Capitola

Posted on October 23rd, 2009 in California, Half Moon Bay, Surf Sessions. After checking out the Hook, which was packed and going decidedly overhead on the bigger set waves

and 38th Ave, which was more manageably-sized but also crowded (of course)

Luke and I met up at Capitola jetty where I borrowed his wife's surfboard again. (Speakers on; this video has an accidental soundtrack by an unknown singer/guitarist.)

Beth's board is a narrow, pointy-nosed, odd sort of longboard. It paddles like a longboard, but carves like a shorter board. And I was carving with it! It was perfect for the somewhat mushy shoulder-high waves at Capitola. I could've made a go with the fish had I brought it instead of my shortboard, but given the crowd due to the swell-hype, the purple board got me a lot more waves. And they were some of my best rides ever. I took several great long fast rights and, for the grand finale, made the drop and worked a left nearly to the beach where Luke was standing in the shallows. He said, "Now that's the way to end a session!" Stoke 10!

I must confess, however, that now I have been infected with board envy; I am in love with my buddy's wife's surfboard. Anyone know where I can find a similar Petty? It's of obscure Oregon origins. In any case, I think it's time to get myself a higher-performance longboard. This one is just so much more fun than my Cobalt.

Cronulla report by Aquasea Wetsuit Repairs

Posted on October 23rd, 2009 in Surf Reports.

FLAT but excellent swimming conditions, small waves, some fun onlys. 
WIND: NNW at 11kph. WATER TEMP: 18 degrees.
FORECAST: Chance of an afternoon shower or thunderstorm. Partly cloudy. Light to moderate north to northeast winds ahead of a fresh southerly
change in the evening.
MAX AIR TEMP TODAY: 27-33 degrees.
SWELL: SSE 1-2m at 8 seconds.
TIDES:     HIGH: 12:15      LOW: 05:30
WINDSURFERS: Good conditions today.
BOAT DIVING: Good sea conditions outside, vis around 10m+ on the TUGGERAH and Kelloe, 10m  at Barons Hut, thanks to www.seatamerdive.com Sydney Scuba Diving Boat Charter and Ian Griffiths “Griffiti”.
SHORE DIVING: 6 metres vis at Oak Park. 5+ metres at Shiprock.
WETSUIT REPAIRS at Aquasea, Sydney NSW. 02.95404774 for wetty and wettie repairs contact Lesley at AQUASEA 02.95404774 for a quick turn around, zippers tears cuts and all alterations to neoprene.
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Dee Why: No reason for optimism–for today at least…

Posted on October 23rd, 2009 in Dee Why.

Narrabeen Rpt

Posted on October 23rd, 2009 in Surf Reports.

I’d call it flat. A few dedicated bods are out there trying to prove me wrong

C C Small

Posted on October 23rd, 2009 in Coffs Harbour, Surf Reports.

Fine, dry and mild on the Central Coast this Friday morning.  The swell is smooth and small at 1 – 2  feet from the southeast.  There is no breeze at the moment going northeast then southerly change  later.  Low tide 0535 and high tide around 1210.  Local barometer 1014 hpa, 14 degrees C. 92% humidity.   Have a good weekend.

Upsets Abound On Opening Day of Rip Curl Pro Search Competition

Posted on October 23rd, 2009 in Contests, News Stories, Surf News, Top stories.

MOLHE LESTE, Peniche/Portugal (Thursday, October 22, 2009) – The Rip Curl Pro Search got underway today in clean two-to-three foot (1 metre) wedging righthanders at Molhe Leste, where the world’s best surfers carved, snapped and aired their way through the opening eight heats of Round 1.

Event No. 9 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Rip Curl Pro Search operated at its third backup site today – the primary venue of Supertubes being destroyed by large surf and surging tides two nights ago and the backup sites of Lagido and Belgas buffeted by onshore winds today. Opting to run the new competition format, featuring man-on-man elimination heats from the outset, today’s Round 1 action saw no shortage of upsets, with five of the eight higher-seeded surfers eliminated from competition.

Marlon Lipke (DEU), 25, 2009 ASP World Tour rookie and current ASP World No. 44, scored a major victory today, defeating fellow rookie Michel Bourez (PYF), 23, utilizing an aggressive backhand approach to post the day’s highest heat total of a 14.66 out of a possible 20, and advance through to Round 2.

“I saw Michel (Bourez) free-surfing this morning and he surfed amazing,” Lipke said. “I thought to myself, ‘I just have to get the better waves’. Lucky, I did manage to get them. It feels so good, I forgot how good it feels to get through a heat as I haven’t got through one all year!”

Lipke, who was born in Germany but raised in Portugal, enjoyed throngs of local support today after the elimination of Tiago Pires (PRT), 29, in the third heat of the morning.

“My parents are German, I was born in Lisbon and a lot of my friends are Portuguese, they are all here supporting me,” Lipke said. “The local crowd is so supportive so it is great to get through here at home.”

Owen Wright (AUS), 19, wildcard into the Rip Curl Pro Search and current No. 3 on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), is no stranger to the elite level of competition, having attended the past two years’ worth of Rip Curl Pro Search events. One of the up-and-coming stars of the sport, Wright displayed his world-class talent today in eliminating former ASP World Junior Champion (2005) and current ASP World No. 17, Kekoa Bacalso (HAW), 24, in Round 1 of competition.

“I have been to the Rip Curl Search event in Chile and Bali and that was great,” Wright said. “The Search concept allows the guys to go somewhere different every time and they are the best surfers in the world so they can deal with anything. I am really stoked to be put alongside of these guys and be able to compete here in Portugal.”

Undefeated on the 2009 ASP Australasia Pro Junior Series, Wright has carried his preternatural momentum onto the grueling ASP WQS this season where he has already secured a spot on next year’s prestigious ASP World Tour.

“The game plan at the start of the year was to dabble in the ASP WQS but after the first contests, things started to change and take off,” Wright said. “I am pretty stoked to have made it to the Dream Tour, it is every competitive surfer’s dream.”

Joining Lipke and Wright in today’s upsets were Jihad Khodr (BRA), 25, Nathaniel Curran (USA), 25, and Patrick Gudauskas (USA), 23.

Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 8am for a possible 8:30am start.

When competition resumes, up first will be Dean Morrison (AUS), 28, up against Justin Mujica (PRT), 32, in Heat 9 of Round 1.

Surfline, official forecasters for the 2009 Rip Curl Pro Search, are calling the current Northwest swell to maintain throughout the next couple of days before a WNW swell fills in for the weekend.

Highlights from today’s Rip Curl Pro Search will be available via http://live.ripcurl.com

Rip Curl Pro Search online media center is available at   http://www.box.net/shared/o3avphdb6z

The Rip Curl Pro Search is partnered regionally by RTP, Eurosport, Fuel TV and ESPN Brazil, who will all be broadcasting live from Peniche throughout the event. For more information on these live television broadcasts, please visit www.live.ripcurl.com.

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Jihad Khodr (BRA) 13.10 def. Tim Boal (FRA) 10.84

Heat 2: Heitor Alves (BRA) 8.50 def. David Weare (ZAF) 4.10

Heat 3: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 11.00 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 9.67

Heat 4: Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.33 def. Phillip MacDonald (AUS) 11.67

Heat 5: Marlon Lipke (DEU) 14.66 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 10.77

Heat 6: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 11.84 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 10.17

Heat 7: Owen Wright (AUS) 12.03 def. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 8.76

Heat 8: Kai Otton (AUS) 9.90 def. David Luis (PRT) 5.90

REMAINING RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Justin Mujica (PRT)

Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Bruno Santos (BRA)

Heat 11: Chris Ward (USA) vs. Michael Picon (FRA)

Heat 12: Roy Powers (HAW) vs. Dayyan Neve (AUS)

Heat 13: Tim Reyes (USA) vs. Jay Thompson (AUS)

Heat 14: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Nic Muscroft (AUS)

Heat 15: Greg Emslie (ZAF) vs. Aritz Aranburu (EUK)

Heat 16: Dustin Barca (HAW) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 2: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. TBA

Heat 3: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 6: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 7: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 9: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 10: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 11: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 12: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. TBA

Heat 13: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. TBA

Heat 14: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. TBA

Heat 15: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. TBA

Heat 16: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. TBA

Early riser call for Friday

Posted on October 23rd, 2009 in At large.

Taking advantage of the fact that my time zone has me awake long before Sydneysiders, herewith a quick dump of the latest marine and weather data for this morning… From the look of things, you’d have to say: ‘marginal to micro again’

Tides: H @1112 L @1804
Winds early: north 5 kts
MHL swell: S 1 metre 8 sec (with 13 sec component)
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Friday until midnight: Wind: N/NE 5/10 knots, reaching 13/18 knots during the afternoon, before a S’ly change 18/23 knots during the evening.Sea: about 1 metre, rising to 1 to 1.5 metres during the afternoon/evening, reaching 2 to 2.5 metres during the evening. Swell: S/SE less than 1 metre. Isolated afternoon thunderstorms.
Saturday: Wind: S/SW 18/23 knots, gradually easing to 5/10 knots during the morning. Tending E/SE 10/15 knots in the afternoon, N/NE 10/15 knots in the evening.Sea: 1 to 2 metres.Swell: S/SE to about 1 metre. Isolated thunderstorms.
Sunday: Wind: SE 10/20 knots, strengthening to 20/30 knots.
Synoptic Situation
A high pressure system lies over the Tasman Sea while a low pressure trough is deepening over NSW. A gusty southerly change is expected to move into the South Coast late this morning, then progress northwards to the Sydney and Hunter coasts this evening, then the Mid North Coast overnight. Wind will ease during Saturday ahead of another stronger change which will affect the southern half of the coast during Sunday, and the north on Monday, bringing strong south to southeasterly winds.
Forecast for Friday
A fine morning. Chance of an afternoon shower or thunderstorm. Partly
cloudy. Light to moderate north to northeast winds ahead of a fresh
southerly change in the evening.

Precis: Chance afternoon shower/thunderstorm.

City: Max: 28 Parramatta: Max: 31
Terrey Hills: Max: 27 Penrith: Max: 33
Liverpool Max: 31 Richmond: Max: 31

UV Alert: 9:10 am to 4:10 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 9 [Very
High]

Dog dangling kinda day, In Byron Bay Today

Posted on October 23rd, 2009 in Byron, Local Colour.

It was a dog dangling kinda day, In Byron Bay Today. Huey giveth, and the Huey taketh away. Just when we were all getting a little bit excited about a smidgen of wind swell in Byron Bay, Huey decided hit the off switch again. So once again Byronians were confronted with dog dangling kind of day. It was down the beach for a quick swim, maybe a few little slides on a fish, then off for coffee to compare notes on the swell charts and weather forecasts. Of course the forecasts mean so little at this time of year. Spring on the east coast of Australia can dish up just about anything, and often does. But of course that also means spring can turn on long flat spells when surfers become a little wave starved and strange. We take to dangling dogs, making outrageous swell predictions and dreaming up multimillion dollar ideas in the local car park. And so was the way of things today. Dogs refused to let go of socks until they were lifted off the ground. Extraordinarily optimistic swell predictions were being bandied about the car parks. While world changing ideas began to emerge as undiscovered geniuses dreamed of angel investors throwing millions of dollars at them to go surfing, In Byron Bay Today.