"Stay happy and you'll be perfectly fine" - Jack Norris

A few piccies from this morning

Hello all,

Went for a wander this morning to see if I could get a few pics before the southerly took effect.

First stop was Freshwater. There were actually a few bods in the water too. Swell was getting in there okay, but the banks were/are extremely ordinary. There were very few makeable sections on offer and the swell was looking pretty gutless as well.

The sections were very short and the surface was starting to ruffle up.
The sections were very short and the surface was starting to ruffle up.

Next visit was the south end of Curly. Nothing worth taking a picture of it has to be said. Just its usual disorganised and sloppy self, but I could see a little knot of surfpersons bobbing around up the north end, so I headed up that way for a look. Turned out there were some good size sets (shoulder head high) getting in. But as at Freshy, the relatively short period meant they didn’t have tremendous power. Quality was also so-so. Not as sloppy and messy as the south end, but some way from being all time Curly.

Size showing at the north end of the beach this morning.
Size showing at the north end of the beach this morning.

Over the hill at Dee Why it was looking glassy and the super peak was throwing up the odd tasty looking morsel for the attendants. Again, the waves at a distinctly sluggish quality, but they were clean and fun looking if you got a reasonable section. Nothing doing at the point, and didn’t really seem to be any surfers up toward Longy.

This one stood up and then shutdown a couple seconds later.
This one stood up and then shutdown a couple seconds later.

As I was getting ready to take off, I noticed a young bloke named Milan getting out of the water with one of those Alia boards. When I stopped him for a chat about the board, it turned out that he’d borrowed it off a mate. He told me that they’re really fun but that obviously you have to ride them quite differently from ordinary boards. If you’re standing on ’em, you have to keep a wide, and low stance in order to hold your line. They can be ridden bellyboard style too and apparently if you get them into the pocket and angled down just the right amount, they’ll race along in that position for as long as the wave holds. I’d love to try one.

Finding another way to enjoy ocean energy.
Finding another way to enjoy ocean energy.

From Dee Why I headed up to North Narrabeen – but not because I expected to find any waves. During the big swell of last month I’d heard that a fair amount of sand had been carved away from the dunes. As it happens I’ve not been up that way for a look in some weeks, so I was curious to see the situation. There was one person in the water when I got there, but the conditions were so ordinary that they didn’t get even one wave while I was checking out the dunes.

As you can see from the picture below, the dunes really have been cut back amazingly. If those dune faces were waves, I’d be calling the 1.5 to 2x overhead! Since winter has only just started, you have to wonder how much more sand will be carved away by springtime. It’s worth remembering that those big dunes to the north of the clubhouse are a fairly recent (as in the last 25-30 years) accumulation. Hope that their re-integration with the beach and offshore banks will be a good thing for Northy.

Lotta sand has been moved back into the break I'd say...
Lotta sand has been moved back into the break I'd say...