whinge when it often is not to their liking. A true surfer goes out in any kind of surf, and, after bad sessions learns to treasure those golden, long rides we can have every so often and who’s quality can match any wave in the world.

Wave model for 2nd of July

One ride sequence

Tuesday, 3 July 2001

This was the smallest day of all but if anything the quality of the break was still pretty good. It was about 3 foot with a light north easterly blowing but it was still a perfect working right hander, breaking off the point.

The whales that had been around all week were still in the bay and someone told me there had been something like ten thousand people had come down to view them. I guess by now most of us had become a little bit blasé about them being around but when a pod of Dolphins turned up and started surfing the point we all stood there amazed by their abilities.

The girl went out first while I decided to get wet again taking pictures from the smaller point, which is closer towards shore. She didn’t have the best of sessions and so she came in after about an hour of paddling around in frustration.

After she came in I decided to go out, as I figured with the change in the weather coming it might be my last chance for a few days or more. By this time young Nick from Cornwall was out there with a few local bodyboarders, along with another oldtimer in Coxie.

Even though the size of the surf was small it was reasonably consistent and we all managed to get some pretty good rides. One small wave I caught was a real surprise, in that I rode it nearly all the way into the shore, as it kept its shape for the entire ride.

Not only was this the smallest the surf had been for a week it was also the coldest, even with the sun shining ever so brightly but not enough to take the chill out of the offshore wind. It was for this reason that I only had a short session and made my way up the cliff and back to the car after an hour. Another longboarder who had come in just before me approached me, wanting a light for his smoke. He had gotten halfway down the road towards his car and decided to go out again. I guessed that he’d had the same thought as myself, it was going to be the last chance to surf for a while.

The Road South

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Photos by Sibylle Martens