Pic. 8am I'm heading out
26 February Yorke Peninsula SA
The other day I slipped down for dawn buster session at Waitpinga. As usual (this summer has been hard to find a good wave to surf) the beach was offering 3 foot close outs. Desperate for exercise if any thing, all of half an hour passed and at most, half a dozen short rides were had. A big set brewed out the back and caught me un awares. I paddled hard toward them with the hope they would stay green walls, but no, I wore them on the head
My favourite 8’10 insisted on riding this wave with me dragging some distance behind by the leg before the leg rope plug ripped from its epoxy bond
End of session and straight to the repair centre
That brings me to how come that next Friday I found myself paddling out in overhead waves at a break I never surfed before at yorke peninsula, by myself on my 9’1 Ron House. The paddle board I keep as a reserve if the 8‘10 out of action. The board is heaver and dips and yaws and tips (not sure of the right terms). Not like the forgiving 8’10. So I might say I wasn’t feeling comfortable with the situation
The first wave was intense, I was far from loose, stiff actually as I raced down the steep face and picked up a lot of speed. I stayed far from the pocket, well on the green searching for hazards such as shallow rocks, wave form and so on. I worked out there was a racy section but all in all this wave was good, very good
I did some of my best and worst surfing this morning, It took me a long time to loosen up on these monsters
When I did the surfing was thrilling exciting and I felt sense of accomplishment to complete this wave with out stuffing up. Pushing the outer reaches of my surfing ability
The 9’1 once on the wave was (I think) the best choice my quiver has to offer, The 8’10 dosen’t turn as well at speed, My 9’9, I don’t know, if there wasn’t such a hike down the head land I may have try it out. I think it too would have performed well. But skinniness of the RH 9’1 (a fraction over 27”wide) acts like a gym stair climber while waiting for a wave but once its racing down the drop it becomes very responsive. Bottom turn, top turn, back toward the pocket, out of the pocket at speed was no hard task for the zippy quad finned SUP
There were times out there between sets there where the ocean was completely flat, glassy. Not a wave to be seen. But then out of no where these huge set of four rose up, peeked and peeled. Paddling out was a sinch and when you got in the right spot catching them was a sinch. I was loving this day
I first paddles out 8am ish (light off shore) it wasn’t until 1pm ish (no breeze for some time now) before the girl friend rocked up, impatient and dragged me in using non verbals. Locked knees firmly crossed arms and she wore a “Your dead if you don’t finish up now” expression, even from a distance, too far really to make out, makes me cower and tail between legs I crawled slow over. Closer but still out of striking distance, I put on a brave smile and a wave, but her fixed stance reviles I’m not out of trouble yet
4 hours by my self and the last half hour or so with two pop up surfers was a good chance to focus on surfing these big waves and pushing my surfing experience . Looking back I should have loosened up more, pushed my self more. Wiped out more, surfed the edge of my ability more and I would have the next day. But the wind blew up. Who knows when the next time is when the surf and crowds presents it self like that again
I hope the other South Oz paddle surfers enjoyed the conditions that day where ever they were
1pm packing up (look closely for the 2 pop up surfers to get a bit of perspective)
Gondy,
loved the post. Where do you Adelaide dudes like to go for decent surf?
Victor Harbour?
Christies Bch?
?
cheese, frog
Waits ,Parsons, Tunks all fickle but can be all time. Go west young man for the Juice or Kangaroo Island as long as you stick a couple of big eyes on the bottom of your board, Knights is a hoax.
Great story and pics thanks for putting the time in to post it .
Rob
P.S How's the peak on the second shot
Nothing gets the blood flowing like offshore winds and corduroy....... Those moments in time frozen in memory, to be lived as the moment exists. Drop everything!
You surf crap to be ready for these days..........