Watch: Put the saddle on the Donkey
It's been a while between rides but last month Donkey Bay, AKA Skeleton Bay, brayed once more.
The forecast for the swell was anything but a slam dunk with an off axis storm track that was shifting radically between model runs.
Keen to tick that box, Shellharbour goofyfoot Mibs Meddows threw a few bucks at a Swellnet Traveller account, said a little prayer, and jetted off. He was joined on the ground by a handful of keen Capetonians...and that's about it.
Though the Donkey wasn't as big as when Koa Smith rode it last year it was far less crowded and the small crew got two days of waves, including, says Mibs, "the best wave of my life."
This short vid was made by Zig Zag.
Comments
Great little clip. Waves don't get much better than that.
OMFG.
Oh well , may as well put the feet up Mibs , you’ve got Swellnet session of the year 2019 in the bag.
Nailed it at the halfway point. All class.
You in the video ?
Nah mate but it’s another Aussie we met there. His name is Kale from Stanwell Park.
That one of his is on the second morning. I got my dream wave the arvo before when the wind came up and all the drones got packed away. Ah well. It’s in the memory bank at least. I think I got drained from Cape Town to Angola on one wave!
enough to make me wanna be a goofy
Smashed it Mibs. Made the call back his judgement.
I feel we are entering a new era of chasing swells either chasing the missed / undercalled forecast, avoiding the XXL insta Gang bang or chasing what your gut feel feels you like Mibs did. BTW that forecast was bang on.
Yeah brother it was sick. And gathered a little more intel on the place while I was there.
Ben and Craig nailed it to a tee.
hows the mission to. get there Mibs?
and paddling into them, what did you ride?
Draining is the only word. 3 flights and long layovers. Luckily I’m running an Amex card and had access to airport lounges which got me and my mate in and made it slightly less boring!
Full marks for effort plus bonus points for dodging the instagram hordes.
Edit...as above, what board did you ride?
Stoked to dodge them this time too. Last time I went 2 years ago was pumping also.. but the ballito just finished and every pro under the sun was there. Couple of iPhone vids on my instagram if you wanna check it mate @its_mibs
I got a fresh Sol Paans shape made for it. He’s a Kiama local shaper. 5’9 pulled in round tail and a bit of extra width and volume up front. That felt good until it turned into a hand plane mid morning on day 1 and the front of it was never seen again.
I took 2 standard shorties and a 5’6 1/2 groveller as back ups (all Sol Paans). Rode the groveller for the rest of the trip which went insane with that extra volume under the chest and a shorter board to get into them pockets on the take off. Getting in early and engaging a rail is the key to that place. Then hang on and enjoy the ride! I was talking with Sol about boards for the place yesterday and I dunno if it makes sense but you don’t need a board that can generate speed, but you need a board that can handle the speed. The wave moves so fast down the point with the current that maintaining speed with it is easy once you’re up and going. From that gibberish you can clearly see I’m not a shaper and that’s why I put my faith in Sol haha
Nah that makes sense to me, I can relate to a local reef I just surfed on that east swell, draining but pushing along. All good info, I’ll probably copy that board intel. I’ll see you over there one time maybe, me and a mate tried to go last year but nothing happened in our window, so I pulled the pin on Portugal instead. Donkey looks really effing tricky once it gets bigger, both on our backhand too unfortunately, but we will give it a crack one day soon. He’s out this year with a new baby. As far as the mission, it’s all part of it. The harder the better I reckon. Really gotta get the (rare) degrees right for it to be on, which you’ll know an I’ll leave out here. Looks fun as I reckon. When it first blew up, I put the first magazine spread on the front door of my house. Wanted to remind myself that new adventures are never dead. Good score Mibs
Haha that’s sick. It’s definitely one place worth travelling to. Tell ya mate not to worry about the new born. Me and my mate both have tiny ones. I’ve been twice now both on the ‘there’s only 5 yrs left before it’s gone’ reason. Definitely takes an understanding wife to let you drop your shit and bail at a moments notice. Keep me posted if you’re thinking of going. A squad of 3 or 4 max is good. Hire a truck and split the cost down. Long and expensive trip for 2 days of surfing but it only takes 1 sick one to make every cent well spent
Magic short and sweet
I dare say that personalised forecast just paid for itself.
Cool reading Mibs.
Any backhanders getting good ones?
Yeah my mate Lee from my area came along with me. He got a sick one on day 2. He’s a beast on his backhand. Called it as the hardest place he’s surfed too. There was a saffa dude on his backhand who snagged a bunch of good ones too.
Gary is enjoying the raw, unfiltered, froth on this thread.
Well done Mibs, well done Swellnet team on nailing the forecast and the traveller pack in general for encouraging & enabling this sort of joy.
Bucket list next year! I'm gonna stay there for 3 months next year and just wait!!! What was ur accommodation?
3 months could get lonely! Accomodations cheap ($15AUD/night) beers and restaurants are cheap too. I don’t really wanna give you the name in a public forum because I’ll need a bed when I go back ;)
Cheers mate,i got something penciled in for $22/ night, see what happens
Pumping clip! Scooooooored big time and more my size than most of the clips you see.
What did the strike mission cost approx?
Bout $3,5k mate. That $80 investment on the traveller forecast was worth every penny