Getting smaller, but not flat

Point definitely getting smaller...

Hello Friends,

We have a bright morning with light NW winds and a couple metres of SE swell. The before-work crew were on it and while the average size is down a fair amount from yesterday, it’s definitely not flat.

The outlook is for the wind to remain out of W-NW and not to blow much harder than it is now. Swell setting should stay about the same through the day, so if you have the opportunity… get out there!

I was out and about with the camera yesterday. If you’re interested, here are the morning pics and here are a few from the water at Dee Why point in the afternoon.

I’ll check back in again later, particularly if I find some more pics for you. In the meantime, have yourself a top old day!

0730: Tending to shut down, but fun to be had this morning

Top Seeds Take Charge in Pumping Lefthanders for Rip Curl Pro Search Round 2

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) International

Rip Curl Pro Search Somewhere

Stop No. 6 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour

Somewhere, Indonesia

July 30 – August 10, 2008

SOMEWHERE, Indonesia -– The 2008 Rip Curl Pro Search returned to its primary venue, ‘somewhere’ in Indonesia, today for Round 2 of competition which saw top seeds dominated the pulsing six-foot (2 metre) lefthanders before conditions deteriorated in the early afternoon.

Stop No. 6 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour, the Rip Curl Pro Search saw the elimination of 10 surfers today before inconsistency forced event organizers to call competition off for the day.

Bede Durbidge (AUS), current ASP World No. 3, bested lethal wildcard Owen Wright this morning in one of the more incendiary heats of the day. Wright secured an incredible forehand barrel for an impressive 9.63 out of a possible 10 only to have Durbidge answer immediately with a 9.63 of his own for a deep tuberide followed by two powerful backhand blasts.

“Owen (Wright) got that incredible barrel right in front of me and I thought I was done,” Durbidge said. “Then that sick one came through and I just held my rail as long as I could and it let me out and I got the score – I was so stoked.”

Durbidge, who finished 5th on the ASP World Tour last year, has remained a contender in 2008, putting up excellent results to maintain his current No. 3 position.

“I’ve had a really good year and I’ve been able to stay really consistent,” Durbidge said. “I had a bit of a slip up in Tahiti, but the rest of the year has been good for me. It’s great to be here in Indonesia and the waves have been really good. Hopefully I can put up another good result.”

Bobby Martinez (USA), current No. 9 on the ASP World Tour, put on an impressive tube-riding display this morning, eliminating dangerous wildcard, and the only other surfer to win an ASP World Tour event in 2008, Bruno Santos (BRA).

“Bruno (Santos) is really dangerous in these kinds of waves,” Martinez said. “In barreling lefthanders, he knows what to do. It’s not as easy as it looks out there, but there are still some incredible barrels and I am happy to get through the heat.”

Adrian Buchan (AUS), current No. 10 on the ASP World Tour, was another goofy-footer to excel in today’s conditions, netting and impressive 17.90 out of a possible 20 to eliminate 2008 rookie Dan Ross (AUS) from Rip Curl Pro Search competition.

“I love it here – it’s like a third home for me,” Buchan said. “I’ve been coming here since I was a kid with my family and the waves are so good. It’s phenomenal out there and we’ve been fortunate enough to have really good waves so far so I’m pumped.”

Rip Curl Pro Search event organizers will reconvene tomorrow at 7am for a possible 7:30am start.

Surfline, official forecasters for the 2008 Rip Curl Pro Search, are calling for the Southwest swell to continue to drop through tonight and tomorrow before a new swell begins to fill in tomorrow afternoon.

When competition recommences, Dane Reynolds (USA) and Daniel Wills (AUS) will be first up in Heat 11 of Round 2.

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 2 RESULTS

Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.34 def. Komang “Gogo” Suijaya (IDN) 5.53

Heat 2: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 18.46 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 15.73

Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.17 def. I Made Garut Widiart (IDN) 7.40

Heat 4: Bobby Martinez (USA) 18.16 def. Bruno Santos (BRA) 10.57

Heat 5: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 9.67 def. Ricky Basnett (ZAF) 4.63

Heat 6: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 17.90 def. Dan Ross (AUS) 9.80

Heat 7: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 9.27 def. Jihad Khodr (BRA) 7.50

Heat 8: Tim Reyes (USA) 10.17 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 5.77

Heat 9: Ben Bourgeois (USA) 12.50 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 9.66

Heat 10: Royden Bryson (ZAF) 10.27 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 6.67

REMAINING RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS

Heat 11: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Daniel Wills (AUS)

Heat 12: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. Leonardo Neves (BRA)

Heat 13: Pancho Sullivan (HAW) vs. Neco Padaratz (BRA)

Heat 14: Jay Thompson (AUS) vs. Mikael Picon (FRA)

Heat 15: Ben Dunn (AUS) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)

Heat 16: Luke Munro (AUS) vs. Mick Campbell (AUS)

The Goat’s surf forecast

SURF FORECAST ISSUED THURSDAY 31 JULY 2008:  5 DAY OUTLOOK FOR SYDNEY:

A bit of a blow on the way tomorrow by the looks of it, initially knocking it down, then bringin’ it up at South friendly places.

Friday: in the 1-2 metre range East South East, decreasing with the W/NW wind.

Saturday:  2-3 metres at palces that like dead South swell.

Sunday: about 2 metres at dead South spots.

Monday: about 1 metre dead South.

Tuesday: in the 1-2 metre range South South East.

Water temp is around 17.

Weather from The Bureau:

Gale Warning for Sydney Coastal Waters and Strong Wind Warning for Sydney Closed Waters for Friday afternoon. For the latest warning information please check the Bureau’s web site http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/nsw

Forecast for Thursday evening
Fine. Chiefly light to moderate west to northwest winds.
Precis: Fine.

Forecast for Friday
Cloudy periods with a brief shower or two about, but fine for most of the time. West to northwest winds freshening during the day and becoming strong at times during the afternoon and evening.
Precis: Mainly fine. Becoming windy.

City:         Min:   9 Max:  19   Parramatta: Min:   8 Max:  19
Terrey Hills: Min:  10 Max:  18   Penrith:    Min:   7 Max:  19
Liverpool:    Min:   5 Max:  19   Richmond:   Min:   6 Max:  19

UV Alert: 11:40 am to 12:20 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 3 [Moderate]

Saturday Fine. Windy.

City:          Min:   10  Max:   17
West:          Min:    4  Max:   17

Sunday Fine.

City:          Min:    8  Max:   18
West:          Min:    2  Max:   18

Monday Mainly fine.

City:          Min:    7  Max:   18
West:          Min:    1  Max:   18

Tuesday Shower or two.

City:          Min:    8  Max:   16
West:          Min:    3  Max:   16

Wednesday Shower or two.

City:          Min:    9  Max:   16
West:          Min:    5  Max:   16

Thursday Shower or two.

City:          Min:    9  Max:   16
West:          Min:    5  Max:   16

Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Gale Warning.
Thursday until midnight: Wind: W/NW 13/18 knots. Sea: 1 to 2 metres. Swell: SE about 1.5 metres.
Friday: Wind: W/NW 20/25 knots, increasing to 30/40 knots during the afternoon, especially offshore. Sea: rising 3 to 4 metres.Swell: SE up to 2 to 2.5 metres. Chance thunderstorm offshore later.
Saturday Outlook: Wind: W/SW 25/35 knots, easing to 15/20 knots during the day.
Sunday Outlook: Wind: SW/SE 10/15 knots.

Late arvo update

Hi all,

Another beautiful winter’s day drawing to a close as I start work on this post. Another hour or so of sun and then it’s off for our appointment with August tomorrow.

A note for those of you who can’t see the daily pic gallery. It seems this is a javascript issue that is mainly affecting older browsers. The trick is to go to your browser’s preference settings menu to see if you can switch on javascript.

Here are a few good-bye to July postcards from a sesh at a steadily declining Dee Why point around midday…

Bowen blisters in perfect conditions at Quiksilver State Titles

Quiksilver State Titles – NSW

30 July – 3 August 2008

Foster/Tuncurry  NSW  Australia.

Boomerang Beach, NSW — In near-perfect conditions at Boomerang Beach, the state’s best juniors pushed the levels to new heights.

Surfing in pristine, off-shore 1-1.5m conditions, the Quiksilver State Titles rolled through to the business end of the competition in the under 18 and 16 boys divisions – as the scores soared.

Dean Bowen (Gerroa, NSW) was the standout of day two, attacking Boomerang’s right-handers with vigour.

En-route to racking up the event’s highest single wave score, a 9.25 (out of a possible 10), Bowen looked awesome.

“I had a lot of fun out there this morning,” he said. “Surfing in the state titles amongst all this awesome competition you have to surf well.”

Dean Bowen (Gerroa, NSW) was without doubt the standout of day two at the Quiksilver State Titles. Demolishing the near-perfect conditions, Bowen was on fire. photo: Michael Tyrpenou/Surfing NSW

Having been travelling around the country with the likes of Koby Abberton searching for big waves and competing on the biggest stages around the world in recent times, Bowen enjoys coming back to surfing with his mates.

“I have had a pretty crazy year so far, but to come back and surf in this event is really fun,” Bowen said. “There are a heap of good guys surfing in this event so it’s fun to hang out and get some good waves. But in saying that, I still want to win.”

The five-day event sees 200 junior surfers battling it out, across six divisions, for prestigious State Titles and selection into the team that will represent NSW at the Australian Junior Titles scheduled for Margaret River in December

Littered with current and former World and Australian Junior Champions, as well as top-rated ASP Australasian Pro Junior competitors, this year’s event illustrates the abundance of world-class talent within NSW.

One such talent was local boy Sam Schuman (Foster, NSW), who impressed the judges and crowd alike with critical manoeuvres and deep barrel rides.

Booking a birth in the second round, Schuman highlighted his intentions to fellow competitors using local knowledge to his advantage.

On hand to watch over the event at Boomerang Beach was former ASP World Tour surfer Michael Lowe; and he was impressed with what he saw.

“The standard of surfing on show today is outstanding,” Lowe said.

“It just goes to show how strong junior surfing is within NSW.”

With the scheduled running of the blue ribbon event, the under 18 girls, on the cards for tomorrow the scintillating action is sure to continue  – which is to be followed by the under 16 girls division.

The Quiksilver State Titles will run through to 3 August 2008.

SLATER LEADS ROUND 1 – RIP CURL PRO INDO

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) International

Rip Curl Pro Search Somewhere

Stop No. 6 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour

Somewhere, Indonesia

July 30 – August 10, 2008

SOMEWHERE, Indonesia (Wednesday, July 30, 2008) – Round 1 of the 2008 Rip Curl Pro Search event was completed today in excellent six-to-eight foot (2 metre) waves at the secondary site, “somewhere” in Indonesia.

Event No. 6 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour, the Rip Curl Pro Search bore witness to the world’s best surfers attacking a venue that many had never surfed before, all the while putting in some of the most electrifying Round 1 performances of the season.

Kelly Slater (USA), eight-time ASP World Champion and current ratings leader on the 2008 ASP World Tour, continued his dominating form today, posting the day’s only perfect 10 for an incredible double barrel on a solid eight-foot set.

Kelly Slater (USA), eight-time ASP World Champion and current ratings leader on the 2008 ASP World Tour, surfing switch-stance en route to collecting a 19.17 out of a possible 20 on Day 1 of the Rip Curl Pro Search.

“This is my first time ever surfing out here, ‘somewhere’,” Slater said. “I’ve seen it a bit on a few videos and I watched it this morning a little bit on the high tide, but my heat was my first session out there. The wave is so good and you can just sit as deep as you want on the foam ball and it seems to let you out no matter what.”

Slater, who has won four out of five events thus far on the 2008 ASP World Tour, posted the day’s highest heat total of a 19.17 out of a possible 20, putting the ASP Top 45 on notice for the remainder of the event.

“I’m taking it all heat by heat,” Slater said. “I’m just cruising in Indo with some good friends and the waves are good so I’m having a great time here. Hopefully we’ll be back at this spot in two days for Round 3.”

Slater’s incredible performance turned supernatural when, after netting his perfect 10, the Floridian phenom collected a 9.17 out of a possible 10 for an unbelievable switch-foot barrel that stunned onlookers and fellow competitors alike.

“I got a pretty good barrel out the back and then I faded my bottom turn as much as I could before pulling up into that section and I knew I would have to switch stance to make it a good score,” Slater said. “When I did that, I lost all my speed and the barrel closed over me and I was able to reset and get under the lip before coming out again. Best switch-foot wave I’ve ever had.”

Andy Irons (HAW), former three-time ASP World Champion and two-time defending champion of the Rip Curl Pro Search event (2006, 2007), was in sensational form today, netting an impressive 18.40 out of a possible 20 to advance past opponents Dane Reynolds (USA) and Dan Ross (AUS).

“It’s beautiful and wally out there and the waves are just draining all the way across the reef,” Irons said. “It’s such a beautiful place and it’s so nice to surf with just two other guys. I’m really happy to be here.”

Irons, currently sitting No. 8 on the 2008 ASP World Tour, could potentially gain some ground on this season’s ASP World Title race with a solid result in Indonesia, but the Hawaiian is taking a relaxed approach to this year’s event.

“I’m just happy to be here and it feels good to get the first heat out of the way,” Irons said. “It’s great to be here in Indonesia with my beautiful wife Lindy and all my friends. I’m just cruising and taking it all in.”

Joel Parkinson  (AUS), current No. 2 on the 2008 ASP World Tour, matched Irons’ impressive heat total of an 18.40 out of a possible 20 today, blending fantastic backhand re-entries with inpressive tube-riding.  Parkinson netted excellent scores in the opening minutes of the heat, putting opponents Jordy Smith (ZAF) and Bruno Santos (BRA) in combination situations early on.

Joel Parkinson (AUS/Gold Coast) in great form winning his opening round heat today at the Rip Curl Pro Search today. Parkinson defeated Brazil's Bruno Santos and South Africa's Jordy Smith to advance directly to round three in the excellent surf today. In a high scoring heat Parkinson posted 18.40 (out of a possible 20) to defeat Santos on 18.04 and Smith on 15.00.

“It’s really good out there right now and the waves just seemed to come to me,” Parkinson said. “I got a couple of solid scores at the beginning and that set me up really well. The waves just seemed to come to me throughout the remainder of the heat, but Bruno (Santos) got that bomb and I had to go back to work there at the end.”

Parkinson has had a remarkably consistent season in 2008, finishing no worse than equal 5th all year, but the current ASP World No. 2 understands that a victory in the next few events will be paramount to his 2008 ASP World Title campaign.

“I’ve had a solid year so far, but Kelly has just been untouchable basically,” Parkinson said. “Myself and the rest of the boys really need to step it up and win an event here to gain some ground on him.”

Mick Fanning (AUS), reigning ASP World Champion and past winner of the Rip Curl Pro Search (2005), is currently sitting at No. 4 on the 2008 ASP World Tour and survived a hard-fought Round 1 heat today against veteran Dream Tour campaigner Taylor Knox (USA) and lethal wildcard Owen Wright (AUS).

“The waves out there are great, but it just went lully towards the end of the heat and none of us could really get any waves,” Fanning said. “There have still been some amazing heats today and I really hope the swell hangs around.”

Bruce Irons (HAW), current No. 19 on the 2008 ASP World Tour, put on an incendiary performance this afternoon, collecting an impressive 9.77 out of a possible 10 to advance past Taj Burrow (AUS) and I Made Garut Widiart (IDN).

“The waves are really fun out here and these are the kind of waves I like surfing,” Irons said. “I was just cruising around out there and picking off fun ones.  That 9-something had a really good bowl on it and I hope the waves stick around for the rest of the comp.”

Surfline, official forecasters for the 2008 Rip Curl Pro Search, are calling for today’s solid Southwest swell to maintain through tomorrow before gradually fading throughout the day.

Event organizers will reconvene at 7am tomorrow morning for a possible 7:30am start for Round 2 of the Rip Curl Pro Search “Somewhere” in Indonesia.

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 RESULTS

Heat 1: Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 10.90, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 9.87, Jay Thompson (AUS) 7.73

Heat 2: Damien Hobgood (USA) 10.90, Bobby Martinez (USA) 7.50, Travis Logie (ZAF) 3.13

Heat 3: Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.10, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 11.34, Pancho Sullivan (HAW) 9.10

Heat 4: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 15.84, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 15.33, Jihad Khodr (BRA) N/S

Heat 5: Andy Irons (HAW) 18.40, Dane Reynolds (USA) 10.17, Daniel Ross (AUS) 5.37

Heat 6: Roy Powers (HAW) 14.00, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.34, Ricky Basnett (ZAF) 11.23

Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.40, Bruno Santos (BRA) 18.03, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.50

Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.17, Tim Reyes (USA) 15.00, Komang “Gogo” Suijaya (IDN) 9.33

Heat 9: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.67, Taylor Knox (USA) 6.93, Owen Wright (AUS) 6.60

Heat 10: Bruce Irons (HAW) 17.77, I Made Garut Widiart (IDN), 12.43, Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.83

Heat 11: Chris Ward (USA) 17.03, Ben Bourgeois (USA) 16.23, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 16.00

Heat 12: Kai Otton (AUS) 15.10, Ben Dunn (AUS) 10.84, Royden Bryson (ZAF) 10.40

Heat 13: Luke Stedman (AUS) 8.50, Luke Munro (AUS) 8.00, Daniel Wills (AUS) 6.10

Heat 14: Dean Morrison (AUS) 14.80, Leonardo Neves (BRA) 14.44, Mick Campbell (AUS) 12.90

Heat 15: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 17.70, Tom Whitaker (AUS) 10.67, Neco Padaratz (BRA) N/S

Heat 16: Dayyan Neve (AUS) 15.83, Heitor Alves (BRA) 10.53, Mikael Picon (FRA) 10.17

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS

Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Komang “Gogo” Suijaya (IDN)

Heat 2: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)

Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. I Made Garut Widiart (IDN)

Heat 4: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Bruno Santos (BRA)

Heat 5: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Ricky Basnett (ZAF)

Heat 6: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Dan Ross (AUS)

Heat 7: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Jihad Khodr (BRA)

Heat 8: Tim Reyes (USA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)

Heat 9: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Ben Bourgeois (USA)

Heat 10: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Royden Bryson (ZAF)

Heat 11: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Daniel Wills (AUS)

Heat 12: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. Leonardo Neves (BRA)

Heat 13: Pancho Sullivan (HAW) vs. Neco Padaratz (BRA)

Heat 14: Jay Thompson (AUS) vs. Mikael Picon (FRA)

Heat 15: Ben Dunn (AUS) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)

Heat 16: Luke Munro (AUS) vs. Mick Campbell (AUS)

Options available most places

Looking good on the beaches

Swell has dropped into the 2-3ft+ range with some decent looking beachbreaks firing off. Tide dropping light offshore and sunshine. Worth a paddle. Rosco.

Dee Why — still breaking but backing off fast

Dee Why Point is on the way to flatness but not quite there yet. Y’day it was firing in all cylinders, this morning there’s about a 5-10 min wait between sets. Local crew has obviously had enough of it for a while and either gone to work or stayed in bed as there’s only one bloke out there at 9am.  I can’t really see the beachie or Longy for the glare at the moment. Beautiful day out there and the temperature is slowly creeping back into the not so horrible zone. Sun shining on my temperature gauge and it’s reading 17 on the balcony, way up from the top of 13 yesterday. Cheers, Rob

Top Shelf Conditions.

Superb conditions here this morning. Good size SE swell, light off shore breeze, crystal clear water, bright sunny day and to top it off there’s a small whale sun baking at Tama just off the rock out crop. Sounds like an East Coast travel brochure for Jet Star. If you get the chance, go for a surf today ’cause it rarely gets any better than this. There are waves at all your fave spots.

Ross.