Hope you got in this afternoon. Shoulda been good lots of places. Your loyal correspondent blew off work for a couple hours to join roughly half the population of Dee Why on an astoundingly good low tide peak (and the point was kinda fun too). I’m giving the best sets 9/10 – hard to imagine how 8 foot of lightly offshore peeling wall that runs for 150 metres plus could really be improved on.
Quite an impressive pulse, and from the look of the other buoy data along the coast of NSW, Sydney got it first and strongest. It arrived so quickly that I am cautious about my hopes for tomorrow. Often if it ramps this quickly, it drops just as fast as soon as it peaks. It’ll be interesting to see what the next run of the MHL data shows…
I hope to be happily surprised if it is still as big tomorrow morning. The models suggest that the swell should swing more south and be in the two metre range at sea. Wind should be stronger than this afternoon, but at least it’ll be out of the W-SW.
Here’s the latest call from the Bureau:
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards: Strong Wind Warning. Monday until midnight: Wind: W/NW 18/23 knots.Sea: 1 to 2 metres. Swell: S/SW 1 to 2 metres. Tuesday: Wind: W/SW 25/33 knots.Sea: 2 to 3 metres. Swell: S about 2 metres. Wednesday: Wind: SW/NW 10/15 knots. Thursday: Wind: S/SE 10/15 knots.
Anyway, herewith a few snaps taken in the last minutes of light after I got out of the water.
Dee Why point was eminently hackable on dusk.
Mr. P. pops the top off a little one.
The point wasn't as big as the beachy, but there were quality moments to be had.
Didn’t plan for it to be that way, but Wednesday 15 April 2009 ended up being devoted to the great works of Huey.
I figured there’d be waves this morning, so I started by checking out Dee Why and Gardens. Both had waves, but I sort of had a yen to catch some more at Gardens. After filing a report, I jammed down and went for a surf for a couple hours.
When I finished, I grabbed my cameras, and set up on the beach to catch a few snaps and some video sequences. I was there until noon!
It was unbelievably consistent and good – all day. Crowd was big before 0900, backed off a little toward lunch, then picked up again for the late. I reckon that at any given point during the day, there were 150-200 people in the water from south of Mactier St to Northy. But the waves were just pouring through, so I don’t think too many went home waveless.
After lunch and some unavoidable work on the magazine, I went out again. Had a look at Dee Why (very good) and Curly (good at north end, very good from mid to south end) and then looped back to Gardens again. Below you’ll find a tiny fraction of the pictures I shot. My plan is to put everything online eventually, but this will give you a feeling for Wednesday along the northern beaches…
Doesn't get a lot better than this morning's conditions at Gardens.
Messing around in the endless shories of Gardens this morning.
Driving hard at Gardens this morning.
Who wouldn't want one of these?
Check this guy's positioning from this morning at Gardens.
Mid-morning delight at Gardens.
Bodyboarder finds himself well positioned at Dee Why point this afternoon.
Afternoon offshore making Dee Why look even better.
Kneelo throws some spray at Dee Why point.
Nothing wrong with this late arvo offering at the ol' Dee Why.
Hooking one around at South Curly.
South Curly was standing a few of 'em up.
Another nice little section at North Curly this arvo.
North Curly wasn't as good as the south end, but you could have fun this afternoon.
Perfect right number 13,212 at Gardens this afternoon.
This morning started out misty, cool and windy. I began the day with a check out run down to look at south Narrabeen. Swell at that stage was out of the east at 4 metres at about 8 seconds apart. The wind was SW though, so although the picture taking conditions were pretty ordinary, there was definitely some size going on.
I hung around the parking lot just north of Marquesas on Ocean St for about half an hour, watching a couple blokes doing tow-ins up the beach where the Gardens used to be. Overall the conditions were not particularly good, but I did grab a pic or two to share.
Wind and swell combo right, but overcast and rainy too.
Tow-in person hooks into a thumping Garden set wave Weds am.
The wait between sets was relatively long, plus the swell was not quite the optimal angle for Gardens, so after awhile I lost interest, and headed south to see what I could find.
This bloke free-fell from the top of the wave into the pit.
Dee Why point wasn’t too crowded, but at that stage it wasn’t really coming together. Again, there was plenty of size, but the swell angle had too much east in it. I got a pic or two and then made for Manly where I figured there might be some interesting conditions to contemplate.
It was pretty obvious when I came around the corner to the bridge at Queenscliff that Manly was the spot. Skies were still grey and ‘orrible, but the swell was pumping. At that stage the wind was just a breath and there were barrels like the one below everywhere from North Steyne to the flags at South Steyne.
At 1004, 5 minutes after I started taking pictures, this one came through
For the next hour or so I snapped away at the waves at North Steyne. And then I got out my camcorder to shoot a bit of video (haven’t looked at that yet…). The crowd was building rapidly as every car with surfers in it screeched into parking spots when the occupants saw what was happening. Below are few snaps from the morning’s session.
It seems to be going off. I’d go to the beach at once if I could…
Swell is coming from the SE now and is ranging from three to 5 metres at sea. The power setting is 11 to 13 seconds and there’s almost no wind as I write this. The Bureau says it’ll kick up into the 10-15 kt range from the NW-NE and be maybe 15-20 kts by nightfall.
The swell is set to gradually fade through the day as we head into a week of small to near flat conditions. There should be something around tomorrow, but from Saturday onward… hmmm…
My plan is to get out there with a camera asap, so I’m gonna run!
Go well and don’t paddle out if you have any doubts, it’s seriously heavy this morning.
Spent a couple hours in the water, wrote off a camera which sadly I can’t afford to replace. Oh well, looks like it recorded 40 wave vids before it passed on… Dee Why, like lots of other spots was firing this morning and through lunch time. Pulse only lasted about 12 hours and has really slumped.
Here are some snaps from Dee Why, and below them should be a set from North Narrabeen taken just before 3 pm.
I drove up to have a look at Northy after hearing tales of 8-sec barrels by Terry Fitzgerald. He didn’t appear to be in the water, and the swell was starting to fade, but it was extremely clean as you shall see…
Going kinda deep on one of the sets at Dee Why pt
Where would you go next?
Who turned out the lights?
Dee Why was fun this morning.
Rather nice place to be…
Things go in a not-nice direction…
Green glide, Northy style.
Yet another throaty one smokes into Northy.
Little one zippers down the inside at Northy
Around 3pm: still some nice pits to be had.
Tucking into yet another snug Northy pocket.
North Narrabeen justifiably crowded.
Swell on the decline, but well groomed at Narrabeen around 3pm.
