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Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2020 8:13 pm
by buddy
Very good cast, channels, those grooterfish are biting.

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2020 8:45 pm
by Skipper
coffee wars have raged fierce on Rs long before even the notion of cultural ones were fermented buddy, and as i see, long before your own paddle out into the lineup.

could be the lure to bring shep back with his 43 beans worth.

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2020 8:59 pm
by Trev
No Pants Lance wrote:
Thu Jan 23, 2020 8:45 pm
coffee wars have raged fierce on Rs long before even the notion of cultural ones were fermented buddy, and as i see, long before your own paddle out into the lineup.

could be the lure to bring shep back with his 43 beans worth.
And Andy.
Don't forget Andy 1234.

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2020 7:12 am
by Beanpole
No Pants Lance wrote:
Thu Jan 23, 2020 8:45 pm
coffee wars have raged fierce on Rs long before even the notion of cultural ones were fermented buddy, and as i see, long before your own paddle out into the lineup.

could be the lure to bring shep back with his 43 beans worth.
How true. Old timers will remember the true local was supposed to drink international roast out of a thermos at the beach.

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 1:52 pm
by Grooter
Tub opens tomorrow, lucky I booked the other day for Sunday!

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:28 pm
by pinhead
Had a session today on the intermediate mode. Minus - pretty weak, hard to find speed for turns. Plus - fewer falls and more waves. Surfed the JS Bullseye again. I wanted to try it as a quad but the rental shop didn't have any quad fins! sad. I think intermediate with the Bullseye as a quad will be tits.

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Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:34 pm
by Cranked
Go pinny go!

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:40 pm
by buddy
Lookin good!

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:47 pm
by buddy
Did you snake grooter each set?

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:57 pm
by pinhead
buddy wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:47 pm
Did you snake grooter each set?
I would have if I'd known he was there. (and what he looked like)

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:00 pm
by buddy
There was a pic of his head gash after he head butted a longboard in western port I believe.

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:45 pm
by Beanpole
What's your take on those surf caps, Pinnie?

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:58 pm
by pinhead
Beanpole wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:45 pm
What's your take on those surf caps, Pinnie?
You don't have to duck dive at the tub so you barely notice it.

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:48 pm
by Grooter
Okay here is my experience of UrbnSurf, I’ll probably repeat a lot of what pinny says, a lot matched my experience.

The place is definitely surreal, you’re surfing in an industrial estate while planes are taking off and landing in the distance and the pool is big. Like really big. You don’t realise it until you get there and when you walk out and see the whole park it takes a moment to let it sink in seeing people riding perfect waves in a tranquil setting. The facilities are excellent, showers, changerooms, food to eat and getting through checkin is pretty easy. I noticed an all-you-eat buffet across the road advertised when leaving, if I didn’t have to get home, I’d have smashed that as I was super hungry! The water was nice (but it is summer and it’s a shallow pool so that is to be expected). In winter you’ll freeze your balls off but that’s par for the course in Victoria.

I surfed the Intermediate wave on my backhand doing the 17:00 session. The Grootlets did the Beginner lessons. They recommend you arrive 30 minutes beforehand which is what I would too so you can get your shit sorted. We were told the kids didn’t need to turn up till 10 minutes before their lesson which was wrong, they had to be there 20 minutes earlier. Mrs Grooter was not impressed and remonstrated with some of the staff rather directly – suffice to say the message was heeded.

But on to the wave. I can’t comment on the Beginner experience, the Grootlets loved it and were frothing like mad at the end. We will be back, that I can guarantee and it’s an hour drive from my place.

First up the Intermediate wave is not a wave that a surfer from my part of the world is immediately used too. It has a bit less volume than your common Vicco swell, but it does have enough angle on the face to get onto. Reminded me of waves in NSW a bit. There is a flag on top of the wall which is the takeoff point and you want to be, ideally, halfway between the inside and outside walls when taking off. I tried taking off closer to the wall, but you need to be quick and drive hard to the shoulder if you do, as the wave doesn’t have the volume to push you if you don’t nail it. Also if you fcuk up the takeoff you will likely smack your board into the wall – quite a few people did. I botched a couple of take-offs in the beginning but by the end was getting them quite easily.

On the Intermediate you can get in a couple of quick turns once you get to your feet, but you need to be on the shoulder once you’re halfway down because you won’t make the second section if you’ve cut back into the whitewater as it doesn’t have the “push” of an ocean swell. I had to pump the board a few times to get onto the second section, and it’s awesome when you do, as you get a nice drop down and another good bottom turn. My guess is on the Advanced setting this will become the part that barrels – I’ll rebook later in Feb to give that a go.

There is a rip current running along the inside wall, which when you first paddle out seems like a bit of a novelty, but 40 minutes in you will be grateful for it. You will get a serious workout and you need to be paddle fit. By the end I was stuffed and about half the group I was with did not go the full hour. You also need to be a competent surfer, there were a few people who had overestimated their fitness and ambition and were cooked about halfway through. Thankfully they had the sense to pull the pin after causing a few pileups. I crashed into one lady who stuffed her take-off but thankfully didn’t hurt her. I wear a Gath helmet for concussion protection after getting my face re-arranged at Gunnamatta a couple of years ago – I wouldn’t surf this place without it. Also there can be the temptation to go even if you see two people stuff up in front of you, my advice is don’t, as you will get a falling dominoes effect – which truth be known looks rather funny when it’s not you but best avoided.

Other weird things is don’t sit too close to the inside wall in the queue, the wave sucks you into it! Cool but still, best avoided. You have to get used to people bumping into your feet and boards in the queue too, it can get quite bunched up so maybe think twice about bringing your favourite and most expensive board there as there is a decent potential for dings. There was also an unsettling amount of “YEEEW!” being shouted by people in the line-up in the beginning. Given it is Invasion Day today, my guess is they were tourists from up north, as your typical Victorian surfer carries themselves with a little more grace and dignity in the surf and knows better than to project such vulgar outbursts. Anyway it died off halfway through as most people are conserving energy

I rode it on my 7’ Miller V-Skate thruster which was about as big as I’d want to on that wave. Some people were on 8’ and bigger boards but they tombstoned a lot although there was one lady there who was really good and seemed to do pretty well. Other things to bear in mind is I’m 88kg’s and 176cm tall so I doubt I’d go any shorter unless I had a lot more volume and the fitness of Nick Carroll – which let’s be honest, is not going to happen and I’ve been playing basketball every week too!

Overall it was pretty cool and I will definitely be back. It can’t match a perfect day on the ocean, but it’s a wavepool, it’s not meant to. What you will get is a shitload of waves, a pretty decent workout and some damn nice facilities to do it in, which is surely a good thing to treat yourself to a few times a year.

Lastly a guy in the lineup was telling me that the Intermediate wave tends to get less surfers than the Advanced. There is probably a theory or two for that but make of it what you will.

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:49 pm
by Grooter
pinhead wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:57 pm
buddy wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:47 pm
Did you snake grooter each set?
I would have if I'd known he was there. (and what he looked like)
I was wearing a Grey Gath helmet surfing an orange board for the 17:00 session mate, didn't see anyone wearing a hat out there on the left :)
buddy wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:00 pm
There was a pic of his head gash after he head butted a longboard in western port I believe.
Nah it was Gunnamatta. 6 stitches plus a Titanium plate and 4 screws to put my face back together. The concussion was the worst though.

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:53 pm
by buddy
Thanks for the write up. Hope you’re head is doing well now too.

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:54 pm
by buddy
Think I’m going in a few weeks.

Re: The Tulla Tub

Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 9:50 pm
by pinhead
Grooter wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2020 8:49 pm
pinhead wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:57 pm
buddy wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:47 pm
Did you snake grooter each set?
I would have if I'd known he was there. (and what he looked like)
I was wearing a Grey Gath helmet surfing an orange board for the 17:00 session mate, didn't see anyone wearing a hat out there on the left :)
buddy wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:00 pm
There was a pic of his head gash after he head butted a longboard in western port I believe.
Nah it was Gunnamatta. 6 stitches plus a Titanium plate and 4 screws to put my face back together. The concussion was the worst though.
Grooter sighting! I did see a guy wearing a Gath helmet. Thought to myself what kind of snowflake wears a helmet here, its not like he's got titanium plates in his head or anything.