Just about flat everywhere

Grey morning for Duke’s Day

The Duke’s Day and Surfrider Beach clean-up at Freshy Sat 15/1/2011

The organisers of the Duke’s Day say it will be a combination sustainability expo and fun events celebration and fundraiser for the Freshy SLSC. Surfrider Foundation will be on hand to conduct a beach clean up from about 0800 to 1000, so if you’re out and about on the day, say hi.

PICS: Queenscliff, Freshy, South Curly Friday arvo.

When the lighting is as good as it was this afternoon, a photographer finds it very hard to resist getting out and about with a camera. Yours truly went first to Manly on the off chance the touch of east in the swell was letting it get into the north end of the famous stretch. And sure enough, there were clean little offshore sets for the moderate size crew at the Queenscliff end. I shot for about half an hour, so if you happen to have been in the water there between about 1:30 and 2:00 pm, check back on Saturday for the gallery of shots I came back with.

Queenscliff 11 June 2010 (pm) – Images by Don Norris

Next stop on my afternoon shooting expedition was Freshy. As usual the numbers weren’t on the same scale as Manly, but there was a healthy crew enjoying the unnaturally warm water and sunny offshore afternoon. Sets were a touch bigger too. Quality was similar to Manly as well. I shot from about 2:25 to 2:45 pm before deciding to head around the corner to see what was happening at Curly.

Freshwater 11 June 2010 (pm) – Images by Don Norris

There was a sizable crew on the chest to head high plus offshore waves at south Curly. Looked like people were having fun, despite the somewhat variable quality of the peaks. It looks as though there’s some deep water between the outside peaks and the beach because many waves started out looking good before they kind of fatted out on the inside.  I set up just to the north of the main peak and took pictures from about 3:00 to 3:30 pm.

South Curl Curl 11 June 2010 (pm) – Images by Don Norris

At larger

Hello Friends,

Had to drop my old tractor, er, car, in at mechanic’s for rego, so found myself fetched up in lovely Brookvale. Happily mate PB was free to give me a ride home, so we took the long way and checked the beach.

There were a few bods in the water up toward the Queenscliff end of Manly. Seemed to be a bit of a wait for waves, but every now and then a little mal-able option rolled gently in from the sparkling horizon.

Over at Freshy there were similar numbers in the water and the waves were about the same size if not a touch bigger on the sets. The only problem is that there are just no banks there at the moment, so every single one of them was shutting down, including the set wave in the picture below…

Last spot we checked out was Curly. It was around the same size as Manly and showing the same weakness. Looked like you could maybe get a fish up to speed for a few moments as the wave stood up, but that’s about it. Again, water looked inviting and the wind wasn’t into it. There are worse ways to kick off a week…

Finally, I just had a call from Brian up in Ooffs who reports that at long last they have a little something to play on. Wave faces are into the three foot range on what looks to him to be a mainly east swell.

Running around the beaches

Hello again Friends,

Wandered around the landscape on your behalf this morning and gathered a few snaps to share…

Started at Manly where the crowds were surprisingly modest for a sunny Saturday morning. Guess that cold wind is keeping a fair number of us out of the water for the early. Sets were into the chest high range, but waits were pretty long. Clean and amusing looking though.

Around to Freshwater next, and there the crowds were equally uncrowdy early. Swell was more consistent, but the shutdown factor was very high when I watched it a couple hours after high tide.

Curly was quite well attended with people scattered from one end to the other of the beach. Sets were into the overhead range and the folks were doing a lot of peak and section chasing. Looks like a good workout and there were a few juicy specimens on offer. Probably the biggest waves I saw.

Over the hill at Dee Why things seem to be about the same as when I reported earlier, ie, inconsistent and smaller at the point, then shoulder to head high up the beach from just north of the clubhouse to the Lugga entrance. Crowds were crowdy too.

If you can’t find yourself a wave somewhere, you aren’t trying very hard!

Little peak didn't go unanswered this morning.

SUPster slides into section at Manly this am.

Gentleman glides stylishly into one.

Morning at Freshy

Curly stands one up

Moment of weirdness captured at mid-Curly this am.

Bodyboarder skims swiftly across a Dee Why wall.

Custom wave for just this rider.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

A few piccies from this morning

Hello Friends,

Here are a few snaps from my run-around this morning:

Getting the day started in a good way

Few bodyboarders poaching little ones at Fairy Bower on hightide.

One stands up on the inside at Queensy earlier today.

Bit fat and full to start at Manly this morning.

Catching some size with nothing more than a pair of flippers.

No one out for some strange reason.

Ah, the old Dee Why point...

Lotsa shutdowns - as usual - but the odd rather nice one too.

Waiting for the tow-ins to arrive at low tide?

Pic round up from this morning

Hi all,

Ran out and grabbed a few more piccies for ya (am I barking mad, or what??) . Here’s the executive summary for around 0900

Manly: south end best, knee to waist, with occ. chest high 5/10
Freshy: waist to chest, rare bigger one, 5/10
So. Curly: chest to head high and some bigger, south end only, bit dodgy, but fun sections 6/10
Dee Why: see earlier report! 7-8/10
Sth Narra: tide affected, waist to chest high, odd bigger one 6/10

Really needed a longboard up the Queenscliff end of the beach around 0900.

Making the most of a cruisy little wave at the beach formerly known as Harbord.

Not far from the Harbord Hilton around 0900.

The odd fun section on offer around 0900.

Throwing an impressive amount of spray considering how small this south Narra wave was.

Long, long wait for sets like this at around 0930

Not huge or anything but the odd catchable one around 0900.

Few pics from this morning, pt. 1

Hope you all got in, or are just about to!

Herewith a few shots from this morning.

Manly was very well attended from first light. But as with the last few days, there were heaps of peaks up and down the beach. Tide making it a bit fat on the outside early, but the wind was offshore and you could definitely pick ‘em up. I left long before the NW wind picked up, so not sure what happened when the tide dropped…

More of Dee Why shortly.

Not always makeable on the big ones, but the drop alone would be worth it!

Well attended the entire length of Manly beach by 0700, but not without reason.

Bigger outside but the juice at high tide was inside at Queensy (around 0700)

Bigger in the middle of the beach than this but closing out more too at around 0730.