Another ECL?

[Nick Carroll]

Well you know this is why most hardcore committed surfers have sick 6'8" plus round pins made by really expert good-wave shapers in their quivers... and why most of 'em only tolerate longboards and Fish...because when the surf is actually GOOD, you need good boards.

This June's being a bit of a wake up call for everyone who learned to surf in summertime and thought surfing was about frangipanis, retro-irony, Beach Folk Music, six ounce six foot single fin nostalgia etc. Nay. Surfing is about primitive f**ken craziness in slabbing eight foot pits the morning after a storm explodes off the coast. It's about angling in behind peaks in semi freefall drops with a feathering sou-wester combing the lip and cloud pouring over the headland. It's about your spot transforming itself under the impact of a 12' plus storm swell, and you being on the case enough to score the first hours of some mental new sandbank. And you feeling the veneer of civilisation peeling off you with every duckdive and every roaring pit.

[surfanimals]

Nick, I'm with you brother...

I guess I could take offence to the write but I know I'm not the guy you described......if anything, too serious and no way not committed.

It's just been that long since I've been to Indo or Hawaii now and 9 out of 10 surfs are 1-4 foot and crowded so I've gone down the road of boards to snavel many waves in short amounts of time.......as required down here in 2230.

So, don't for a second see my name and compare it too a summer time kook - just my timing is out and yes, I've been caught out.

Any of these old boards from my quiver (and yes, I wish I'd kept ALL of them) would do just fine at the moment.

[barstardos]

The first sniffle kicks in monday afternoon.
Through tuesday the hacking cough gets louder.
You head home from the office half an hour early.
Send a text to one of your colleages on wednesday morning - about the time you would be getting on the bus.
.......15 mins later

Paddle like madman to launch 7'0" over the ledge against freezing offshore - air drop as the reef drains up the face. The fins grab as the lip throws over.
It gets dark - and noisy....but then sort of quiet and calm - unlike the guys paddling back out who are screaming like idiots.

There a lot of flu about in winter you know!

[Lucky Al]

sick, sick, siiiiiick!!!

[macgreggor]

Or, you choose to live in a small rural coastal village, work for yourself, and put the world on hold when it's on. Life in the lucky country!

[Nick-W]

or you have studnet vacation of exams at uni...

[2nd Reef]

Three lows blowing up in almost identical locations in less than three weeks. Seems to me that it is further proof that the weather isn't random and chaotic. That there is a bigger force at work that isn't perceptible via the usual synoptic charts. No, I'm not talking about the bearded bloke upstairs but the larger patterns that spawn these systems. Cos when you get one swell you often get more.

Think about when the west-east zonal flows occur in the Southern Ocean and WA, SA and Mexico get blasted for a couple of weeks and we get nought but gloating and photos of those bastards getting shacked. Now, conditions have altered and something has made the atmospheric environment conducive to lows forming in the Tasman. Not one, but three (and hopefully more!).

This next one looks like a beauty and Wednesday arvo is shaping up to be the height of it. Swell the right size, wind the right direction, tide the right phase. Yes B-man, the first signs of the flu are showing now(*sniffle, sniffle*). Gotta try to keep the smile off my face cos you're not 'sposed to be happy when you're sick!

[Scroty]

...Surfing is about primitive f**ken craziness in slabbing eight foot pits the morning after a storm explodes off the coast. It's about angling in behind peaks in semi freefall drops with a feathering sou-wester combing the lip and cloud pouring over the headland. It's about your spot transforming itself under the impact of a 12' plus storm swell, and you being on the case enough to score the first hours of some mental new sandbank. And you feeling the veneer of civilisation peeling off you with every duckdive and every roaring pit.

It's about that loose bowel pre-surf turd in the surf club toilet, the 30 min paddle through the whitewater only to turn around and see you are 10m from the beach. It's about thinking you are finally out the back and seeing a set looming 20m in front of you. It's about crying out for your mum as it detonates 5m in front of you as you ditch your board, feeling your leg rope snap like cotton, being held under until you see stars. It's about getting washed in like a piece of driftwood, collecting your board off the sand and making the walk of shame past the onlookers in the carpark.

[Colonel Fiction]

This June's being a bit of a wake up call for everyone who ... thought surfing was about frangipanis... Nay. Surfing is about primitive f**ken craziness in slabbing eight foot pits the morning after a storm explodes off the coast.

And here's me thinking it was all about the frangipanis. Damn.

[Nick Carroll]

Nick, I'm with you brother...

I guess I could take offence to the write but I know I'm not the guy you described......if anything, too serious and no way not committed.

It's just been that long since I've been to Indo or Hawaii now and 9 out of 10 surfs are 1-4 foot and crowded so I've gone down the road of boards to snavel many waves in short amounts of time.......as required down here in 2230.

So, don't for a second see my name and compare it too a summer time kook - just my timing is out and yes, I've been caught out.

Any of these old boards from my quiver (and yes, I wish I'd kept ALL of them) would do just fine at the moment.

Oh man no offence intended. My apologies...can see you must be suffering...

I think I was just getting a thought out of my system...the ongoing thought I have, that for many grown-up re-starting surfers of this era, the true nature of the sport has been hidden behind a wall of Marketing and the odd small dose of self delusion....

and right now that wall is crumbling like the sands of Collaroy.

You want to dash out NOW and track down a second hand something in the 6-10+ range 'cause we're about to enter a heavy surf meltdown phase... 8'+ (possibly bigger) east groundswell coupling into a 10' southerly groundswell. Hope everyone gets a piece of it....and you all stay safe. Well as safe as you can be.

[Lucky Al]

i can't wait until fong turns this weather event into a language event!

[oldman]

Three lows blowing up in almost identical locations in less than three weeks. Seems to me that it is further proof that the weather isn't random and chaotic. That there is a bigger force at work that isn't perceptible via the usual synoptic charts.

The decline of the El Nino event is the most likely culprit 2nd reef. Apparently we haven't even officially moved into a La Nina yet. Very intense weather systems in the Tasman, and some serious rain for our catchments even.

Could be very interesting later in the week. Another low off the coast, but some seriously long fetch (from the antarctic just about) south swells will be mixed up in it as well.

And finally I get to surf two days in a row (last Thursday and Friday). Haven't done that in ages. Weather cold and stormy and alive, water quite warm still and morning offshores to clean up a nice little swell.

[surfanimals]

Nick Carroll wrote:

You want to dash out NOW and track down a second hand something in the 6-10+ range 'cause we're about to enter a heavy surf meltdown phase... 8'+ (possibly bigger) east groundswell coupling into a 10' southerly groundswell. Hope everyone gets a piece of it....and you all stay safe. Well as safe as you can be.

Thanks Nick,

I'm sweet....a mate is lending me his 7'3 Mitchell Rae pin for the week....I'm into it with a vengence.

See you out there 2nd Reefer

[One Mile Point]

I miss out again.

[greygrom]

The way the lagoons have been flowing over the last two weeks surfing some 100% salt water would be different. There is something about all the silt and fresh in the mix that makes the water surface just that little sharper and harder.... hack, hack, sniffle, cough.

[puurri]

Just a bit off topic:

Maritime archaeo fella at the office reckons that the Badass Hulker won't be going anywhere unless some folk get busy with a gas axe; and for the moment Newcastle gets a new suburb with ocean views and a theme park for the aspirationals: "Fongville Heights".

[greygrom]

It might actually be easier to haul the Pasha Bulker OVER the dunes and into the harbour ... although that would depend on what is under the dunes.

[crooked]

978 low in tasman?

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDG00073.shtml

HEAVING!!!