gnaraloo video + vic wave series round 1

here is the video from the gnaraloo trip.


there were a few issues with people learning how to use the camera! but it worked out ok...

had the first round of the victorian wavesailing series at point impossible today. the conditions were pretty horrible really... super up and down cross shore wind and bumpy, fat waves that were mostly closing out. it was very challenging to sail, i think most people spent 80% of the day bogging around. i ended up 4th which is an ok start to the series but hopefully we get some real conditions at the next event to get everything rolling! james ended up winning with a nice pushy and a few waverides - congrats!

gnaraloo trip

just got back from a trip to gnaraloo. it was pretty good...
we had conditions ranging from 1ft ankle slappers to a consistent 6-8ft grinding down dry reef with the odd 10ft bomb to mix things up!

there were a lot of dramas along the way as you would expect with such a mission, none of my new 2011 gear arrived in time for the trip which resulted in a lot of running around. frustrating!! not to mention my new 400mm camera lens arrived the day after i left... speed demon spotty ended up stabbing himself in the arm! and then there was the usual story of hitting kangaroos, injuries and broken gear.



the sailing itself was fun. on the small days the wave was really quite soft - good to practise some aerial moves. the only problem was the crowds! there was a lot of dodgy behaviour going on with drop ins and snakings being a regular occurence especially when the wind was light. when the swell ended up cranking though it definitely separated the men from the boys as they say. the crowds went from 30 sailors and 5 kiters on one day to 3 sailors and 1 kite the next!




on the big day the conditions were probably the gnarliest i've seen. the waves were stupidly fast, you had to basically speedsail down the face to reach the bottom in time. also low tide was right in the middle of the afternoon meaning the wave was triple sucking with mutant steps appearing on the face before throwing into a heavy barrel. on occasion there were nice big bits of dry reef you had to negotiate during the bottom turn so mistakes could have been very costly. i got a couple of solid ones before going too deep, as i came through the bottom turn i looked up to see a mast high, very heavy lip throwing right over me! i straightened out and luckily made it out in front of the wave as white water exploded behind me. the amount of water ripping over the reef on the inside coupled with dry bits of rock everywhere made it a precarious matter of timing and luck to make it back outside. twice i ended up on the inside and after a few close calls i decided to call it a day and quit while i was ahead with a few solid waves under my belt. there was a lot of adrenalin going that day!








i've put together a video from the trip so that should be online in the next few days...