A southerly arrived early and laid waste to most surf options on Monday, but the east swell still had some legs and there were waves to be had at the Bower and Collaroy. So, I grabbed the camera and spent some time shooting folks having fun. Links below to the complete galleries. As usual, all pics are available for purchase.

Fairy Bower 0800-0845

Collaroy 0900-0945

Here’s a selection of pics from a group of 70 or so I shot a little after noon from atop the stormwater pipe at Collaroy on a rainy Sunday.

[slideshow id=26]

See all the rest of the Collaroy session pics here.

Hi all,

Out on an errand… had the camera with and was curious to see if the wind change from ESE to more SE was making Collaroy look any more interesting. I’d say it’d definitely cleaned up compared to lunchtime. The main break was still pretty soft and flabby, but down toward the stormwater pipe and north of there, I saw a few amusing looking shutdowns. Actually some were a bit more makeable than that…

Anyway, herewith a few more snaps…

Collaroy not being too soft on its victim.

Charging a snappy one just north of the stormwater pipe.

Right unreels toward the stormwater pipe at Collaroy

If you’d like to see a few more of my pics from today, here’s a link to the midday report.

Some of 'em actually looked okay, despite the wind...

Hello Friends,

(Buncha extra pics in this post)

Not many choices around this afternoon. 20-25kts of SSE wind is doing over the 8sec, 3 metre ese swell. I spent a couple hours waiting for picture opportunities at the Bower this morning. Long wait between the good ones, and at that stage the wind was tearing up any potential that deadmans might’ve had. I came away with a few snaps for you (see below). The wind’s a touch more south now, so maybe there’ll be a few more options for the keen later. Don’t try it unless you’re reasonably experienced though. Some of the wave faces on the sets come close to the three metre mark.

On the way home, I swung into Collaroy for a squizz, but it was exceedingly ordinary. Lot of folks in the water but at around midday the sets were just mushing over out the back, reforming and then periodically sort of making a little section on the inside. Cool thing happened though. I saw the evergreen Tom Kirsop go for one of the bigger sets and I was able to get a shot of him. Tom basically founded Surfrider on the Northern Beaches and has been a tireless environmentalist for decades. Speaking of which, he’s already racked up seven decades so far. Onya Tom!!

If you knew you'd still be surfin' at Tom's age, you'd be ecstatic.

Okay, a few more piccies from today…

Nice green face standing up...

bomb set this morning at the Bower

Sliding at the Bower

Setting one up at the surge

hooking it around

made it...

Bomb set wave

one whack coming up

Lunchtime left at Collaroy

Don't be fooled, the rights are a hoax!

Hello Friends,

Just back from a bit of picture snapping and I can tell you that there’s not much of anything looking surfable from Northy to Dee Why thanks to 20-30 kts of SE wind.  Swell has ramped up and is currently out of the E by ESE at close to 4 metres at around 9 seconds apart.  Seas on top of the swell are pushing 7 metres, so not the day to take the tinny for a spin.

The Bureau has raised a strong wind warning this morning – and tomorrow they reckon it’ll be blowing harder again (25-35 kts) but they’re expecting the direction to work around to the SW and by Weds we should have 10-20 kts of SW wind. Hmmm…

Have to run some errands now, so I’ll be back again later with a few more pics (I hope). Go well!

Momentarily plausible section forms up briefly.

Couple hundred metres up the beach from the stormwater pipe at Collaroy.

Hello Friends,

Got out and about between about 1600-1700 to see if I could grab a few snaps for the Saturday evening visitors. Conditions, as you can see, are still pretty ghastly. But that hasn’t put folks off. About the most intense looking wave I saw was the one above. It was grinding into a shallow bank up the beach from Collaroy SLSC. About four bodyboarders on it too.

Gee, you needed to be keen late this afternoon.

Around the corner at Long Reef there was really nothing worth taking a snap of. Surprisingly small (guess it’s the east direction) and windblown junk making for an unsummery scene sadly.

1630: Dee Why looking just sort of rideable. Long waits, rain, wind, etc.

Dee Why was only slightly better. You could at least surf there and a few bods were having a crack at the point as a small flotilla of traditional surf rescue raced out and back from the beach. The intermittent showers and wind have churned the ocean into a soupy mess. Blergh.

Realistic rescue conditions for these vintage boat enthusiasts.

Saturday until midnight: Wind: E/SE 15/20 knots reaching 20/25 knots at times. Sea: 1.5 to 2.5 metres. Swell: E/SE 2 to 2.5 metres.
Sunday: Wind: E/SE 15/25 knots increasing to 20/30 knots later.Sea: 1.5 to 2.5 metres rising to 2 to 3 metres later. Swell: E/NE 2 to 2.5 metres.
Monday: Wind: SE 25/33 knots.
Tuesday: Wind: E/SE 25/33 knots.
Oh, and there’ll be rain periods through the next three days…

Am I full of it? Was it in fact really fun? Why not use the comments field below to tell your valentine’s day surf story…

Hello Friends,

I’d stay in bed if you’re up early!

20 knots of ESE wind making a complete hash of the ocean for us this morning in Sydney. I very much doubt that there is anywhere out of the wind that also has waves.

Swell at sea is around the 2.5 metre mark. It’s coming from the ESE at about 8 seconds apart. Were it not for the wind, that would be a reasonable set of numbers for lots of places along our fair city’s shores.

The Bureau’s latest marine forecast is not encouraging in the slightest:

Wind: E/SE 15/20 knots reaching 20/25 knots at times. Sea: 1.5 to 2 metres. Swell: SE 1. 5 to 2 metres increasing to E 2 to 2.5 metres.
Sunday: Wind: E/SE 20/30 knots.Sea: 2 to 3 metres. Swell: E/NE 2 to 3 metres.
Monday: Wind: SE 25/35 knots.

Gee, isn’t that nice? Strong SE today, getting stronger tomorrow, and stronger again on Monday.

The models are currently showing the SE’ly windswell pushing up from the present size to upwards of 4 metres by Monday arvo. It’s then likely to gradually decrease as the winds back off very slightly through Tuesday. If the computers have it right, we could see the wind swing back to the south for Wednesday as it heads toward the SW for Thursday.

We’ll be watching Huey’s every move in the meantime, so stay in touch, oh, and go well with your day!

Catch my tweets at twitter.com/mr_realsurf, and keep tabs on updates to realsurf at twitter.com/realsurf