Sunday 19th February and the day awakes as a pretty nice day and surf forecast is good too. Sam and I are "batching it" this weekend with Sue away. Sam is tired and sleeps in till about 10.30 and we don't hit the road till nearly 11.00 am and we are heading to the west coast again as I need to go to Anglesea to pick up something I left in cafe the week before. As we get closer to Geelong the wind and weather start to change and I am feeling no so optimistic about the surf prospects.
We get to Anglesea and we decide to try urquarts bluff - it's probably the third time in recent weeks we are having a look there. Driving along the magnificant greta ocean road it does not look great in the water - the wind has blown out the surf and it's pretty messy. Urquarts bluff is protected by a large rock bluff (surprise, surprise!!) and I think it may be ok. We arrive and there are surferes out but it's a little messy. We decide to head out away.
There is a strong rip in the water dragging you down the beach away from the point and Sam and I watch surfers entering the water towards the bluff end of the beach. We do likewise and start going out. It's very messy and most waves are on the reform, rather than clean. I head out the back and I manage to catch four waves in about 30-40 mins of surfing - I have to come in twice and head back out though as I have been dragged down the beach. The wave is a righ breaking wave but today the rides are pretty short. I get two good waves where I manage to go cleanly down and across and face and turn out the back of the wave - neither are particularly long rides but I was up quickly and enjoyed the rides. Sam has a fairly frustrating time just getting out amongst the mess, but lets me know that he got a couple of rides in the whitewater.
Urquarts Bluff is a pretty little spot and worth a visit but I wouldn't write home about the waves and that's perhaps why in the surf guides it tends to get only a passing mention at best.
29 breaks to go and 24 weekends left. It will be touch and go I think and I need to have a week off work I think to make it happen.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Break 20 - Sunnymeade Beach (Airey's Inlet)
Sunday 13th February and its a pretty ordinary sort of summer day. It's about 17 degrees, grey, with expected rain then a few sunny breaks in the afternoon - temperature expected to get up to about 23/24 degrees. We decide to focus on the prospect of sunny breaks and head to the West Coast. I am thinking we will go to Urquarts Bluff which is on past Anglesea and should take us about 1.5 to 2.0 hours. Today Sam, Susan and I are all going and I am hoping for some waves, although forecast is not fantastic - wind south westerly, conditions expected to be messy and waves to 1 meter.
We head off about 10.30 and at about 12.15 we are heading through Anglesea and the forecast looks pretty accurate as we drive through - its messy and not very attractive. We get to Urquarts Bluff and it's hopeless - crowded with a Union picnic gathering and hopeless surf. We then head onto Fairhaven and it's pretty ordinary there as well. We drive back towards Anglesea and decide to check out Airey's Inlet, we stop near the lighthouse and it's not looking great. We head back in the car and then as we head out of Airey's we decide to check out a dirt road and see what, if any beach, is down there. We get out at the car park at then end of the road and lo and behold in the water are three or four surfers getting a few waves on a beach with a right hand point break - the beach is called Sunnymeade.
Sunnymeade is not in my surf guide books and it turns out to be really great little spot. Sunnymeade has a winding 400 meter walk through bush down to a beach, which is set against spectacular red cliffs and the bush background. The waves are breaking out at the point over a sandy bottom and there are some fun, right handers with quite good rides and waves about 2 foot to maybe the odd, very odd 3 foot.
Sam and I head out and within minutes I get onto a great little wave - up quickly, head right and along the face, turning right and up to extend the wave and then out the back - Yohooooooooooo. A great way to start. Sam gets a couple of waves and then I get two more - one is probably 1 foot I reckon but I really enjoy the wave it's clean and I just cut along the face and sit on top before tumbling off the end. In about 30-40 mins I get 4 good waves in a spectacular setting. The water is beautiful and clear and the sun is out - just perfect.
After the surf we head into Anglesea for something to eat and Sam insists we go to Ocean Corner - which as you might guess is right on the corner, opposite the beach in Anglesea. The food is pretty good, great pies and salad rolls and Sam has calamari and chips which he raves about. Another day over and new break found - always good to find a protected surf in a SW wind. Looks like it would be best on a low to mid tide, which is when we were there.
We head off about 10.30 and at about 12.15 we are heading through Anglesea and the forecast looks pretty accurate as we drive through - its messy and not very attractive. We get to Urquarts Bluff and it's hopeless - crowded with a Union picnic gathering and hopeless surf. We then head onto Fairhaven and it's pretty ordinary there as well. We drive back towards Anglesea and decide to check out Airey's Inlet, we stop near the lighthouse and it's not looking great. We head back in the car and then as we head out of Airey's we decide to check out a dirt road and see what, if any beach, is down there. We get out at the car park at then end of the road and lo and behold in the water are three or four surfers getting a few waves on a beach with a right hand point break - the beach is called Sunnymeade.
Sunnymeade is not in my surf guide books and it turns out to be really great little spot. Sunnymeade has a winding 400 meter walk through bush down to a beach, which is set against spectacular red cliffs and the bush background. The waves are breaking out at the point over a sandy bottom and there are some fun, right handers with quite good rides and waves about 2 foot to maybe the odd, very odd 3 foot.
Sam and I head out and within minutes I get onto a great little wave - up quickly, head right and along the face, turning right and up to extend the wave and then out the back - Yohooooooooooo. A great way to start. Sam gets a couple of waves and then I get two more - one is probably 1 foot I reckon but I really enjoy the wave it's clean and I just cut along the face and sit on top before tumbling off the end. In about 30-40 mins I get 4 good waves in a spectacular setting. The water is beautiful and clear and the sun is out - just perfect.
After the surf we head into Anglesea for something to eat and Sam insists we go to Ocean Corner - which as you might guess is right on the corner, opposite the beach in Anglesea. The food is pretty good, great pies and salad rolls and Sam has calamari and chips which he raves about. Another day over and new break found - always good to find a protected surf in a SW wind. Looks like it would be best on a low to mid tide, which is when we were there.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Break 19 - Big Left @ Flinders
Friday 4th February and I knock off work early to go to Flinders. I arrive about 2.45 and it is grey and stormy but there seems quite a good swell out. I haven't been to Flinders for a surf before and it's a bit of a hike down through the pine trees, across a paddock and then down some winding steps to a black beach of rocks. Its very rural and I imagine it to be what surfing in Ireland would look like - green paddocks and black basalt cliffs with rain pelting down. I choose Big Left over Cyrills which is a bit further on to my right over a further stretch of rocks.
The paddle out to big left is not for the faint hearted. It's about 400 meters over black water and today its very grey ovderhead - it seems very sharky to me. About 5 mins in the rain gets heavier and lightning is striking so near you can see it. A surfer comes towards me saying he thinks the lightning is only 3-5kms away and he is getting out till it goes away. I think about it but decide to keep going. After what seems and age I get out the back where there are three other surfers. The waves coming through are big - 1.5 meters at least and heavy. I go over a couple and then get caught in between two big waves and get carried back some way. I paddlle back and sit for a while. I see a bloke take off and get wiped out. I decide to paddle in a bit and see if I can get onto something smaller or gentler. I get nothing for 10 mins - meanwhile the storm seems to be buidling and with it the waves. I decide to head in and try one last wave by paddling back out a bit more. I get set for a wave and start paddling but I can feel myself going to go over - I pull back and just drop off and decide thats it I'm out.
I paddle back thinking can you count this as a surf when you don't get a wave. I am going to count it on the basis of the effort I put in. It's a monster paddle back and the weather conditions don't help. I knew the weather was going to turn today because of the cyclone effects from up North but this has been incredible.
I'd like to try big left again as the setting is spectacular and perhaps I will after another 31 breaks are completed. And I can always do Cyrills, next store.
The paddle out to big left is not for the faint hearted. It's about 400 meters over black water and today its very grey ovderhead - it seems very sharky to me. About 5 mins in the rain gets heavier and lightning is striking so near you can see it. A surfer comes towards me saying he thinks the lightning is only 3-5kms away and he is getting out till it goes away. I think about it but decide to keep going. After what seems and age I get out the back where there are three other surfers. The waves coming through are big - 1.5 meters at least and heavy. I go over a couple and then get caught in between two big waves and get carried back some way. I paddlle back and sit for a while. I see a bloke take off and get wiped out. I decide to paddle in a bit and see if I can get onto something smaller or gentler. I get nothing for 10 mins - meanwhile the storm seems to be buidling and with it the waves. I decide to head in and try one last wave by paddling back out a bit more. I get set for a wave and start paddling but I can feel myself going to go over - I pull back and just drop off and decide thats it I'm out.
I paddle back thinking can you count this as a surf when you don't get a wave. I am going to count it on the basis of the effort I put in. It's a monster paddle back and the weather conditions don't help. I knew the weather was going to turn today because of the cyclone effects from up North but this has been incredible.
I'd like to try big left again as the setting is spectacular and perhaps I will after another 31 breaks are completed. And I can always do Cyrills, next store.
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