Another shark bite

A surfer has been bitten at Bondi. According to a report on ABC online. Apparently the attack occurred at around 730 pm. The Herald site says: A SURFER was injured on the hand and carried to shore by a friend on a surfboard tonight after the second shark attack in Sydney in two days.

This from NSW Police:

Man injured in suspected shark attack – Bondi
Thursday, 12 Feb 2009 09:44pm

A man is being treated in St Vincent’s Hospital tonight for severe arm injuries after a suspected shark attack.

The 33-year-old man was surfing at the southern end of Bondi Beach about 7.30pm when he was bitten on the left arm, suffering severe injuries.

He cried for help and was assisted to shore by a number of other surfers.

Off-duty doctors, who were on the beach at the time, rendered immediate assistance.

The victim, from Dover Heights, was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital where he is reported to be in a serious condition.

He told police at the scene he did not see what had bitten him.

And the ABC site says The man had been surfing at Bondi Beach after sunset when the attack happened.

Here’s the ABC link: http://tinyurl.com/realsurf-12

Samoan Surf Report for Week 6 of 2009

WEEKLY   REPORTS  for    2009

Report No:    06-09

Period:           Monday 2^nd to Sunday 8^th February.

Monday.  High tide @ 12:23pm.  Another good day of waves at Pebbles around head high, with some bigger sets. The wind was light and variable making for mostly clean conditions with plenty of barrels on offer. The only drawback was a few other boats at the same spot meant a bit crowded at times with up to 14 in the water. Well for Samoa that’s crowded

Tuesday.  High tide @ 1:32pm.  A trip to The Island rewarded the crew with some good waves around head+1/2 high. It looked good up front and got even better as the tide came in. The wind was mostly SE which is fully offshore and after 3 hrs in the water they started heading back and the wind swung. Stopped at Wakas where with the wind turning so it was now offshore & started pumping.  More barrels and walls to whack. Lots of water time today.

Wednesday.  High tide @ 2:37pm.  The swell dropped a bit over night but with super clean conditions after lunch the crew enjoyed a good fun surf out at Resorts. Right handers up to head high with a good shape.

Thursday.  High tide @ 3:36pm.  Similar story to yesterday. Surfed good fun clean uncrowded waves out at Resorts again.

Friday.  High tide @ 4:30pm.  An arvo boat trip to Pebbles in strong offshore winds. It was very consistent around head high with bigger sets & heaps of barrels – sucky and hollow. Good long session with everyone getting heaps of waves. The wind backed off later and it got even cleaner.

Saturday.  High tides @ 5:04am & 5:22pm.   Afternoon trip to Missions on the north side. Some nice right handers and kept getting better on the upcoming tide fun waves the whole session. Only 5 guys in the water so plenty of waves to go around.

Sunday. High tides @ 5:52am and 6:12pm.  The early out front at Resorts but swell was too straight with a wobble in it so a bit average – even though conditions were glassy with next to no wind. So the arvo boat trip saw the first session at Pebbles with not much coming through the end wedge section so better waves out the back. Nice and clean around shoulder high, a few long ones linked through. Next session was at Special K which wasn’t very consistent but when the freak sets came through they were over head high and great shape. It was just a matter of being patient and hoping you were in the right spot when they come through.

Photos   

06a-09  Renzo ripping it up at The Island,  06c-09 & 06d-09 – Photographer Jeremy Wilmotte on the other side of the lens @ Wakas

Cheers ……………………..George

NPA Marine fundraiser: Blue water, White Death

The National Parks Association Marine has a fundraiser film evening coming up on Weds 25 Feb from 6pm at the Hayden Orpheum.

Eminent underwater film makers Ron and Valerie Taylor who shot the 1971 feature will be along for the evening. Tickets are only $20 and all proceeds go to support NPA’s marine conservation work.

From the NPA-Marine website announcement of the event:

Since this pioneering documentary we have learnt much about our sharks and the valuable role they play at the top of our marine food chain. We have started to realise the impact that we have had in their demise and the role that we must play in looking after, not only our sharks, but all of our marine creatures.

BSR 20090212 Padma Bali

Weird waves: The Silver Dragon

pic by A.J. Neste from Surfline.com: Rusty Long pulling into a barrel in the Qiantang river bore.

In September of 2008, Greg and Rusty Long and Mark Healey joined writer Mike Cianciulli and photographer A.J. Neste from Gerard Sports Marketing on a mission to surf the Qiantang River bore in China Apparently the bore is known to locals as The Silver Dragon and is the focus of a riverside festival.

The river water looks pretty ordinary, but the wave itself doesn’t look too bad. Here’s an excerpt from the blog post on surfline:

Greg Long and Healey zigzagged and carved through our familiar zone. But once they shot Bridge #6 together, the river bent and the wind turned offshore. Rippable sections popped up all over the place. We were forced to forge ahead, much to the dismay of the Communist Government officials, because there was no way for the guide boat to punch through the eight-foot wall of whitewater. And this was our precise excuse for forging past our boundary during the final day.

read the rest of the post on Surfline

(We’re indebted to RealSurfer Kev R. for pointing us to this extraordinary adventure blog on the big US surf site, Surfline.com. )

I did a little search on Google, and turned up some video of the boys’ adventure. And just for comparison, I also grabbed one of the famous Brazillian tidal bore, the Pororoca.

Compare this to the Pororoca in Brazil…

Arvo update: junky still

Well populated and not what you'd call clean at 1445.

Grabbed a couple snaps of Dee Why for you at around 1445. As you can see, the conditions are still pretty messy. Wind at this point is/was out of the SSE at 14-17 kts. The latest MHL data was showing the swell out of the SE at 3 metres on average and around 9 seconds apart (with some 11 sec bombs).

The beachy was bigger and considerably more consistent than the point. But the quality is/was distinctly ordinary because the wind’s pushing them over pretty quickly. Plus, the banks don’t seem to be much good either.

Shorey offering a few sections in exchange for 20 duckdives per

Swell, swell, nor any face to surf

Not very big, but at least it's catchable on the inside.

After leaving Warriewood, I stopped for a quick squizz at Collaroy. The swell is getting in there, but at high tide it was not all that impressive. Only a few people in the water and they were doing a fair amount of waiting for the occasional waist to chest high slop burger sets. It might be a bit better as the tide drops and it has the great virtue of being protected from the wind.

Dropped by Robbo’s place in Dee Why to see if we could nut out an electrical issue that was keeping me from using my notebook while out and about. Watched the point for quite awhile as a consequence of our diagnostic efforts and can tell you there were some sizable sets but certainly at high tide they were not looking too terrific. The crew out there were waiting quite awhile for a makeable option to roll through.

After sorting the electrics, I ducked down to have a look at Curly and Freshy. Nothing worth a picture at either spot. From the headland at Freshwater, it looked like there were possibly some waves at the Bower. Buncha people in the water anyway… but…

…friend Max reports that the Bower’s a waste of time right now. Crowded, junky and small. Too mobbed for what it is, to quote him.

Anyway, here’s a piccie from afar

Plenty of folk, not plenty of waves...

Hey Huey, talk to the God in charge of wind.

Solid 3 to 5 foot of SE swell, finally, but wind affected. Best are the southern corners of Bronte and Bondi. I say it’s worth taking the day off for a surf today, we’ve deserved it. Not sure how long this swell will stick around for.

Mona Vale

There’s a few rogue ones out there today, chances are you’d get slammed by a few closeout sets before you got anything though!

south-west vancouver island

on wednesday at 1 pm: long, steady, crisp, fresh lines rolling in at the spit – outstanding new swell – not quite steep enough here to gain traction, despite earnest efforts by some local brethren – expect epic conditions at our rivermouth point, a mere 30 minutes drive up the straits to the west, and further – clear and warming – marine winds at the straits mouth, easterly to 20 knots – please stay tuned ………..