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Re: Midlengths
Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 9:26 pm
by buddy
Haha, thanks for the offer guys.
I’ll speak to him tomorrow.
You can have a go on it hatchy, looks right up your alley.
Pretty sure this is the actual board.
7’0
https://facebook.com/zaksurfboards/post ... 9734986698
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 10:22 pm
by Hatchnam
Looks nice. Like it’d also handle some overhead surf ok too.
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:00 pm
by steve shearer
you're a bit young for a mid-length Buddy?
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:11 pm
by buddy
Well I don’t like crowds and a lot of the time you can find heaps of empty waves around here that need something that you can connect the dots and aren’t worth it on a shorty.
End up driving away most of the time.
Would pretty much have a shorty and middy in the car permanently.
I sold my mal and stopped going to Byron. Midlength better suited around here and can prob still get waves on it at the bridge.
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 8:08 pm
by Thud
Yeh it’s a good board to have lying around.
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:06 am
by steve shearer
the bridge!
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 9:37 am
by Hatchnam
Missingham bridge? have seen it break a number of times, never surfed it. Looks like a great place to meet bull sharks
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:25 am
by steve shearer
I find it amazing a backpacker has not lost a limb there.
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 11:45 am
by buddy
Don’t think there’s ever been an attack inside the Richmond and it’s one of the most regularly surfed spots.
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:12 pm
by steve shearer
it's also full of bull sharks.
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:16 pm
by buddy
If they don’t bite I don’t care
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:30 pm
by Cranked
That was my opinion when I moved to WA in 1990 - I surfed everywhere by myself or with one or two others. 20 years! I thought we had an agreement, then in about 2010 it started.
After 3 or four near misses, I'm now really paranoid. No shark deaths is one of the great things about indo!
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:28 pm
by tootr
When I was 15 odd the family stayed at Ballina just up from the bridge. Since the surf was enormous (to a 15 year old) a lot of the time I surfed a zippy little righthander right in front of the bridge.
Doubtful I’d get back in.
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:47 pm
by buddy
Groups of kids get taken out there for lessons every time a hint of a ripple hits the bank.
I think you'll be ok out there.
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:59 pm
by black duck
Cranked wrote: ↑Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:30 pm
After 3 or four near misses, I'm now really paranoid. No shark deaths is one of the great things about indo!
Care to elaborate on any Cranked? How near were the misses?
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 2:06 pm
by Beanpole
buddy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:47 pm
Groups of kids get taken out there for lessons every time a hint of a ripple hits the bank.
I think you'll be ok out there.
An old school mate used to surf there when he parents took him down there. Always looked like a fun novelty wave.
I've surfed inside the Tweed up from Fingal a few times.
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 3:03 pm
by Cranked
black duck wrote: ↑Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:59 pm
Cranked wrote: ↑Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:30 pm
After 3 or four near misses, I'm now really paranoid. No shark deaths is one of the great things about indo!
Care to elaborate on any Cranked? How near were the misses?
Nothing dramatic duck, each one is not much, but they sort of add up to be a bit concerning.
First was at Avalon, no one out, small, I was surfing just off the reef when a saw a shark fin (yes I do know the difference, same thing happened just down from Byron one time) coming towards me, I paddled onto the reef.
Next was at South Point, I was surfing there all week. Early mornings there were only a few of us out. Every morning at about 7am I would paddle out there across the shark pit. I would have been there the next day too but I got a call asking me to go back to work. A guy was attacked the next morning paddling across shark pits at 7:30 am and died.
Next was Avalon again by myself, patrol helicopter hovered 40' above me with a crew member leaning out, pointing about 30m away from me and, screaming at me to get the fcuk out of there. It made the papers "3m white shark within 30m of surfer".
Last was at Geary's, surfed there with two other guys from 1pm. Paddled to a peak about 40m away and surfed there for an hour, but it felt sharky so I went back and surfed with the other two.
Got out of the water at around 3pm, got changed and left, 15 minutes later heard on the radio that there was a shark attack at Geary's. He died a few days later.
So each one was minor, but I seemed to be pushing my luck a bit.
Re: Midlengths
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2019 4:15 pm
by buddy
Cranked wrote: ↑Tue Sep 10, 2019 3:03 pm
black duck wrote: ↑Tue Sep 10, 2019 1:59 pm
Cranked wrote: ↑Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:30 pm
After 3 or four near misses, I'm now really paranoid. No shark deaths is one of the great things about indo!
Care to elaborate on any Cranked? How near were the misses?
Nothing dramatic duck, each one is not much, but they sort of add up to be a bit concerning.
First was at Avalon, no one out, small, I was surfing just off the reef when a saw a shark fin (yes I do know the difference, same thing happened just down from Byron one time) coming towards me, I paddled onto the reef.
Next was at South Point, I was surfing there all week. Early mornings there were only a few of us out. Every morning at about 7am I would paddle out there across the shark pit. I would have been there the next day too but I got a call asking me to go back to work. A guy was attacked the next morning paddling across shark pits at 7:30 am and died.
Next was Avalon again by myself, patrol helicopter hovered 40' above me with a crew member leaning out, pointing about 30m away from me and, screaming at me to get the fcuk out of there. It made the papers "3m white shark within 30m of surfer".
Last was at Geary's, surfed there with two other guys from 1pm. Paddled to a peak about 40m away and surfed there for an hour, but it felt sharky so I went back and surfed with the other two.
Got out of the water at around 3pm, got changed and left, 15 minutes later heard on the radio that there was a shark attack at Geary's. He died a few days later.
So each one was minor, but I seemed to be pushing my luck a bit.
When I moved here, I seemed to follow each attack and miss it by minutes at the exact beach but at the same time have only just left or arrived just after. All the Ballina ones and the English bloke in Byron. I was never actually in the water when they happened though.
I'm sure others have similar experiences if you're a daily surfer in an area where there's a cluster.
I haven't been bumped but have had 3 cruise bys and a couple where Sups have told me they saw one right by me but I was none the wiser.
I wonder how many times that's happened that none of us knew?
I had a few times where I thought about it surfing in Ballina during all the attacks. You'd rock up and see pretty good waves and no one surfing them and it was hard not to think of it out there by yourself.
I definitely lay with feet up for a number of those sessions.
Everyone is back out there now and I'm back to hunting out empty stretches.
I'm still of the opinion that I'm better off surfing than worrying about it. Doesn't mean I'll surf in bait balls or when there's filthy water around. Or I'll paddle in if I get 'the feeling'.
You can be hypervigilant and still end up being the unlucky guy.