Okay, long time coming… Thanks and apologies to Pandanus, thanks for ceasing the voodoo pin treatment thing… first waves over knee height since I bagged Agnes, whilst the sunny coast has been, from all accounts ‘all time’.
Aah, karma, and so swift.
Anyhoo, heres Shady beach, today
and a bit closer
Just myself and a mate Mick, ex-Mandurah, for three hours. I was riding a Rusty c5 hipster, 6’1"x19 1/4"x2 3/8", Mick was riding a Banks Twinnie, not sure of the dimensions, but it’s about 6’4", not quite fish-like, has a hip. Nice board. I reckon tomorrow i’ll go for a bit more rail, less foam, maybe the 6’8", as the wind is pretty full-on.
Crocs, they are always around, but you don't often see them during the day, and I've only seen one when the surf has been up. Poor thing was pretty well shagged, layed up on the beach resting. That was over on Groote Eylandt.The prevailing belief among surfers here is that crocs don't like the waves. Ignorance is bliss?
This break is near the township of Yirrkala, about 10 kms from Nhulunbuy. Both towns are on the Gove peninsular. Funny thing is, there is a beachie to the left of the point, it was smaller and closing out and there was about 15 grommies on it today. Point to ourselves! The beachie featured in a Tracks mag a while back, some local kids reckon that a croc stalked them, but other blokes who were there said that it was another case of a shagged croc taking a rest on the beach. Keeps it interesting.
Sorry, I missed the other question. This sort of surf comes around pretty much every time there is a high pressure system of 1030+ mB travelling across the Great Australian Bight. This time of year, there is some kind of surf most of the time, but in the last 2 months, all the swells coincided with my rostered days on, so there has been plenty of spruiking from the blokes on the other crew.
Nice turn on your avatar. I guess you feel the effects of those highs in the 'roaring forties' as well.
South south east swell, south wind, or a little bit of west would be nice. And yeah, you get the sunrise/set over the sea here, it’s pretty special.
A work-mate just went to pick up his new 30’ yacht from Karumba. He and a friend, both experienced sailors/ surfers from Woz, made it as far as Mornington Island before they had to be rescued. He tells of 15 foot walls of whitewater, about 7 second period, relentless for 2 days, 2 nights. They ended up anchoring in the lee of a samll island in 6’ of water, standing off about 30 metres from shore, and having waves coming from the shore washing over the cockpit. Both are pretty knackered, exposure, exhaustion, defeated.
