Ask Carroll

[Davros]

Hi Nick, i just caught a show from 2007 about the Goldie and the differences to Byron, you were featured talking various things such as the insanity of the super bank crowds, Rasta featured heavily as the "free surfer" type and it pretty much painted Byron as a tripped out surfing utopia with no crowds and ego, well thats a pile of crap of course but it made me think has there really been any major changes in crowds, behaviour and the view of surfing in Australia in that 7 year period, probably not much apart from fatter boards. Thoughts.

The other thing is beards have got to go on young fellas it ridiculous, I reckon punked up Rockabilly is due a return.

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[OddaP]

The famed 28 day east swell was in 1975. 1 year after 1974 which was before the 2011- 2013 La Niña the last big La Niña event. 2014 is 1 year after 2013. Logically are we going to get a 28 day east swell this March??

[petulance]

How about Ulus before it was discovered by Albe Falzon and crew? Though I won't fancy going down the cliff on a bamboo ladder.

Puuuuuhhhlease.
How sugar coated do you want the past?
Sorry Albi?
You expect me to climb down that?

YOLO?

Don't worry pet you can still deal with a mountain of white water blasting right through the cave at high tide.

Oh, I have done the walk of shame up the stairs before ... got all the way down to the cave and didn't like the amount of water sloshing about in the cave so I walked back up the stairs to sit at the warungs.

[Nick Carroll]

Hi Nick, i just caught a show from 2007 about the Goldie and the differences to Byron, you were featured talking various things such as the insanity of the super bank crowds, Rasta featured heavily as the "free surfer" type and it pretty much painted Byron as a tripped out surfing utopia with no crowds and ego, well thats a pile of crap of course but it made me think has there really been any major changes in crowds, behaviour and the view of surfing in Australia in that 7 year period, probably not much apart from fatter boards. Thoughts.

The other thing is beards have got to go on young fellas it ridiculous, I reckon punked up Rockabilly is due a return.

Not much has changed in seven years.

Maybe people are relying more on surf forecasts?

Way more old slightly fat guys on SUPs?

That movie was "Under The Sun" by the American surfer/filmmaker Cyrus Sutton and its picture of Byron is very much one seen through US (specifically Nth County San Diego) eyes. So Calians have been imagining Byron as the paradise they had but lost for a very long time; our picture of it is a bit different I suspect.

[Nick Carroll]

The famed 28 day east swell was in 1975. 1 year after 1974 which was before the 2011- 2013 La Niña the last big La Niña event. 2014 is 1 year after 2013. Logically are we going to get a 28 day east swell this March??

Sadly I feel your logic does not hold. Weather patterns simply do not follow such precise repetitions. In any case, the most recent La Nina was pretty pissweak compared with 2007. I do feel there will be some epic days on the Goldie this coming autumn but 28 days of solid easterly swell is not predictable by any means known to me that's for sure.

[Beanpole]

Yeah started college in Newcastle the year that happened. Boy was that frustrating. Although rocking back up to see half of the surfing population with smack habits was more challenging.

I guess the return of alternative, i.e. goes good in small peeler, type craft has allowed the Byron Area and Noosa for that matter to reclaim some of its cred. But the Gold Coast has always had its hip side to. I mean its only a 10 minute drive up into the hinterland.

[OddaP]

The famed 28 day east swell was in 1975. 1 year after 1974 which was before the 2011- 2013 La Niña the last big La Niña event. 2014 is 1 year after 2013. Logically are we going to get a 28 day east swell this March??

Sadly I feel your logic does not hold. Weather patterns simply do not follow such precise repetitions. In any case, the most recent La Nina was pretty pissweak compared with 2007. I do feel there will be some epic days on the Goldie this coming autumn but 28 days of solid easterly swell is not predictable by any means known to me that's for sure.

I assert that my logic is faultless. Read it here people, I called the great 28 day swell of 2014 first.

If it doesn't happen it's because the weather is unpredictable.

[DucksNuts]

NC,

What causes 'Morning Sickness' of surf?

[Nick Carroll]

Basically, lack of wind.

You'll often see morning sickness in tropical climes where surf relies on tradewinds to develop through the day to provide shape and clarity to reefbreaks. Stillness in the early predawn hours means that swell reverberations off the reef become the dominant influence on surface conditions, creating awkward bumps which are later blown flat by the trades.

In eastern Oz you'll get morning sickness in summer when the land cools enough overnight to kill the sea breeze but not enough to generate a land breeze. The seabreeze surface bump remains despite apparently glassy conditions.

[old fella]

Nick
i have been going to anga for 30 years. Baddy Treolar is, of course, the king there. Last time I was out, he was sitting about half way down the point. I paddled to the top of the point, 40 metres from him. I could not have taken any wave that he went for. Still, he yelled. What is the etiquette when the king of the point sits way too far down the line?

[Nick Carroll]

well I'd just let him have any wave he wanted. It's pretty silly getting in disputes with people who've lived and surfed at a spot for as long as Baddy has. I imagine he knew exactly what he was doing. Angourie's a sectiony wave up the top, there's no issue sitting up or down the point but a lot of time the better waves hit a bit further down, you tend to get more energy through the nice middle bowly bit on waves that come wide, this is probably what Baddy was waiting for.

[Beanpole]

I'm sure he would drop in on me. I reckon he would tell me to f'ck off out of the water and don't take up any of his car spaces ever again.

Actually had a similar episode up at saltwater many years ago. Little, ordinary, one old toothless, bearded terror out about halfway. Went for a paddle past him and up the point a fair way and he started going on about these city blow ins and so forth. Lucky it wasn't any good.

Actually just realised I make a habit of doing that.
Baddy can have any wave he wants though. No worries.
He'll I'm not even going to angourie.

[old fella]

thanks all re your observations . I was trying to make the point that when somebody like Baddy sits in the best spot for a takeoff (which, for example, can be middle section Angourie) I do not think it is a breach of etiquette to go a bit further up the point (where the wave quality is less optimal) as a sign of respect. Its not about snaking at all. Its about spreading out. having said all of that, I find the Angourie locals (including Baddy) to be reasonable in their approach to annual blow-ins like me.

[bobjs]

Do you consider long term surfers lean towards certain personality types, e.g. a Myers-Briggs type indicator?

I ask because I wonder if personality type has any influence on why some surfers let it go moving into adulthood, while others continue surfing for life with a passion.

ps enjoyed the book and it gave me an insight into the reality of addiction. Thanks,

[Nick Carroll]

Do you consider long term surfers lean towards certain personality types, e.g. a Myers-Briggs type indicator?

I ask because I wonder if personality type has any influence on why some surfers let it go moving into adulthood, while others continue surfing for life with a passion.

ps enjoyed the book and it gave me an insight into the reality of addiction. Thanks,

Glad you enjoyed the book.

I'm a bit dubious of the Myers-Briggs thing, humans are a bit more complex than that and there's often a lot going on under the initial layers of "personality" that the person may not be in full contact with, but may still be moved around by in some ways.

For sure some surfers are more able to let surfing go than others, but there's so much going on there – the circumstances in which they started surfing, the friends they made or didn't etc

I imagine there are quite a few surfers who've given it up out of concern that they were becoming obsessed and didn't want surfing ruling their lives. Others might give it up because they'd had a really bad experience in the surf.

Others who keep surfing into their Golden Years might do so because they're at peace with it, or because they aren't – they may feel they have unfinished business in surfing, that they never got what they wanted out of it. I know a few guys like that.

Many long term surfers these days started surfing very young, before their personality "types" were fully formed -- their experiences in during may have done more to form their personalities than vice versa.

Anyway, complex.

[Nick Carroll]

^^^all that said btw, I can spot a long term surfer, a real lifer, in an instant in a crowd. So it's leaving some indelible mark - or selecting a particular type of human. I don't know which.

[Beanpole]

Helps if your a complete pr*ck of course
I've had a bit of a realization about something that has kind of worried me to some extent for a while that I decided now has a simple motivation. That is when I look over a balcony or something high I get this overwhelming urge to either jump off or pull away. I kind of thought it was maybe some psychological thing but lately I've realized its my flight or fight mechanism kicking in from catching waves. Always start imagining its a wave at the same time.
The only other times I get a similar sensation is if I see a female driver coming at me at a roundabout fast or if the unlikely happens and I see a skinhead.