West Island Left

Seeing we are heading down the path of once in a decade waves, what about the old chestnut Dry Reef? 12 years on the coast and surfed it once- mid winter heaps of west in the swell and full tide. Weird experience you'd take off and be looking at the houses on the espalanade, the swell was that west. Looking back it must have been macking out to sea for it to pushing past bluff/west island on that angle & be 3 ft on the reef.

Or what about that other fickle jewel in the crown -the mouth, specifically '93?

Got some photos of that swell at the Pines last year, that crowded looked like the Superbank. There was one swell that eclipt that one though, around 91-92, reckon the only bloke that got any photos of that one (midweek I reckon) was a local by the name of Curly- there the only ones i've seen

All great photo's zambezi jewel in the crown would have to be Bullies north wind 6-8ft straight south swell mid tide best wave on the coast hands down.

Zambezi, some great shots there- especially some of those roundies at the Alley

Pines chaos

Olivers reef same swell 6ft+ hell paddle and 4 guys on it

I had a fantastic session at Olivers in the early 90's. Never seen it break the same since.

Ah, Dry Reef - that's an interesting spot. Back in the 90's the Power Plug factory guys (Vance, Mike etc) were always on that spot whenever it broke. Reckoned it was like Kuta Reef but with a really gnarly current - I never saw it breaking properly though. A few mates have surfed a couple of the inside reform reefs at Yilke that are apparently quite good, but again - and in over fifteen years of regularly surfing that coast - I never really saw anything worthwhile.

I scored the Mouth too in '93. Unbelievably good for what, a year? And then it vanished, never to be seen again. Maybe we'll see something on the backside of this recent wet spell (in the MDC), if the output volumes are significant enough. Did the solo paddle from Hindmarsh Island a few times too - dunno if I'd be that keen again though.

Plenty of other unique spots down south if you've got the enthusiasm to walk for miles. But in reality, the bang for your buck just isn't there like it is elsewhere in the state (or country).

The stories from the mouth in 1993 have always fascinated me. Any one got any stories images related to the sweep, shape and length of the wave and also the local marine life.

I hear the marine creatures are a lot bigger than other areas around the mouth of the Murray.

filthy bank that one was..adelaide airport departure lounge had a large aerial shot of it on the wall ,fantastic sand formation..steve hinze broke a legrope on take off on a larger day,swimming after his board,was was struck on right arm by a creature ...which left a series of puncture wounds to forearm and bicep.small hammerhead shark likely culprit. fishing was good too,many a large mulloway was landed but with 50% of them bitten clean in half during the play....

The bank at the mouth in 93 was great with a period of prime conditions small clean swell ne winds in the morning sea breeze in the arvo.We used to go down before work not full dawnies for obvious reasons hit it about 7.30 paddle from sugars beach outgoing tide would make the current rip straight through the break making for sand cockle grinders it would change every day but the mornings would be when it would slab and grind.94's bank was better more like a sand point still very strong rip through the wave if you missed the set you would have to go around the back and do a lap.The best bank I've surfed down there was a left in winter 96 which broke right out the back of the mouth itself a team of us surfed it amazing.The peak out the back was a slabbing barrel which then ran for over 200m

I was surfing the mouth with Fleety one time probably in 93 - both paddling together and all of a sudden he was dragged backwards by the legrope for a few metres. The look on his face was priceless. We figured it was probably a hammerhead that came up for a sniff and then as it turned away got its head hooked on his leggie.

Hi all.

Just caught up with his thread and it is some good reading. The last few posts about he mouth inspired me to sign up.

The mouth broke this year from October through to November and then is was gone. It was a massive lefty bank on the salt creek side and if you got the right one it broke just about into the throat. Only a hand full of crew were onto it, reckon the bank would have been there for a while from all the water that went out over winter but we didn't see it until we started fishing it in early October.

As previously mentioned conditions had to be prime (small swell N/NE winds) but it was pretty good. We tried to surf it on the smaller tides and even then it was constant paddling if you got out back and didn't pick one up. Was still all fresh water on the top also. Have a few photos some where at home but the aren't the best i'll see if I can dig them up.

The place changes that quickly, and the difference in the beach and sand from October to now is remarkable. We pulled a fish in this year bitten in half, seen a few bronzies to 9ft and some of the other guys fishing the bar reckon they seen a white one day, luckily for us this was after the bank had gne and we weren't surfing there.

Have heard the stories of the righty bank back in the day, if anyone else has stories or even photos that we be great to see. I would say if we get as much water coming out again this year it will carve the channel out again and there will be a bank again later in the year

I remember that day last July, surfing the Pines with 500 or so of my closest friends. A couple of kneelo mates were already out at the Alley (one features in one of the pictures) but the tow-in guys were already out there by the time we'd checked out a few other spots. Prolly should have gone straight to Chicana's or Fisheries. But I've never cracked either in 8 or more attempts and didn't want to spend another 40 or so minutes driving just to find nothing. Tell me they're not mythical.

the mouth was surfed little thru the 70s,victor locals told stories of kirra like righthanders....fucking bullshit we said, and carried on surfing waits, parsons,tunks...the 1993 bank was as good as you will get it..adelaide airport departures lounge had a aerial pic of it showing the great sand formation.large pointers do cruise the mouth,if you ever saw the footage of juvenile pointers at stockton beach newcastle,well its the same senario.....an attack will happen its only a matter of time...the 1993 bank was mostly clear water with many large dark shapes lurking.....phil 'skunk' broadbent surfed it lots in those early days and scored plenty of quality waves, has lots of good noah stories too..

'93 mouth started right in the mouth itself (around mid Feb)- waist high grinders that when you buried a bottom turn fins met sand. From here the flows out the mouth kept coming which formed 2 banks over the next coming months.

The inside bank was more manageable(when you got dragged past the takeoff spot you'd have to get one in on the guts and run back around and have another go- no chance of paddling against it, Did a couple of sessions with the boys in the old mans zodiac in the early stages.

Also plenty of mulloway & plenty of stories of said mullies being pulled in sans their back half!

The outside bank was a bit rounder but more of a gamble as was inpossible to sit on.

These 2 banks took from Feb to Easter to start linking up proper and stayed at it's prime for 2-3 weeks after. Some incredible midweek evening sessions (legs up and shallow strokes), and was at the point that not a doubt was cast in taking 2 wheel drive vehicles down as far as they'd go, walk the rest of the way, surf then sort out getting a tow back to Goolwa.

Heading into May the bank started to fat up a bit and lose its shape, with the best of it gone.

Photo below is at the end of it's reign, doesn't seem to be to many photos around at all- guess everyone was frothing too much to document

Some more great photo's fella's that photo of the alley with the full white water explosion behind the surfer I'm claiming as me again stoked.I remember flying down the mouth in Curlys corrolla with the big A ,Mike G, Matty you would get bogged but being so light we would just pick it up and off we would go again great memories lets hope it will return one day.Surfed the left on the other side late winter last year with Scotty A and Mike G so many seals packs of them they loved Scotty chasing him everywhere he went to the amusement of us.RIP Scotty will never forget the seals love for ya. hey wouldn't mind getting a couple of copies of those photos Zambezi how about it.Love the angle of the shots

Great discussion guys, also just joined up to add my thoughts.
Had long heard about the murray action, and love hearing about all the hoax/once a year waves around victor (although I don't live in SA anymore). Nice shots of yilkes.
Have been chatting with some other mates who've been reading this forum and talking about the left off Pullen Island (outside horseshoe bay). A couple of us have seen it break but never paddled to it.
Anyone got any stories or shots?

Hi fellas. great shots and stories etc. had to join up just to share a little Pullen Island story... few years back on one of the megaswells me and 3 mates decided to try something new and paddled across to the left... looked great from the top of the lookout at Elliot... but once we entered the zone it was a different matter... 2 of said mates had mals and tho' we all made it into the lineup, the first real set was a thumping freak one which dissipated us pretty quick. I saw my mate furthest on the outside just get over the first one which then landed on my brain... leggie snapped so quik and clean barely noticed it. 2nd one on head after first horror hold-down, then saw friend in the wash as I was gurgling in froth yelling at him to help me "fuck him"... he yelled he was too busy trying to save his own life... on the 3rd and 4th wave I just let myself get rolled in a bit but I was well and truly rooted. the other 2 mates had already been washed into the inside of the bay. I know we all got our "war-stories" but as this was my first and only experience of Pullen's just thought I'd share it. have had some horror hold-downs over the years but this was easily one of the worst. Interesting looking set up though from what I remember of it

Ah, the mouth...when will we see it's like again. THE BANK as in the various reminiscences above was a special time. Being a member of Paul Keating's cultural surf attache & then (nominally) a university student, I pretty much surfed it whenever it broke clean in that golden period...including a very special & highly memorable week plus of 'groundhog day' proportions. Consistent & long barrels on that particular stretch of coast?! Somebody stop me! And yes, Curl's did have a ripper line-up shot of it in all it's glory!

Love the chat about sessions gone, but who the ##uk is going to paddle across to West island next time it looks as good as some of these photos?

I suppose a ski would be ok.

There won't be a crowd. Yet.

@ whaaat- only know of 1 person that has scored Chicamas, local middleton surf school operator & lifetime south coast resident scored it on a massive westerly blow up about 15+ years ago. He's the only one I've heard of & it sounded like fun, but not what you'd call alltime.

@ fraser-gordon: what about sharing about the other rarity in the Pt Elliot region 'the Turkey Run', probably only 5 guys on the planet that have surfed that cornball location. By the way its LT mate

@Ben-Coyler: it's already starting to be sussed out I think. Late Oct last year is the first time I've ever seen anyone out there, 5 guys out of a half cabin parked in the channel. Probably 4-6ft, really low tide ENE wind, looked to be breaking about as wide as it does. The Guys looked reasonably competent but still there was only a couple of waves ridden in about hour (seemed to be very selective), so guessing it's a bit hairier than what it looks from land or in the photos

I'll try to dig out a couple of photos of another wave not yet mentioned in here 'Toadies Right'- first person in with the location gets a gold star. And its no secret spot, just a once in a decade novelty wave.

Cool thread. Great reading!

Ha Ha Lt classic.Now the turkey run what a wave?Surfed it once with Hoskings and Mike G.Hoskings leading the charge as only he can no regard for his own safety solid too 6ft maybe bigger.Toadies seen the photo's of the mystical beast with scaba and Curls tearing it up.How about lunch rags, little padang,big padang

chicamas? fotos... or it didn't happen. Chicken run has a great take-off, but like almost everything else on this bizarre coast, soon craps out... but not whingeing (only during summer)

Only Chicama's I know is the one in Peru ;)

@ Craig

Nah, I'm talkin' about the one that's east of the mouth. (If you hit Policeman's Point, you've gone too far.)

Good Dog, it IS a bizarre coast though, eh....

Great thread...

Anyone surfed the left point break down near Cape Jervis that needs a due south swell to work? Just 'fishing' for comments...

thats the chicama i know and have surfed since 1981 up until 1993,yep sth swell and even a howling s.e. wind swell ,3 days of blowing up the coorong it can get good,very sharky you will see a 12 inch plus dorsal fin cruising each surf there as i have ,its very tidal with the passage currents and can turn on and off within the hour ...almost as mystical as pylon point ,hey' BIG A'.......? maris zalups cape jervis charter operator has seen huge pointers there within 20mts of the shoreline at chicama....a direct line from chicama ,fisheries to cape willowby theres a bombie that breaks in treacherous water,take off area moves around 200mts,hasnt been surfed yet [to my knowledge] sure to get towed soon ,hope fully by some local chargers, scary water,shame those shark pods dont work..why does this site only allow me to post once every 12hrs ? my error or a swellnet glitsh...it giving me the shits...any one having same problems ?i can edit and add to a post but cannot start a new one, so ill start another here -many years ago kong elkerton called all american surfers a bunch of fucking softcocks...wonder if he still has the same views ?

to the fleurieu and adelaide crew, great thread , although, keep the details to a minimum, talk about your surf not the conditions needed
or how to get there, flip the photos, lets not open up the floodgates to some of the southern waves we have that are still uncrowded,
let the spirit of adventure be half of the surfing stoke we all love.

Nice photos Zambezi. You should sell prints of these.

@NAWT

Hmmmmm, take yer point, but it's not as if a whole bunch of crew are gunna head over from Vicco or down from the East Coast for the once-in-a-decade swell event that the pix in this thread all depict. And that particular swell event lit up the whole of the Vicco west coast from 13th Beach through to Portland. In 7 years of surfing the Fleurieu coast, I can honestly say that event last July was the only time it got as good as, say, Vicco's West Coast gets most years in April through August. And many 'known' Fleurieu spots couldn't even handle the size!!

@LPT, JWG here, mate...Toadies right...Curly's folly!
@Fraser Gordon aka FVG
The Mouth left in the winter of 96 was a slabbing barrel which then ran for over 200m as mentioned by yourself above...it also broke waaaaay out the back. I remember me and a certain ex-car dealer type surfing it once on our lonesome on the most overcast morning imaginable with the water literally alive with mysterious splashing sea-life, screeching dive-bombing birds, and a pungent 'fishy' stench...the smell of impending doom?? Discretion being the better part of valor, we got the fuck outta there...well, after a couple. It wasn't that good anyways...er. Definitely one of the sharkiest surfs I can recall having...and I've had some doozys in both SAs (South Oz & Africa).
As for Lunch Rags, Little & Big Padang, Turkey Run, Poodles...well, let the 'secrets' lie where they may...see ya at Foxy's jump-rock!!

Whoa zambezi, that last shot of s.alli is a cracker!! I've been surfing this coast for 30+ years and never heard of Lunch Rags, Little and Big Padang or Poodles... neither have me mates... perhaps different crew have different names for the spots. I once tried the right hander off frenchies on a decent sized swell... I know crew who get onto the left regulalrly, but this particualr day (not really caring whether I lived or died) I thought, well why not, let's have a looksee... once I paddled around the back of the rock and tried to postion I realised why people dont bother... there were boils everywhere and a sweep from hell dragging me into the impact zone... which of course happened when a big set came (I don't have much luck in the bigger swells as you's can probably tell by now!)... so after another pounding, I finally get back onto my board (laughing my head off being out there on me lonesome - and realising I probably wouldnt mind living a little longer after all) when I heard what sounded exactly like a car door slamming shut. I looked around towards the bay and there was this whale breaching about 100 yards away. His/her wake actually reached me... we raced each other back around the rock where I hightailed it into chickens... that sure got the adrenalin goin for a while!

Keep up the fotos and stories boys... good hearing about some of the old days from different crew.

Bit too much detail about jervis me thinks. I recall getting ready to jump off the entry point rocks at a spot down that way and nervously laughing with a mate about sharkiness, then coming across a big plastic barrel bitten clean in half. Made that surf a quick one...

What about Boomers Reef?

It's only a drop, but a fun and fast drop at that!

I surfed it a lot back when we were on our anual holidays down at Port Elliot and I found it a fun option between the slow fat walls of Middleton and closeouts out at Waits.

On bigger days you can get a big cut back wall that leads into the shorie.. the only problem is that the wave starts getting way better shape towards the shorie and lures you in.

I was caught a couple of times on a solid 4ft ankle deep closeout with nowhere to go, hoping for the best while getting sand blasted.

Surfed it solo quite a few times as well as no one really bothers with it, but as I said it's a super fast/fun vertical drop.

Zambezi - great pics. That last one: I've always thought that house on the farm in the bay at Kings was awesome. What a lifestyle for those crew. Beautiful blue sky surf days and also the smashing brutal roaring forties weather would be nice with a book and glass of red in front of a fire looking over an angry ocean. From memory theres a place right on the point now? Hope it never turns into encounter bay on that side...

For those interested in surfing the notorious Shark Alley, here is a photo taken on the weekend by the Westpac chopper proving its name sake..

See if you can spot the reported 5m Great White.

Yikes!! Lucky there has been no surf lately.@craig boomers reef is great fun rarely surfed also Poodles on the Chiton side of Bullies is a little gem of a wave which is also rarely surfed.As the photo above indicates who cares about surfing with a few other crew about not me.

white pointer at about the 2 oclock line ??

@fraser-gordon "Poodles"..we use to surf a wave called "Railways" was really good during the 80's early 90's lefthander..but havent seen it break since (probably has)are we talking about the same wave?

Railways is great fun when it's on, which is all too rare an occurrence. That submarine at the 'Alley' is farken huge!! That's why it's one of the fastest paddles into and out of the line-up down south!! It's an epic wave when it's on which is also an extremely rare thing... The Saturday afternoon of July's swell last year was epic! I believe some of those shot's of the boogers and stand-ups on dusk are from that session?? Any more pics?? Looking forward to a few fine waves coming this weekend hopefully which will be a pleasant break from the months of average waves... Here's to slabbing pits and the end of a lacklustre summer of waves for SA surfers...

thats one big noah,,probably just had a feed at the mouth 2 hrs before that pic then a arvo cruise round west island onto waits past baa baa's onto chicama then up the gulf across down the other side around k.i.??? would be interesting to follow this beast if it was sat tagged. there is a term for sharks that only feed at dawn and dusk[escapes me at moment] for whalers.hammerheads e.tc. but pointers will feed any time of the day or night, ....most gulf attacks,deaths have been midday -arvo bright sunny days...in 5mts of water or less...does anyone have the picks of the pointer that was caught[days] after terry gibsons dissapearence at marino,still have a vision of that killing machine sitting on a tandem car trailer at the o'sullys boat ramp. andre gorgescu hunted and caught it...

@Victor

dont have any photos, but your story reminded me of my 1st trip to Streaky Bay in the late 80's..drove into town and there was a Ford F150 ute parked out the front of the pub connected to a trailer with a recently caught Great white on the traler..the white was longer than the F150 and the girth well huge..Welcome to Streaky Bay!

Poodles is the left next to Bullies when Bullies is breaking off the the second reef some waves connect all the way through when smaller its more of a wrapping peak a wave which is quite fun.Could be the same wave? Poodles was named after it's big brother Bulltera's which is Bullies,Bullnards,nards or Handby.Poodles breaks on a smaller swell than Bullies needs and gives you a great view of Bullies left when it breaks toward you.

Yep, Poodles is the wave immediately adjacent to Bullies...hence the cornball name! Barrels to be had there though! I believe Railways is a bit further on again towards ol' Shite-on-Rocks? Now Fraser-G, I think the story behind another cornball location name is well over due...LUNCH RAGS!

how do i upload a photo of railways?

fellas ,i think your 30km stretch of coast is safe from invasion of other aussie surfers, let face it,your magic days of perfect waits or parsons is just another day at sth straddie or nsw sth coast,vicco etc. kings head hmm nice drop shame about the face.the shark factor, dribbleton slime, evil sou easters, your safe forever. cant say ive ever heard someone say there going on a surf holiday to the s.a. south coast.....stay safe ,enjoy what you have......... 'BIG A' its exercise time.....!!! wax up and paddle man, gotta get that gut off ya... nice surf pics below.

Just to add to the Fleurieu thread here are some more shots showing the area at its best..