Quieter, but not gone

Hello Friends,

0715: not stunning quality, but there are one or two waves about.

It’s smaller and less consistent this morning at Dee Why. Not much wind to speak of though, and there seem to be a few chest high sets still in the mix. But yesterday’s quality is, well, yesterday.

The size of the swell at sea and the direction are still pretty much what they were yesterday, ie about 2 metres from the SE. The big difference is in that all important period setting. The latest MHL combined plot is showing that average period started falling at Batemans Bay around lunchtime yesterday. It dropped from 12 sec to closer to 7 sec in the space of about 8 hours. The Sydney trace mirrored this trend (but around 6 hours later) and this morning is seeing an average period of 8 seconds in our region. The good thing where we’re concerned is that the period seems to be on the improve again. Eden’s almost back to 10 sec, Batemans Bay is at 9 and we’re on 8. Looks better up the coast, with Byron and Coffs at around 11.

So, what’s the takeaway? Well, basically, I reckon we should see waves of some sort through the day. The wind is set to be light this morning and out of the southern quarter. By this afternoon the Bureau says it’ll go around to the NE and start building toward 20-25 kts by close of play.

On another note, an email came through alerting me to a good article by Nick Carroll over on Surfing Mag’s site. Nick’s joining the call for much improved medivac services in remote Indo surf zones following the horrific experience of Daz Longbottom earlier this year. Here’s Nick’s opener:

“Imagine yourself in this situation:

You’re a skilled surfer on your first ever trip to the Mentawais when a free-fall floater goes badly wrong. Your head and your board meet at precisely the wrong angle, at the wrong moment. Twenty minutes later, you’re lying on the deck of the charter boat, strapped to the remains of the board, with a bad headache and no feeling whatsoever from the chest down.”
Click here to read the rest of Nick’s story…

BILLABONG XXL GLOBAL BIG WAVE AWARDS WEBSITE LAUNCHES FOR ’09 WINTER SEASON

Twiggy Baker at Tafelberg Reef

BillabongXXL.com Site Features Shocking Early Season Rides Around the World;
Western Australia, Tasmania, South Africa, Spain and Puerto Rico Lead the Way

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — (November 6, 2008) — Winter may still be technically a month and a half away in the Northern Hemisphere, but the ninth-annual Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards presented by Monster Energy is off to an all-time start thanks to numerous major swells all around the surfing world over the last seven months.  The brand-new BillabongXXL.com event website is brimming with both video footage and still photos of some of the biggest waves and best rides in the history of the event.

Among the most dramatic images are those from South Africa’s Cape Peninsula region.  Durban surfer Grant “Twiggy” Baker is clearly among the XXL front-runners for the 2008/09 year with a massive wave at Tafelberg Reef as photographed by Brenton Geach and Alan van Gysen in early August.  Baker is also an early favorite for the Monster Paddle Award along with James Taylor for a huge wave they shared during the Red Bull Big Wave Africa event two weeks earlier.  Another epic Ride of the Year contender from the Red Bull BWA is the successful tube by California’s Greg Long.  Long’s ride stands out as one of the biggest paddle-in tubes of all time and must be seen to be believed.

The current event window continues through the Spring Equinox on March 20, 2009, with the annual gala awards ceremony scheduled to take place in Southern California during the second week of April, 2009 and will be featured as a one-hour show on the ESPN networks.  The Billabong XXL event features over $130,000 in cash and prizes in an array of categories and is open to all qualified and invited surfers at every big wave break around the world, based on the photographic evidence.

Australia has been another hotbed of XXL production in recent months.  Western Australia’s Outer Bommie reef produced some massive walls on several days, some clean and some quite ugly, with Damien “Taco” Warr and Mark Matthews among those scoring key rides.  And Tasmania’s notorious Shipstern Bluff has outdone itself once again, with a pair of astonishing rides by emerging big wave star Ryan Hipwood (Gold Coast,Australia) among the potential nominees for Ride of the Year at this early juncture.

But there are also some superb entries from unlikely locations — such as the first ever XXL submissions from Puerto Rico.  Shot on the very first day of spring (and the first day of the annual XXL cycle) the images of Carlos Cabrero at Tres Palmas by Steve Fitzpatrick are clearly the biggest waves ever ridden in that part of the Atlantic Ocean. 

More recently, Spain has opened the Northern Hemisphere bidding, with Basque surfers (and perennial XXL notables) Ibon Amatriain and Axier Muniain both off to an early start with solid waves in just the last week.

The format for the 2008/09 Billabong XXL Awards remains consistent with last year, with the top prize in the XXL Ride of the Year category going to “the individual surfer who — based on review of available video images by a panel of experts — demonstrates the most advanced and committed level of big wave surfing performance during a single successful ride during the annual event period.”  The winner is decided by a vote of a large “academy” of experts including top surf magazine editors, photographers, videographers — and the surfers themselves.

Last year, the $50,000 Billabong XXL Ride of the Year Award was captured by Shane Dorian of Kona, Hawaii for his remarkable near-disaster backside tube ride at Teahupoo, Tahiti. 

In addition to all the latest entries in each category, full event details including formats, rules and archives of past XXL years can be seen at the event website at  www.BillabongXXL.com.

The Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards are presented by Monster Energy.  Surfline is the official surf forecast, Verizon Wireless is the official communications provider and Honda Aquatrax the official watercraft.  The event is sponsored by Surfing Magazine and Hawaiian Airlines.

2008/09 BILLABONG XXL GLOBAL BIG WAVE AWARDS
CATEGORY SUMMARY

Billabong XXL Ride of the Year Award
(Greatest big wave performance on a single wave as captured on video and voted by large judging academy)
Surfer Prize: $50,000
Second Place: $5,000
Third, Fourth and Fifth Place: $1,500
Videographer Prize: $5,000

Billabong XXL Biggest Wave Award powered by Honda
(Biggest tow-in wave ridden based on available images showing maximum face height)
Surfer Prize: $15,000
Photo/video prize: $4,000

Monster Paddle Award
(Biggest paddle-in wave ridden based on available images showing maximum face height)
Surfer Prize: $15,000
Photo/video prize: $4,000
 
Monster Tube Award
(Best big-wave tube based on votes of large judging academy)
Surfer Prize: $5,000
Photo Prize: $2,000

Surfline Men’s Best Overall Performance Award
(Best yearlong big wave performance at a variety of spots as voted by large judging academy)
Surfer Prize: $5,000 
 
Billabong Girl’s Best Overall Performance Award 
(Best yearlong big wave performance at a variety of spots as voted by large judging academy)
Surfer Prize: $5,000 

NEWCASTLE – Surf Movie – Good Herald Sun Article

Hey Everyone, Newcastle, the latest surf flick to hit the big screens, and there are precious few, is now in theatres. Here’s a link to a Herald Sun article that tells you all about it:

Newcastle looks at angst among the waves.

Shari

Didnt look too bad …

Still a few waves around in the 2-4ft range, wind a lite WNW – good condx if you can find a nicely shaped patch of sand.Rosco.

Mona Vale

Yeeeeww the surf looks pretty fun this morning, it’s already blowing southerly but still looks worth getting out there!! Sorry about the lack of photos too i should have the camera back and pumping next week!!

Small again

Wave height has dropped today to 1-2ft.The winds are light making the conditions nice and clean.Best bet for a wave today would be from Coolum to A-Bay.

Fading

Still the odd one if you can pick your way through the pea soup

Hmmm. Point is pretty much flat but judging from the crowd, there must be a few decent waves at Dee Why Centre as the place is mobbed. I saw a couple but didn’t seem to merit the crowd.  Clean conditions but looks like the waves we’ve enjoyed for the past few days are on the way out.

Anyone wanna hazard a guess as to what the hell this was off the Point at Dee Why last night??? See below

WTF?

Dee Why Center at 0700

C C

Fine and mild on the Central Coast this Friday morning.  The swell semi-smooth at 2 – 4 feet from the southeast.  There is a light southeast breeze going northeast later.  Low tide 0920 and high tide around 1645.  Local barometer 1006 hpa, 83% humidity, 17 degrees C.  Have a good weekend.

Editor’s picks: Designs on you

Next, I came across this rather cool site called phoresia.org – it’s devoted to sustainable surf products and design stuff and there was an interesting interview with a hollow wood board designer named Paul Jensen. It looks from the pictures as though he does beautiful work.

If you want to have a go at building a board from the usual materials, Stephen Pirsch’s How to build your first surfboard might be a good place to start. I liked that this was upfront: ‘At this point you might ask yourself, do I really want to do this?  Is it worth saving roughly half the cost of a showroom board?  Is it worth buying new tools?  No book or video can make building your first surfboard easy.  If you are not used to building things, it may be so difficult you regret it.  It’s dusty, sticky, sweaty, and toxic work, and the pro shops mostly do a good, cosmetically pleasing (although somewhat disposable) job.  Consider reading this in order to gain information on how to custom order a more durable surfboard from a shop.’

If you’re looking for a slightly less comprehensive explanation of the board making process then this article on shaping from a Californian company called WB Surf co might be worth a squizz…

Finally, here’s a real old school web page with lotsa links about building and repairing boards from surflibrary.org.

Have you come across a great site about board design – or some other surf-related topic? Why not use the form below to tell me about it and I’ll go have a look.

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