Where did you surf today?

clearly not in vicco then ... the summer doldrums are well and truly here.

Not perfect, but meaty peaks running into long inside walls with zero to minimal crowd, as opposed to the hordes at the obvious spot, which was bordering on the ridiculous, but each to his own.

Fat but fun point . Two out.

Yesterday's hipsters were nowhere to be seen.

Left the office to pick up the boy from school. Drove by the surf just as a rain belt passed and the wind switched in front of my eyes. Scrambled into boardies and was out the back in two minutes flat. Caught two waves and rode them both to the beach. Drove to the school in wet boardies, ran barefoot up to his classroom just as he walked outside.

Three surfs down, I'm knackered and I need to eat pizza.

The boy agrees.

No-one old enough to have children should have that much energy Stu.

I haven't surfed three times in a day for a few years I don't think.

Did you go left off a headland today , Stu ?

Was the obvious spot Narabeen , BB ?

Is that joint surfable these days ?

Manly Blowin. Narrabeen was probably good too but maybe not as clean, I didn't look. Everywhere is still surfable at the right time with the right attitude. Perfect conditions in a narrow window, forecast from days before? Don't bother.

Nah, Blowin. I heard it was OK on the low tide earlier but I was somewhere else. Surfed a right off The Headland, and the Qantas pilot you met in Bali was out there too, just three of us digging in, occasionally getting caught inide, and having a right romp.

Good times.

3 out in 2017.

Who says we're not the lucky country !

Out front was looking a million bucks this morning with distinct lines of swell visible from a hundred metres out yet approaching with a subtle irregularity that allowed them to peak and spit over low tide banks. Barrels every direction you look. Some of them were big triangular wedges where the swell bent back into itself causing a lip line like a pitched roof, and others straight-topped freight trains often ending in closeouts. A warm offshore is simply cream on top.

Great vibes in the water amid sly games of one-upmanship over yesterdays waves: who scored best and where? Sounded like anyone who was out for the evening session had a strong case but there's no real losers here. It's December, it's offshore and four foot, we've had waves for days and there's a new east swell due this arvo.

Gold around here this morning!

Just had another session slightly up the coast, not quite as good with the rising tide but oh, just to be out there! The wind laid down to nothing, surface is reflective glass, and the water is warm again. I've heard so many stories of great waves yesterday, the car park was buzzing, yet this morning when I went to get a coffee the cafe was full of rolled-shouldered business folk staring grimly at their iPhone screens prepping for the daily drudge.

Surfing can get romanticised to the point of tedium, in fact well beyond it, but shit, imagine not finding joy on a morning like this?

Weird.

Crazy day.

It's the sort of day you wish you could bottle and put on the shelf to retrieve later as a tonic for the shit life can throw at you.

It's not over yet , but I'm already rooted.

Fish and salad , have a little lay down then see what happens .

Cheers Huey.

PS Stu - I actually went for an early. You inspired me / shamed me.

That and an inconsiderate dawn low tide.

Weighing up the chances for another session. The tide is too high now so it's just a matter of how long the sea breeze hangs off for.

Autumn in summer, send more of this our way!

Amazing waves the past 48 hours, but evenings like last night and mornings like this morning make it great to be a surfer. As you said Stu, these other guys don't know what they're missing.

Geezus it's been good...and crowds so spread out everywhere it's been just you and a few others.
Can't quite believe I booked in 3 weeks time off work before Xmas and I've scored these waves. And I leave Monday for a Pacific hit and run strike mission.
Life is real good sometimes.

Love to hear about your strike mission, CRG. 

After the fact of course, and no names no pack-drill etc.

Good luck...

South Maroubra mid to late afternoon yesterday. So hard to get out, washed back in twice for every successful punch through the corner. South reef was smoking (for Maroubra anyway) and some big peaks in the corner. North end looked decent in the late pm. After the storm it just turned on.

Cheers Stu...been a few years to get the time off to coincide with the swell for this place...and heaps of waves to warm up before I go

Far out you guys have been scoring

And again... Yew!

That's a very pretty wave

This week has been the best surf trip of the year, and I haven't travelled more than two kms from my front door. Should be eating nasi goreng between sessions, or fish tacos might be more appropriate given what's happening out front right now.

Better than the one you went on in April ?

Ah yeah...maybe not, that was pretty good. Still, every single time I've left the driveway this week I've known I'll be surfing somewhere good, the sheer consistency and quality feels like travelling through some other wave zone - definitely not the east coast in December. Couldn't care if it goes flat for a month after this run.

Santa has come early for the good folk of the Illawarra.

When ya get to my age fella you won't be saying this!! Flat for a month? Let's hope not!!!

....and Sydney Blowin. There will be a lot of us in recovery this weekend, though it looks like there will still be waves around.

Yep, could say my body is aching hard. Surfed out, but always room for more ;)

Well on this side of the Tasman it's been pretty cabbage surf wise
Constant straight head high pulses and light winds , ah the luxury of the west in a la nina.
Water temp is way above average
Hasn't rained in weeks, farmers are crying.
Beats the strong SW and cold water we usually still have at this time of year.
Metal bird to Vicco straya on the moro
Could be hunting a grovel on the surf coast Sunday.

hey will you lot cut it out, have some thought for the long suffering souls down south

"Love to hear about your strike mission, CRG.
After the fact of course, and no names no pack-drill etc.
Good luck..."

Hey Stu...
An anticlimactic story all round. In short a sick family member, swell downgrade, uncertain island transfer and poor looking winds combined to a last minute cancellation. A long expensive way to go to surf ok waves when home has been and is looking good.

Ah well, it'd be worse if you got there to find no waves.

Still on the bucket list I presume?

Totally...the set up is not dissimilar to Cloudbreak/Restaurants except a left and right. We've surfed the outside left numerous times up 8-10ft where it closes out. At that size the more perfect right starts to break but only 2-3ft. We want the right at 4-6ft which I think has the potential to be the best waves I've ever had???
One day...

Sounds good , mate.

Just give me a yell next time you think it's on and I'll keep you company.

You're ok with someone paddling for every wave you catch from the safety of the shoulder aren't you ?

Haha...might be ok if it wasn't every wave.

Hey BB- You're not in Bali at the moment are you ?

If so I think we exchanged pleasantries this morning.

White glasses , Black G -land T- shirt , white boardies ?

Shared a few fun waves with your mate Pete the pilot from Bulli this morning Stu .

Fun but labour intensive !

Nice fella.

Sorry Blowin, not me. I have just got back to Sydney after a week on the Gold Coast chasing up some old mates for a project I am working on. No plan to be up there for a while.

......but let me know if you are ever passing through Dee Why it would be good to carry on our debate face to face over a beer.

"It's the sort of day you wish you could bottle and put on the shelf to retrieve later as a tonic for the shit life can throw at you."

Yeah, thanks blowin. Meanwhile, I have spent much of the past 4 months experiencing the shit that life can throw at you. the number of surfs have been few, but at least I'm getting out for body surfs at the local during summer.

Finally had a day off yesterday, but was wasted going to the dentist and then off to lunch with a bunch of old mates, 5 hours later .................................... wasted.

This morning's body surf, 2 - 3 feet and occasional bigger, was just the tonic, so much fun and blew some cobwebs out.

Holidays from next Wednesday for about 3 weeks. One way or another, I'll be in the water.

Glad someone was getting it. Beaches far less crowded than expected with everyone at the shopping centres or already on holidays.

Hey Stu, there was a place for sale down your way in early november at a beach I have told you I attended quite a few times through winter. Was trying to get the missus to sell up everything and buy it, without luck of course.

Destined to be hanging around at work for a few more years hoping for a redundancy that brings retirement in early, but that just never seems to come my way. The price of competence!

8 hour drive. 8 hour surf. 8 hour drive. 4-6 ft. lucky spring swell. at times 2-4 out. now for that looooooong summer flat spell.

8 hours? That puts you at either John o'Groats or Lands End.

Always north m8 ;-)

So is anyone getting stoked out by Huey on this fine winter solstice ?

What’s the word on the street ?

unusually barmy here currently at 4 degrees with no wind but will get to 12 or so later but no swell to speak of without a long drive.

Still overcast this morning but a few noticeable changes from the past week. It was the first morning without a southerly wind - no wind at all in fact - and a new SE swell had replaced the short-range south energy of the past four days. It was good to get a chip shot entry from the back boil, a running start through the peg, but those sets were rare, the real action was on the peg itself with the wide ones slowing their approach to the reef, draining off the bottom and shifting that water into the lip, which made for a sketchy drop followed (if you made it) by a couple hundred metre run down the reef with the in between sections swinging back at you, some of 'em standing up like a Nascar berm just gagging for an applied approach to rail surfing.

Some mornings any crowd angers you, all friendliness is feigned, and other mornings, such as this one, you sit out there and look down the line to see teachers and plumbers, reprobates and environmentalists, professors and schoolkids, artists and printers, all dressed in black chatting between sets, and the fraternity is undeniable. Esprit de corps. The group spirit.

Last few days I've been riding a borrowed 5'10" Jed Done flex tail and buzzing on the late stage release from the flex. It's not a shape I'd ordinarily ride but experiencing a new feeling while three-decades deep into a surfing life is worth the effort - there are still new pleasures.

Only issue with the board, beside the shape, is the tail is a thin blade of carbon so my back foot is a bit further forward than usual. If I bought a custom I'd get the tail filled with EVA plastic so I could put a tail grip back where I wanted it. On one late drop this morning my foot landed on the carbon and slipped off the back while my front foot remained on the deck, so I went down with a 12 inch carbon scalpel swinging between my legs.

Last wave had a V'Land style double up that ran at a sharp angle to the rockshelf and I got an untainted feel of the flex from every speed pump. I could get used to that.

Excellent reportage there Stu . Thanks for such an extensive and colourful reply. That’s the insight I darent hope to receive but is always a chance with Swellnet.

It feels as though I’m existing on second hand stoke at the moment , having watched from afar as others got shacked off their tits all week with myself nursing a stitched face and relegated to the bench.

Here’s a little tip : If you’re ever pondering upon the ideal camp mate , may I suggest a touring German micro surgeon with a burgeoning interest in surfing , fishing and the ocean in general. A cool cat that grew up playing concept industrial electro rock in a giging band as he learned his craft. A fella with a razor sharp mind tinted with a bent for a dawn toke and a lunch time session on the tins.

Shame to see him leave. Amazing the feeling of safety that arises from having your own personal trauma surgeon handy . Legend fella to boot.

Anyone else scoring ?

Or not scoring and ready to kick the dog with frustration ? I’m all eyes.

Just reread your post Stu.

That little slice of gold trumps most articles you’d see in a surf mag. Nice work.