Thanks for all the posts and pictures.
-Life is always better in the tube-
That’s funny,dont drop in on the guy either or he won’t restock the TP!
Here’s my favorite/“secret” break up here in New England. Only a handful of guys out on a good day, usually just me and a few good friends. 5 minute walk around a seawall and your there. Here it is on a good day last year.
Around here, there are no secrets. But there are places that people don’t surf because they’re a bitch to get to. So there are plenty of days to surf solo, or close to it, if you want to take the long walk, long paddle, or tresspass on private property.
Nobody’s answering the other part of the question… why they’re our favorite. Besides the obvious, like all the other spots on Earth, each has their own personality. This one break, not too far from a very, very popular spot, picks up the same swell, but the wave is much faster and much more challenging than the other. There can be 80 guys in the water at the big spot, and literally nobody out at the other. But… it’s a longer drive, an even longer walk, sometimes a paddle or walk through a lagoon, and then a long walk up the beach to the top of the wave. Best in winter, when there’s nobody even on the beach. Super fast, super powerful. wraparound beachbreak that breaks in almost no water. Nasty current when it’s big. You just haul ass and pull in when you can. Not too many chances for turns. But the feeling of remoteness and solitude, especially around sunset, lets you mentally leave the world behind… if you don’t turn round and look north!
wink
i'm sure it's the same in other places but, around here there are a lot of "semi-secret" spots.
seems like if it doesn't have a parking lot, bathrooms, showers, and can't bee seen from the road,
most people don't even think of surfing there... if you're willing to walk, hike, and do some climbing,
you can have better waves to yourself pretty much every day.
ok at the risk of getting myself in trouble. there are a few not so secret , but relatively un publicised breaks around here. when i say unpublicised i mean that not many people go there or score it good due to tidal, wind and swell conditions, so even tho they do turn on every now again its rare to share the lineup with a few more then 4 or 5 guys at the most. pure magic.
anyway to get to the point a surfmag went on a roadtrip and recruited a couple of locals to set them up on the days these breaks were firing. names were mentioned . whether any of the surfers got paid or not is beside the point. ( usually they get enough ego gratification having there faces plastered over a magazine) The article was sponsored by a major advertizer and money was changing hands to publicise these breaks.
last three surfs i had there, crowd had doubled in size. people start asking questions randomly about the breaks and when they work best etc etc. so even tho the breaks were not secret. they were not really in peoples minds untill the magazine started talking it up. so there it is
now the irony of the whole situation is that some grommets i know turned up to one of these breaks and were aggresivley told to f#ck off by one of the surfers that gave the guided tour
so there it is.
sums up the competition scene and magazines perfectly and the same reason why a great deal of taranakis surfers dont want the womens pro tour there. a handful of pricks make the money and everyone else suffers. and what do they do with money.do they put it back into improving the infrastructure or coastal protection(like public toilets and rubbish bins)? no they do not, they put in there back pockets so they can get fatter. meanwhile we get to stand in tourist feaces neext time we check the surf.
so bring the tour im sure it will be a great succes with the tour sharing the lineup with 200 locals
i used to have a problem with localism because i am not one. my local on the sunny coast is long being screwed over by rampant developement and overcrowding. now i know that localism is a good thing. next time you see a magazine roadtrip hot crew turn up with cameras and videos, make sure you give them something to remember their trip
Thanks guys for all the awesome posts! keep hitting up those spots.
-Life is always better in the tube-
This one is right in my backyard, one of those ‘secrets’ that get talked about alot but never surfed(successfully atleast). Waves come out of 20m deep water and hit a 2m deep reef which is sucked almost dry when a wave hits. If you look at this photo, you cannot really see the bottom of the wave as it’s lower than the water in front which is pretty much at sea level as it’s deep on the inside. If anyone want to give it a try, be my guest. I’ll watch 
This is a little north of where I live. One of those spots held in high regard because it makes an otherwise unsurfable day surfable. This is on a victory at sea day with a northern gale and 8m+ swell. The waves wraps around almost 180 degrees making it more or less offshore. Of course the surf looses alot of power and size so it’s mushy, but better than nothing. Lots of rocks in the water and rocky shore, but it looks worse than it is. On this day a few people showed up to save us, including the police, thinking we’d fallen in the water and was drowning. Fun day with only a few friends in the water.
Looking at the map, this place would have been a 500 meter long point if it weren’t for the breakwater and other man-made constructions, but I don’t think anyone was thinking about the surf potential here in the 50s.
It was not that long ago when most of the spots in my 'hood were pretty much a secret. As late as the mid 1980s a “crowd” was maybe 8 guys at one break. Now, whenever there’s a decent swell it’s a total shit-show with a combination of overly agressive youngsters and packs of floating obstacles. It is rare to surf in peace and quiet, which used to be the norm.
same here. hard to make the paddle out to a spot that usually finds yourself and a couple others out on a daily basis, when it is suddenly overwhelmed with a 120- plus of all sorts of surfers and craft becuase of the internet hype line.
my spot is sometimes crowded but gifts me with plenty of empty days with barrels and spits and somedays its 3to4xoverhead with no takers and other days its 6-8 and standup tubes. fickle with swell direction and tide and wind, but definately my favorite.
…
So gnarly…
What? What was the question???
I have a place I like:
Hard to see from public access, and only from extreme side view, a half mile away. Been seen there though.
In/out over rock/barnacle/muscle/urchin shore pound.
Best thing to me is - There is almost always some rights to be had. Maybe not long, but thick and juicy - and the only other person ever out there is on the rare occasion I bring my good buddy/“test rider.”
hmmmm… tricky
Very wonderful posts! Thanks guys!!
-Life is always better in the tube-
Pickleweed left, and Pickleweed right. Empty perfection, nobody out , swing right go left, go left swing right....or if you're feeling naughty just go straight...doesn't matter,....slight offshore, 2 ft overhead. Pictures are blurred to protect this isolated, rugged, landmark.....and breaks so far out that a 1000mm zoom means nothing. Sharks....jagged reefs, rip tides.....and seals...lot, and lots of seals...dispite my best efforts to rid the area of the vermin......they continue to reproduce. And they are beginning to learn tricks, some will play catch with you and a bar of wax while you wait for a set wave....while others have learned to pull your leash while you're getting to your feet on the biggest sets......strange.
it is NOT a secret,but it’s a favorite,NEVER crowded,the tow -in guys leave when you paddle out,it’a a long paddle out,a longer paddle in,it’s only really good when it’s 12 foot faces and above, it’s got big standup barrels,there’s always a tiger swimming around,it bumped a guy on a stand up the other day,I was out a couple days later,saw the top half of it’s tail fin,it was a foot and a half. You don’t tell your friend you saw it,he’ll have a better session!Your leash is very often toast after a session,about a foot longer than when you paddled out.It’s epic in other words.