Grey, cool, tiny

Late arvo update:

Shot with the new Panasonic G1.

Spent pretty much the whole day at a press function in Bondi. It was held at the Icebergs, so I had lots of time to watch the surf conditions there this afternoon. Basically, it started out with about 4 people in the water under drizzly skies at 10ish, and by the time I left 6 hours later, it was fairly crowded and sunny, but not dramatically better. For the most part it was in the knee to waist high range, with the odd chest high set. Banks didn’t look too wonderful, but there were occasional sections of interest, especially if you had a fish or a mal.

 

 

Lunchtime lump gets caught.

The press event was Panasonic’s launch of their new G1 micro four thirds digital SLR and the highlight came when they lent us all cameras and set us loose to take pictures of sculpture by the sea artworks. Not exactly great picture taking weather in a conventional sense, but I had fun. I borrowed a telephoto lens at one point when I got to Tama and found there were a few lidders playing in the junky shorepound. The G1 is a relatively small camera, but it’s a true SLR, and my preliminary impressions were favourable. Quite simple to use for the uninitiated I would think, and yet it has all the proper functions more experienced photogs want. Anyway, when we got back from the picture taking expedition, I grabbed another shot of someone mal-ing in the south Bondi shorey for ya.

 

I see the swell direction is still east, but the period has crept up closer to 8 seconds and the average size at sea is getting closer to 2 metres. Wind is out of the NNE at 15-20 kts, so if you’re heading out for a late one on this grey afternoon, this morning’s advice still applies. 

Tomorrow’s still sounding like a furnace. Blasting hot NW winds ahead of a late 20-30 kt south change. I’m not too hopeful about waves, but maybe early you’d still get some of the little windswell that was pushed up toward dark today… small, weak and junky I’d say.

here’s this morning’s thoughts…

 

 

Hello Friends,

More grey skies and little weak chop at Dee Why

Hard to believe at this point, but tomorrow’s going to be hot-as. This morning’s grey skies and cool temps are matched with an equally lacklustre wave situation. Overnight the windswell’s swung back to the east. It’s short period, junky stuff though. According to the MHL data, it’s only 6 seconds apart and about 1.5 metres out at sea. I’d say you’d be doing well if you found a wave face half that height at one of our more easterly stretches of beach.

Mind you, even if you’re able to turn up something worth the effort, the Bureau is running up the strong wind warnings for this afternoon. The wind’s set to go from 10-15 kts NE this morning, to 20-25 kts this afternoon. That’s strong enough to (potentially) create something in the semi-protected north corners toward dusk. And by then the showery weather may have cleared up a bit.

Gotta get on with the day, but I’ll leave you with the cheerful news that a quick scan of the models shows they’re all riffing on a theme of longer period south swell mid-next week. In a bit of a rush this morning, so maybe will take a closer look this afternoon it the schedule permits.

Have yourself a top old day!

TG

Thurs forecats

Fir about 1etre NE

Sat 1-2 dead South spots only

Sun about 1 S

mon less than 1

 tuesday 1-2 S

Wed 1-2 S

Thurs about 2 S

wtaerr is a chiily 19

Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro Off for the Day

Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro

Stop No. 10 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour

Imbituba, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Oct. 28-Nov. 5, 2008

Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro Off for the Day – Next Call Tomorrow

IMBITUBA, Brazil (Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008) – Round 2 of the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro will not run at Praia da Vila in Imbituba today. Despite contestable conditions on offer this morning, contest officials feared that consistency could decline throughout the day and the event was ultimately called off for the day.

C.J. Hobgood, 2001 ASP World Champion and winner of the last ASP World Tour event held in Spain, will go up against Carybean Heleodoro (BRA) in the first heat of the day when competition does commence. Adrian Buchan (AUS), who his first ASP World Tour event in France last month, will take on former tour surfer Raoni Montiero in Heat 2.

Each and every one of the upcoming Round 2 heats will feature a Brazilian surfer and all 16 heats will be webcast live via www.aspworldtour.com. Another call on competition status will be made tomorrow at 7:30am.

Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro Round 2 Heat Draw:

Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Carybean Heleodoro (BRA)

Heat 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Raoni Monteiro (BRA)

Heat 3: Luke Stedman (AUS) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)

Heat 4: .Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Jano Belo (BRA)

Heat 5: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Peterson Rosa (BRA)

Heat 6: Chris Ward (USA) vs. Gustavo Fernandes (BRA)

Heat 7: Dayyan Neve (AUS) vs. Tanio Barreto (BRA)

Heat 8: Tim Reyes (USA) vs. Fabio Gouveia (BRA)

Heat 9: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Pedro Henrique (BRA)

Heat 10: Roy Powers (HAW) vs. William Cardoso (BRA)

Heat 11: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Simao Romao (BRA)

Heat 12: Tiago Pires (PRT) vs. Bruno Santos (BRA)

Heat 13: Heitor Alves (BRA) vs. Ricky Basnett (ZAF)

Heat 14: Jay Thompson (AUS) vs. Jihad Khodr (BRA)

Heat 15: Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)

Heat 16: Royden Bryson (ZAF) vs. Ben Bourgeois (USA)

More of the same

Another nice day with no waves bigger than 1ft.Wind was up early making what waves there are rather bumpy and lumpy.Good day to do anyhting other than surf.

C C Ordinary Conditions

Overcast and dry on the Central Coast this Thursday morning.  The swell is weak and inconsistent at 1 – 2 feet from the east.  There is no breeze at the moment but forecast to go north northeast then strengthening later.  High tide 0935 and low tide around 1610.  Local barometer 1017 hpa, 98% humidity, 17 degrees C.  Have a good one!

Editor’s picks for 30 Oct 2008

Kicking off with some link suggestions that have come in over the last few days (Avoca Boardriders, Samoa, Lennox longboarders, kitesurfing) along with a pointer to some fresh Butts shots on the forums. Also in this post, Broad Bench in the UK, South Taiwan

Dylan from Avoca boardriders sends us a link to the site with the following comment: “Avoca Boardriders Avoca Beach’s long running boardriding club. We meet monthly for competitions and have a lot of fun being who we are.” The site’s clean and gets the job done. I liked the vid!  Check out Avoca Boardriders.

George (who files reports from his surf resort most weeks) volunteers his site for your amusement, adding “A great comprehensive web site featuring Sa’Moana Resort in Samoa. All the gen on what we’re about, what we do, what we offer, current and archived surf reports and heaps of pixs.” He speaks the truth, does George. I’d recommend having a squizz at the vid posted on the front page. Gives you an idea of how the waves look with regular people surfing them (glassy, fun size, not too intimidating looking), you have to go in about 3 minutes to find the surfin.

George also tips us about another club site, this time it’s for the Lennox Longboarders. Again, while it’s going to be most interesting to the people who belong to the group, the photo gallery has a fair few nice surfin’ shots mixed in with the happy snaps. Water looks nice…

Dee Why reporter and kiting fanatic Rob props his very excellent kiting site, kitesurfing.com.au (good score on the domain name front Rob). He modestly describes the site thusly: “Sydney area kitesurfing conditions forecast, report and photos.” I recommend it for the fantastic shots he gets from putting the camera up at the kite so that it shoots back down the lines toward him. There are some poster worthy shots in that lot.

Anyone who visits the site regularly or trawls around our forums, will know the mighty Butts. He started shooting surf pictures in a serious way fairly recently, and his quality is now right up there with the other top shooters. As far as I know he hasn’t organised a web site yet, but when he does, it should be a good one. To get a feel for the quality of his work, check out this picture-laden forum post he put up earlier this week.

Okay, wandering a bit further afield, I bookmarked this site awhile ago. It’s about surfing in south Taiwan and the little QuickTime video on the front page has definite curiousity value. Looks like it could get fun there on the right day…

CAUSE: Every year, some surf spots around the world are threatened in one way or another. In the case of Broad Bench in southern England, it’s a case of the military keeping surfers out of what the Access Broad Beach Association claim to be one of the country’s best spots. The photo gallery gives you an idea of how good it can get, and then maybe you can sign their online petition!