Wintery, In Byron Bay Today.

It’s not officially winter time yet, although it’s getting close. But it sure did feel pretty wintery, in Byron Bay today. The swell was sizeable yet coming straight out of the south. Therefore most of it just kept on motoring up the coast; the wind was cold, blustery and stubbornly sitting at that exact point on the compass, that’s not really quite right for anywhere in particular. Or at least not until about an hour before evening when it finally swung into a more favourable direction. The rain just kept on coming in heavy intermittent squalls, and so yes wintery was most definitely a word that often sprang to mind for many in the bay today. That’s not say it didn’t have moments, it did. At times it was joyously sunny with stunning scenery and even a few uncrowded waves. But for the most part it was kind of wet and cold with a few more backpackers in the water than most crew would prefer for this time of year, In Byron Bay Today.

It’s big, real big and pretty clean too

Out shooting at Longy

Decided to take the netbook with me today, so I’m filing this from high atop the headland at Long Reef. I’ve been here for about an hour shooting the people towing and paddling into the still substantial bomb sets.

According to the MHL data, the swell is still south at around three metres with a meaty 14 second power setting.

Earlier today I spent a few hours down at Dee Why shootoing the crazy people trying to catch surfable ones just north of the point. The biggest ones had wave faces in the 12-15 foot range. Not sure how great the pictures will be, but I’ll post a gallery probably in the next day or so.

Swell definitely has dropped back a few notches, but it’s still rolling in at a reasonable size. It’s kinda hard to tell from here but it looks as though the point is still offering wave faces into the 8 foot range. And while I was tapping this out, I stopped to grab a snap of the tow crew getting a very steep one…

Well whadya know, no sooner do I write those words and the tow guys call it a day. And it looks as though the last of the paddle in surfers has headed in too. But Huey’s still slinging in some big sets.

In case you’re wondering, Butterbox isn’t really doing it. When I first got here there were a couple chaps chasing waves there, but it was a lot of work for a fattish sort of pay off and they eventually gave it away.

As the swell drops back a few more spots should come into play. In the meantime, if you’re keen and don’t mind a bit of wind bump, you could have the bombies all to yourself.

Shire Rpt

Doesn’t look as huge as the pics of DY Pt, but still solid overhead sets along the beach plus significant signs of whitewater at the Point, the Island and Voodoo. Nada at Shoes, but

Dee Why: BIG–don’t let the lulls between sets fool you…

If you didn’t have to contend with the sets about every 5 minutes, Dee Why would be looking all-time. Clean, 15-16 sec interval S swell and 3-6m at sea.  Between sets, it looks awesome. Then, about every five minutes, a set crawls across the horizon. The Horror, The Horror.  Some of the biggest waves I’ve seen at Dee Why Point in 15 years or so.  Even closing out across the channel now and again.  It’s clean and it’s rideable, but you don’t want to be caught inside on the sets…

Beautiful lines

Dawn shows some solid lines at Manly.  4-6ft sets that are closing out and showing a bit of grunt.  Smaller at the south end. Awesome swell but a bit straight for Manly right now.  Points, reefs and headlands might be the go.

The crew are gathering in the middle and at at the south to find a shoulder.  Gotta keep your eyes on the bombie though as there are still big sets when you wait and enough to scare the pants of the backpackers out at the south end.

Somewhere will be firing and BIG.

- Surfboards Direct

The Plan, In Byron Bay Today.

Sometimes you just got to go with a new plan and hope it comes together, in Byron Bay today. I recently made the decision to step up to the plate and design our own boards. So we had a chat with the crew out at North Coast Surfboards and hatched a plan. I design the shapes, then Hutcho shapes it and brings the concept to life. Yoko designs how they look, and Evan and Simon put their magic touch into the glass to make sure they look right. KyuP the budgie puts her name to it and hey presto a new model is born. Today we were blessed with some stunning waves to test ride them. So were they any good? Well we’ve both been smiling like a pair of raving lunatics all day which is a good sign, it could be the full moon. But no, the boards are just too much fun. So this update is dedicated to North Coast Surfboards, To Tony for saying yes, Hutcho for his amazing craftsmanship with a planer and willingness to listen. To Simon for his extraordinary glassing ability and last but not least, Evan for his almost obsessive quality control, thanks guys. Love it when a plan comes to life, In Byron Bay Today.

Backing off a little

Shire Rpt

Tasty and tempting, but the banks aren’t looking all that spectacular. Headhigh, clean, offshore

Icy offshores Surf Continues

Surf season continues with more shoulder high waves but with a very icy offshore wind.  The morning high tide is still not helping our Manly surfers so if you know of a good high tide bank from the last few days then head back there.  Otherwise if you have the day off then you are lucky but the wind is forecast to swing to the SE today so it may not be perfect all day (as we are now used to).

www.surfboardsdirect.com.au