on the boil

[marcus]

The other day i was out at a bombie reef on my mal, and some kids on surfboards joined me, it was about 4ft- maybe 5ft faces on a rising swell.
The kids kept saying how hard it was to paddle in to the waves and be in the right spot. I think some of this may have been an excuse for letting waves go unridden, however ill giv them the benefit of the doubt.
I tried to teach on of them about the boil, and thought it may be a good topic for realsurf.
for those that know about boils, you may want to switch off..
at many reef breaks when you are waiting for a wave and a big one passes over the reef, you get like a big shark fart (thats what we calll them at S.I.) imagine kicking your flipper just under the water, or moving your hand up from under the water.
the water will look like it has boiled and mushroom at the surfaceina big circle.

i use this (amongst other methods like lining up buildings) to get in position at reef breaks, you may find it works for you too.

say 6-8ft voodoo or shark island, your sitting in a tight pack waiting and a set rises on the outer reef.
you may see the boil in front of you or behind you, depending on the reef it can mean your either too far out or about to be caught inside.

the boil usually means something is goingto happen there, like the peak, or a suck up, or a bit of reef is really shallow there.
these boils can happen in really deep water too,

say north wollongong bombie. depending on the size i might line up the back of the break wall with stealers stadium roof, and out in front the pine trees with something. its about 12ft deep there i think (mate dared me to swim down and bring up a pebble) and the boil can help you zero in on where you are supposed to be.

as kids, matt and i would get a cork and tie it to a small rock and throw it out to know where the peak was at island far lefts and suck rock then we would sit next to that cork while waiting for waves. the boil can be just as usefull at putting you right where you want to be infront of that next wave you want.
hope that helps

[endseason]

very interesting, thanks, to share.
cheers.

[Trev]

Good info marcus.
I use the philosophy regularly at my local. There are several at my local point and they react differently at different tide levels.
They were also useful at the Bower when I was in Sydney.

[matt...]

great info marcus. good for the guys who are inexperienced in surfing points, reefs, etc.

in addition to this, i use this to get my fair share of waves out at the Haven, when it's big. experienced guys can usually takeoff on or behind the boil to get on the wave before others who are not so keen on taking off near rocks. on a mid to high tide this is possible out there. on a low tide the wave sections, rocks appear and not a good idea. the takeoff cab be bumby riding over a boil, but well worth the effort, driving hard off the bottom and setting up for a long and fast ride through the various sections.

[jimmy]

great info marcus. good for the guys who are inexperienced in surfing points, reefs, etc.

in addition to this, i use this to get my fair share of waves out at the Haven, when it's big. experienced guys can usually takeoff on or behind the boil to get on the wave before others who are not so keen on taking off near rocks. on a mid to high tide this is possible out there. on a low tide the wave sections, rocks appear and not a good idea. the takeoff cab be bumby riding over a boil, but well worth the effort, driving hard off the bottom and setting up for a long and fast ride through the various sections.

Gee whizz you've taken the word retard to a whole new level. The haven! The most fat kook worthy wave ever..
You need to have a chat to your priest Matt.

[OneNullaChief]

Boil knowledge got me this one

[Skipper]

^^^

nice pic!

Thought this was another Marcus venting thread till I took look.

Bronte reef presents a classic boil for the takeoff zone. Particularly when it's on with a solid sth swell wrapping round the headland.

Not for the fainthearted or reticent, that's for sure.

No wonder those that could master it have gone on to bigger and better things, such as the Whittakers' and Millie Dyers' of the place. I guess many more groms who cut their teeth here develop the skills for taking on more challenging breaks around the world.

[marcus]

Hey Chief, nice pic. put some more up.
hey matt i pinched that photo off Mark fordhams facebook, its by Samuel Aylett.
those ones, i love them but they scare me a bit, especially when about twice that size, same shape, you think oh im not going to make this. but when you do, your first one, you get addicted and try to pick off all the other ones that shape that come through that day.

wazza caught me out once, i was going all the easy ones, he goes, marcus, you've got to go the ones that get bigger at surge. that was a day when it was bloody scary to go those ones.

[matt...]

funny jimmy90210,

you've either got it on the wrong day, trying to surf it when it only has 6ft faces (or smaller) , or too scared to go out when it's big.

[marcus]

what i mean by the boil, in this case is the big shark fart type thing that happens when your out the back waiting for a wave.
probably the same phenomenon as the boil you can ride over like matt talks about.
the ones im talking about just seem to happen even when there is no wave coming, like there is a cave under there or something that lets go some water or something, i hope that makes sense.

heres another type of taking off behind the boil

mark matthews behind the boil at waimea by ?

[marcus]

Actually i think it was kinda dumb sharing that...maybe i wont surf there anymore but Ricco Speg and all those blokes would be pissed off if blow ins started picking them like that..Ah fuck it.

lol
you know thats the difference between a pro surfer and a soul surfer.
the pro comes allong "discovers" something and tells the world and gets a bit of glory, be it "discovering" cape solander, night sufing jaws,surf spot nuances, surf atlases. you dont get any glory keeping secrets to yourself.
thats why i find it can burn you inside when a pro comes allong and shares your secret. has happened too much lately,

maybe we should sell out. be like mark visser
you should publish that surf atlas you made.
ill do maps of where the best paddle outs are and how to get in. lol
for some reason i thought surfers didnt act like that,