Where did you surf today ?

[BA]

Waist high and weak here in North Carolina Nick. I too was ripping which, given the circumstances , is far more impressive.

sounds amazing, offshore1! more details please!

instead of the swell coming in like a difficult cousin, think of it more as the slow stumbling entrance of an Aldi soaked uncle.

[Nick Carroll]

I’m like Forrest Gump

let us all remember this ageless quote and make sure it is never re-connected with its somewhat dubious context

[Drailed]

My dad was a journo, his was an architect. We'd been in the school tennis team together. He had a wicked serve and I had the tennis mind, we were a scary doubles team.

Look at the privilege on the bloke, no wonder he is a multi millionaire..

[Drailed]

Waist high and weak here in North Carolina Nick. I too was ripping which, given the circumstances , is far more impressive.

sounds amazing, offshore1! more details please!

instead of the swell coming in like a difficult cousin, think of it more as the slow stumbling entrance of an Aldi soaked uncle.

[Hatchnam]

So the swell was “beanpoling in” huh?

New term if there ever was one

[Lucky Al]

For the first few waves I was thinking it was today, however a look at the description reveals that it's a compilation of footage taken over the years. Still a great watch though.

Screw that Lucky Al, closer to home....... Peggy's!

Such a fickle spot. great fun this arvo on the low.

good to hear you got it good, wyre! it was my older brother's favourite spot for most of his teenage years and twenties. something about it seems to really appeal to the anti-social surfer.

[Lucky Al]

needless to say I was fuschia ripping. Take that offshore1!

give us a thick description of a thick cunky long left ripped by nick, nick!

OK!

I went off the beach between some small exposed rocks, Just boardies. On a 6’4” MC revee round pin with JJF futures fins. I'd thought about this a little bit, what board to ride, and stuck a 6’9” Banksy pintail in the car as well, but felt confident in the 6’4”. I've been enjoying shorter boards in solid surf lately.

Water was maybe 20-21 degrees. Surf was bombing, solid 6’ plus with bigger sets, sloping in from the north east like a difficult cousin at a Christmas lunch. The wind, supposedly NE, now dead. People surfing down the beach, well "surfing" is maybe generous, they just looked confused by this awkward large swell and its abruptness.

I dug in, paddled across and up on to the drift, felt the swim training as I did, breathing and relaxing but making the stroke count happen. Got out after maybe 20 duckdives and went straight to the takeoff spot and immediately got a wedged up 6’er, and used it to feel the board.

The swell booted to a consistent eight feet and I dunno, I just went into deep surf mode, Strung a lot of waves together. I was by myself until somebody else decided to assay the paddle out. Someone in striped black and white boardies. He looked familiar and after he cleared the end section and began the long haul out to the take-off I recognised him. It was a guy I'd grown up with many years ago. This was a childhood friend who back in 1970 had given my little brother his irredeemable grommet nickname of "Gobbo".

He came out and we talked a bit. Turned out his Dad had died about a month after mine. My dad was a journo, his was an architect. We'd been in the school tennis team together. He had a wicked serve and I had the tennis mind, we were a scary doubles team.

Anyway he drifted wide and I got the wave worth describing. It came onto the takeoff with a deal of intention and I embraced it with great joy. Took off, very deep, drove the 6’4” high and loose, opened the shoulders to it and ran the right line through the first 50 metres, then let the board drop to the base and squared up off the bottom, again open to the line. Put the board right underneath the lip line and blew the top off it. The whole thing felt like it was happening in slow motion, the way a lot of good turns do. I let my body extend through the end of the turn, relaxed, and then connected the wave through to the finish.

Paddled wide to the open water. The surfers down the end had gone by now. I got a few more then went out to where they'd been and got throttled by the biggest set of the day, a solid 10’, and then went to the spot where that set had broken and got the follow up set from there, and went in.

nice one, nick! sexy! makes me think it's become rare to read about a good and well ridden wave. or do i just not have access to the reading material anymore? there's no newsagency i can hang out in over here.

[Lucky Al]

how do you reckon drailed would have gone out there?

[Lucky Al]

Waist high and weak here in North Carolina Nick. I too was ripping which, given the circumstances , is far more impressive.

sounds amazing, offshore1! more details please!

Okay Lucky Al.
Take Nick's story, and instead of the swell coming in like a difficult cousin, think of it more as the slow stumbling entrance of an Aldi soaked uncle.
Now take Nick's description of his performance, and up it three kilojoules, to get an idea of my exploits.

nice one, offshore1! sexy. next week i'll try to take it up a level in the thick heavy waters of the gulf of thailand, so... watch out!

[Nick Carroll]

how do you reckon drailed would have gone out there?

1 You oughta read Surfing World

2 drailed would have killed it! A masterful display of Lopez style trimming and placement. Crowds would have gathered. People would have whispered his name as he walked back up the beach.

[Lucky Al]

thanks for reminding me about surfing world. i've always liked that mag but kind of forgot about it in the last few years. will keep my eye out for a copy.

[tootr]

how do you reckon drailed would have gone out there?

1 You oughta read Surfing World

2 drailed would have killed it! A masterful display of Lopez style trimming and placement. Crowds would have gathered. People would have whispered his name as he walked back up the beach.

3 He would have handed his board to a star struck grom simply saying, “keep it”.

[Nick Carroll]

4 the grom would have said "Fcuk off grandpa!" and everyone would have burst out laughing.

d would have gone up to the carpark and found his windscreen waxed

[steve shearer]

I dug in, paddled across and up on to the drift, felt the swim training as I did,

love to see Godsave write similar paying homage to the jog.

[godsavetheking]

Well I do think it would do you the world of good. You know when you’re on your backhand and you aren’t quite strong enough to make it to the bottom of the wave so your bottom turn isn’t quite a bottom turn more of an awkward lower-mid face swipe but you’re off-balance because your weight is over your front foot and you fold like a cheap penknife and most of your speed gets scrubbed off as you sort of drift back up the wave and your upper body is all out of kilter so your toppish turn is a shameful compromise? Yeah, running will probably help with that

[steve shearer]

I thought Nick incorporated his fitness humble-brag much more artfully.

Could you have a go at something like that?

[steve shearer]

anyway, I'm pissed off as all hell.

the surf is muddy, brown mess. I haven't been in it for days, the longest stretch in 10 months.

found the Rooster dead under the verandah sometime during the deluge. Not sure how long he had been dead for, but he was a real mess, sprawled out, covered in red mud. Decrepit and decayed.

Now we've got that post flood smell in the air; a decaying sour smell like rotting meat and old socks.

Two goats are lame from the mud.

I went to a restaurant last night for the local rag I write a column for. Against my better judgement. Some pooncy new mex pplace that doesn't know the difference between ceviche and poisson cru.
So I drank a boatload of Mexican beer and staggered home several hours later. <Literally tacked up the hill.

Then nursed one of those mean, metal on metal hangovers all day.

And the onshores look set to continue through Christmas, right thought this cyclone swell which is going to be the most over-hyped piece of shite of all time.

I want to blame Carroll, is that fair?

[godsavetheking]

Carroll no doubt paddles with a puffed out chest chanting ‘ooh fitness, yes fitness’ on every stroke. He is also guilty of quite the most outrageous long range forecasts that nobody ever seems to retrospectively fact check and call him to account over. Until now, perhaps