Last Few Months - part 2

The day after I had returned from my 10 000km roadtrip to WA, the forecast for Sandy Point was promising with a 20-30 knot Easterly and 2-3ft of swell.


Sandy Point is primarily known as a speedsailing destination but it actually can offer seriously good wavesailing conditions. When the elements of tide, wind and a solid ground swell combine it can be be as good as anywhere I have sailed. It is a sectiony beach break presenting opportunity for mutiple smacks and aerials. A perfect training ground for learning new moves with no need to worry about consequence.


Seeing the forecast it was no surprise that most of the top guys in the Victorian crew had rocked up. It was good to see everyone going for decent aerials and smacks and few guys were practising gu screws and goiters. The atmosphere matched the conditions - it was fun!


My Dad was filming from the beach for the whole session, I wanted to try and get enough footage to finish the video I had been working on since WA. Unfortunately during the session I tweaked a past injury practising goiters. This cut my session short and by the time I had got home I could barely walk without a sharp pain shooting up my back. This had ruined the plan to finish the video so I made a decision to head back to Tasmania on the first decent forecast and hopefully score the last solid conditions of summer.

The first day in Tassie presented with 30 knots cross offshore and half mast high waves. Pretty good conditions! But my injury stopped me from sailing within half an hour. Devastated, I missed out on three more days of pumping wind and waves while I sat around the house barely able to walk. After a week of no wind but pumping surf (perfect for the O'Neill Cold Water Classic), the forecast shaped up for an epic day at Bluff Beach over Easter.
Bluff pumping

Bluff is a raw and powerful beach break, on a solid swell the wave breaks off a rocky point peeling into the bay before reforming on the inside sand banks. When the swell is over 5ft this part of the wave packs a serious punch. The lip really projects over the shallow bottom, you can punt huge aerials here if your timing is good. If not you will be smashed into the sand and probably end up picking up your broken pieces before a demoralising walk back up the beach.
Bluff pumping

When the day arrived I was stoked. Bluff was the best I had ever seen it. With a 15 second groundswell peaking at 5.5m coupled with a strong Southerly blowing cross offshore, the waves were big, glassy and powerful. Watching the Beach pumping and the nearby Bluff Reef explode from the sand dunes was an awesome sight. Unfortunately for me my back injury was still pretty bad but there was no way I was missing out on the conditions in front of me. When Bluff gets like this it is a world class windsurfing wave, so I downed some pain killers and hit the water!
Bluff Reef

It was an awesome session cut much to short by my injury. After catching a few waves and a few massive swims I had to call it a day... The forecast looked like there would be a few more days of wind but barely any swell. I just hoped it would deliver so I could finish my video to the standard I had wanted. Unfortunately the swell and wind virtually disappeared over the next two days leaving me to dog around in 5-10 knots and tiny swell at Nettley Bay to try and finish the video. Reluctantly I had no choice to finish it off with no more solid conditions on the horizon before leaving to Maui a week later.
Check out the final product here...

Last Few Months - part 1

Since November I have been on the road, only spending 3 weeks at home in nearly six months! During this time I have been travelling to most of Australia's best wavesailing spots and have competed in a few of our premiere events, including the Mambo and the Australian Wavesailing Titles held at Margaret River.

Bluff Beach - Marrawah, Tasmania

After spending a month on the rugged west coast of Tasmania scoring some solid conditions with Leon Jamaer I prepared for the 10 000km round trip to Western Australia with the plan to base myself out of Margaret River. The aim was to also explore Esperance and Geraldton if the conditions allowed. The drive was mind numbingly boring, the only way to make it through was to crank the music and down the energy drinks.

Aerial - Australian Titles


Finally arriving at Margaret River after a quick session the day before in Esperance was a sight for sore eyes. We pulled over the hill leading to Prevelly just as Bombie and Main Break exploded with a solid mast high set. It was on! With less than a week till the competition started it was super busy on the water. Unfortunately we were let down by the conditions during the waiting period for the comp, only getting one day of solid conditions to finish a single elimination. The event itself was well run and former world champ Scotty McKercher took the title with an impressive display of vertical smacks and tweaked airs. After the event was over we drove 8 hours north to the mining town Geraldton, hoping to score some decent jumping conditions at Coronation Beach. Unfortunately we were let down as the Indian Ocean went flat for 10 days... It is hard to explain the boredom of sitting at the Corros campsite for a week with no electricity, running water, wind or waves...

Stalled Forward - Australian Titles

Cutback - Australian Titles

Main Break Sunset


It is safe to say I was glad to get out of Gero and to get back to civilisation in Margs. After two weeks of solid conditions and finally starting to dial into the unique wave at Main break the forecast looked promising for Esperance. Perfect timing for my solo trip back home! Leaving Margs at 5am I arrived in Esperance just as the seabreeze really started to crank. A punchy head high swell and 25 knots of cross offshore wind made for one of the most fun sessions of the trip. The next day the swell had dropped by half but it was still a fun way to end the trip before the huge drive back to Melbourne.

Final WA session


The drive itself wasn't without its dramas. A close call with a kangaroo on an early morning drive could've ended badly and definitely got the adrenaline pumping. On two occasions I nearly ran out of fuel when the roadhouses I had planned to stop at were shut. I didn't think I would have ever been glad to get to a roadhouse and pay $1.80 per litre!

Last morning on the road

Making it back to Melbourne and my own bed was a massive relief after 5 days on the road - sleeping in the back of my van on the side of the highway. I felt like my first trip to WA had been an awesome experience, and spending time in the big swells of Margaret River definitely raised my confidence levels. I was looking forward to testing out how much I had improved back in Victorian wave conditions. Luckily the forecast was promising for my return...