Saturday 21st May and off the back of surfing Woolamai and with it being mid tide I decide to check out a few of the breaks on the Island. My venturing round to Flynns reef and surfies point proves fruitless however as there is not enough swell. In the end I head to Forrest Caves which is about 2 or 3 kms down from Woolamai, righ off the main Phillip Island Rd. Forrest Caves must have one of the ugliest approaches you will ever find to a beach - it sits on a desolate stretch of the main road and you enter down a dirt road into a car park behind grassy dunes with no view of the beach. It's very uninviting. Today however, climbing up the steep step to the platfrom lookout to the beach, the actual beach looks fantastic - skies are blue and you can see down both ways from the beach across the numerous breaks the Isalnd has. The swell is slightly more consistent, on the fuller tide but the off-shore breeze has picked up and so the sets are holding up a bit. There are about 10-15 blokes out but stretched across three group spots in the water.
I head out straight from the bottom of the stairs to the beach and get out the back smoothly - I really notice the water temp on my hands paddling out (it's down to 15 at the moment in Melbourne) but I am quickly warmed up. Again I just enjoy feeling the sun and looking at the magnificent day. I struggle to catch a wave as they either hold up on me or I give way to blokes on the inside. Eventually I get two in pretty quick succession and the waves are breaking right with some good rides if you nail the take off in right position - one of my rides does this and I go down the line right, keeping low to get some speed up and take it right down the line before it breaks and crashes. I have more long periods of near misses and just flat spots before the highlight of my day is watching a bloke in his early forties I reckon nail a 1 metre wave and go hard and low right and just about tube it - it's a great ride and both myself and another bloke out talk to him about it. He doesn't think he tubed it but in his own words "it was a beauty, mate". I get a small ride and after 50 or so minutes out decide to call it quits and come in.
A good day all round and with 15 more breaks to go I think doubling up is the only way I'm going to make it.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Break 34 - Woolamai, Phillip Island
May 21st and it's a ripper day in Melbourne. Perfect Autumn day with sun out, reasonably clear, blue skies, a light wind and termperature is about 20 degrees Celsius. It's Phillip Island again today as the forecast is for waves between 1/2 to 1 metre and long waits between sets. I head off about 8.00 am, travelling solo and the low tide was also at 8.00 am.
I get to the Island in about 90 mins., the road is great and the trip would be even quicker if there wasn't always road works somewhere on the trip. I head to Woolamai and turn into the first car park and there's about 15 cars there. The surf looks fantastic in that the sun is out and its very clean - the waves are pretty infrequent and small but on a day like today you just have to get wet.
I venture out straight in front of the steps down from the car park and with the wait between sets and size of the swell - 2 foot, it's a breeze getting out. I am sitting there just enjoying the beauty of the day, looking at the beach with the view right down to the surf club in the distance and further on to the black cliffs at the end of Woolamai. My quiet contemplation is then broken by a local seal darting through the water right in front of me. It's a great sight and whilst a I do think seal=shark, I try and put that thought out of my head and focus instead on getting a wave.
I do manage eventually to catch a few waves including a great floater across the top of a breaking wave as I am heading right- it gave me a real buzz, and it is just unfortunate that I have no idea how I did it and so am unlikely to replicate it anytime soon. Still a young bloke out with me looked at me afterwards as though he thought it was pretty impressive. Catch a coupe of good waves going right in what is about a 60 minute surf. Really enjoyable and contrasts a bit with my previous wild Woolamai experiences.
I get out the water feeling like some food but first have to get out of my wetsuit which now has a ribbon attached to the zipper after the original leash broke about 6 weeks ago - this proves a major drama, and it takes me about 15 minutes to wrestle out the of suit and I decide then I will buy a new wettie. I head to Full Circle in Woolamai, via the coffee/food shop up the road which has great pies and burgers and is worth checking out - coffee was pretty good too. I check out the wetties and end up with an upgrade on my 5 year old ripcurl 3/4 with traditional zip up the back - I try the new chest zip wetties but find it too hard to actually get out.
It's such a great day I decide I'll have another surf and so break 35 is just around the corner.
I get to the Island in about 90 mins., the road is great and the trip would be even quicker if there wasn't always road works somewhere on the trip. I head to Woolamai and turn into the first car park and there's about 15 cars there. The surf looks fantastic in that the sun is out and its very clean - the waves are pretty infrequent and small but on a day like today you just have to get wet.
I venture out straight in front of the steps down from the car park and with the wait between sets and size of the swell - 2 foot, it's a breeze getting out. I am sitting there just enjoying the beauty of the day, looking at the beach with the view right down to the surf club in the distance and further on to the black cliffs at the end of Woolamai. My quiet contemplation is then broken by a local seal darting through the water right in front of me. It's a great sight and whilst a I do think seal=shark, I try and put that thought out of my head and focus instead on getting a wave.
I do manage eventually to catch a few waves including a great floater across the top of a breaking wave as I am heading right- it gave me a real buzz, and it is just unfortunate that I have no idea how I did it and so am unlikely to replicate it anytime soon. Still a young bloke out with me looked at me afterwards as though he thought it was pretty impressive. Catch a coupe of good waves going right in what is about a 60 minute surf. Really enjoyable and contrasts a bit with my previous wild Woolamai experiences.
I get out the water feeling like some food but first have to get out of my wetsuit which now has a ribbon attached to the zipper after the original leash broke about 6 weeks ago - this proves a major drama, and it takes me about 15 minutes to wrestle out the of suit and I decide then I will buy a new wettie. I head to Full Circle in Woolamai, via the coffee/food shop up the road which has great pies and burgers and is worth checking out - coffee was pretty good too. I check out the wetties and end up with an upgrade on my 5 year old ripcurl 3/4 with traditional zip up the back - I try the new chest zip wetties but find it too hard to actually get out.
It's such a great day I decide I'll have another surf and so break 35 is just around the corner.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Break 33 - Summerlands, Phillip Island
1st May and today it's off to Phillip Island again. I'm on my own today as Sam has footy and I'll try and get back for that at 1.30 and so head off at about 8.00 am. I make pretty good time to the Island but once there I meander a bit checking out Woolamai, Forest Caves and Flynns's reef before I settle on Summerlands, better known as the home of the fairy penguin parade.
Summerlands has a point break, breaking over a shallow rocky reef and is accessed by walking down the boardwalk leading to the penguin parade. Today there are two people out and the waves are mainly about 2 ft with the odd 1 meter set rolling through. I head out pretty easily and sit out the back waiting for a set to come through. After about 10 mins and some waiting in turn a wave comes through and I'm up and heading right down the line - it's a pretty short ride and then goes to whitwater. There are some good rides out there though and you can ride all the way from the out the back into the beach - about 30 meters or so. A good fat 1 meter comes through and I'm up quickly but just as quickly I loose it and go splatt onto my back, on the left hand side of my board. I'm getting a bit frustrated now.
I chill out and paddle slowly out the back and wait my turn. I get two small rides and then at last get onto a good wave and go gliding right and then the wave breaks and reforms as I go right and I'm able to go up and turn down and find myself then shooting across the small, transparent, green wall for 10 meters as I come into the beach. A great way to finish and I decide to head for Smiths to get my usual coffee and a feed.
The challenge is still there to get to fifty and I think my family is giving up - for me the next Month of may will determine it and I think I need to be at 38 at least.
Summerlands has a point break, breaking over a shallow rocky reef and is accessed by walking down the boardwalk leading to the penguin parade. Today there are two people out and the waves are mainly about 2 ft with the odd 1 meter set rolling through. I head out pretty easily and sit out the back waiting for a set to come through. After about 10 mins and some waiting in turn a wave comes through and I'm up and heading right down the line - it's a pretty short ride and then goes to whitwater. There are some good rides out there though and you can ride all the way from the out the back into the beach - about 30 meters or so. A good fat 1 meter comes through and I'm up quickly but just as quickly I loose it and go splatt onto my back, on the left hand side of my board. I'm getting a bit frustrated now.
I chill out and paddle slowly out the back and wait my turn. I get two small rides and then at last get onto a good wave and go gliding right and then the wave breaks and reforms as I go right and I'm able to go up and turn down and find myself then shooting across the small, transparent, green wall for 10 meters as I come into the beach. A great way to finish and I decide to head for Smiths to get my usual coffee and a feed.
The challenge is still there to get to fifty and I think my family is giving up - for me the next Month of may will determine it and I think I need to be at 38 at least.
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