What an Epic weekend.
This will be a long blog as so much happened and so much more has to be kept a secret.
For me the weekend started Thursday night after I knocked off work at 7pm. I drove up to Pacific Palms with the intention of getting there and going straight to sleep in my room (commonly refered to as my car). On arrival I decided that it looked very uncomfortable and that a couple of beers and some Saos with cheese would do the trick. Eight beers, half a packet of Saos and 45 minutes later I was ready to crash, but not before the people staying in the house I was sleeping out the front of turned up. There were about four car loads still with high beams ablaze from the drive down the Lakes Way. I wonder what they must have thought pulling into the driveway seeing a guy with a row of beers, a packet of Saos and some cheese sitting in the boot of an old Kia out the front. Needless to say, I survived the first night's adventure.
Friday morning was cold, really really cold. So I went for a surf out Boomerang, which looked to be 1 - 2ft and closing out, but quite smooth. I was pleasantly surprised to find it picked up quickly to a fairly consistant 2 - 3ft with a heavy barrel section on pretty much every wave, and I had it all to myself. A short period into the surf I swung to paddle into a nice right, when to my surprise and astonished fear a fin popped out of the water about a metre away. At first I shat bricks, then I realised it was a dolphin and got over it. Not sure if it was a good wave in the end, but an interesting start to one for sure. There were heaps of dolphins after that and I became quite relaxed with them. After all I am half dolphin myself.
After Friday's first surf I hooked up with Todd and spent the next couple of hours psyching him out about the looming contest. We had a surf at Bluey's, which apparently is named after a cow which fell off the cliff, and Todd lost his middle fin. Being the professional that he is, he did not let this phase him and he took his surfing to the next level pulling crazy 360s all over the shop. I was spewing and offered to buy him some new fins for the comp so he would go back to just doing cutties.
Later that day he hooked up a new fin, which was lucky for him ... lol.
Friday afternoon and I was back out Boomerang with Matty O and Todd. Matt was pulling some fully sickeley aerial manouvres I taught him. He is getting pretty good at them too. After the morning's barrels I was happy to be just throwing the tail out a bit and doing some rail grab floaters for the punters up on the lookout.
A few beers and a good nights sleep (got to bed about 3am and rose at about 7am) saw the contest held at Bluey's. I won't give too much away as there will be an official write up at some point, but rest assured it was a great morning for surfing.
Saturday afternoon and we were off to Sandbar, where it was pushing in at about 2 - 3ft, super smooth and fully sickeley. Although my surfing did draw the attention of many on the beach, the real hero was Matt 'Hickey'Lawson who picked up an epic barrel. I was paddling out when I saw him struggling to get onto a pearler. He turned off the bottom, pulled up onto the open face and started to race down the line. Then it all happened. In a fashion that only Hickey knows, he started a cutback. Quite possibly the slowest cutback of all time. He was turning so slow I thought he had either fallen asleep or was stunned by the sheer perfection of the wave he was on. The lip was catching up fast, and still he was cutting back. By now he had almost turned 90 degrees to be facing the beach (half a cutback). Since that's a full cutback for Hickey, he started to turn back down the line, then BANG, the lip went straight over his head, clean as, he was in the barrel. Standing straight as you please he cruised in the keg for atleast 3 seconds, racing at stall speed, then was spat out. Instead of claiming it he decided a smooth run of his hand through his hair, casual, would suffice. I had to settle with a couple of ollys, backhand vertical reos, and tail drop floaters, but that's ok too.
Saturday night and the presso was at the Recky. A great night, although quite empty. The Recky said the bus was booked out for most of the trips, but everyone seemed to see it arriving half full or nearly empty all evening. That's inbreds for you. I got maggot and didn't tell any chicks they look pregnant when they were not, which was a relief. Millsy had a great night, and may now be pregnant, but I'll let him tell you about that.
Sunday, and another beautiful day to be alive, arrived with the sun shining and some nice little waves about traps. I think we surfed Sandbar again in the morning. I got smoked a couple of times pushing my floaters out in front of the lip a couple of feet, which as it turns out is hard on your ankles when you land.
Sunday arvo and we were en-route to Treachery. It looked a good solid 3 - 4ft and kegging off tits, but turned out to be 2ft only. We must have arrived to see the freak sets rolling through. Still it was nice and hollow, so I scored a couple of dozen close-out barrels which are always fun for a hoot. Wes and Matt scored some nice lefts, while Rich was too gay and got out after 10 minutes.
The last few entries are shorter because by this time I was well tired and everything started to blend into one big session.
Lessons learned include,
Trying to switch stance, whilst performing a back side floater, is extremely difficult, and should NOT be attempted by beginners.
Locals don't really appreciate groups of young surfers rocking up to a party trying to root all the chicks.
Just because you are grotesquely obese doesn't mean you can't get kegged and come out.
Not everyone who stays at your accommodation will shot in to pay for it, help clean up, thank anyone for booking it, or buy any beer.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for helping on the comp day, it made it all run smooth as.
See you in the water or talking crap at the fence.
Epic.