Its been a while

Well, its been a long time between waves as they say! Lots on at work, sleepless nights with little kids etc. doesn't make it easy to get out for a few waves.
I learnt to snowboard this past winter, which was great. I am addicted to riding snow and waves now!
I am now getting back into the groove of trying to score some dawn sessions before work. We have been blessed with some nice clean East and North East swells which mean all my favourite logging spots have been firing.
Lots to talk about in the coming months ... some surf trips, some more board restorations and repairs and shaping my first board ... a 'Lis' fish.
That's all for now.
Be nice and share out there. C.

Crap, Gnarly Surf ... but more snow :-)

Its no longer flat ... a big southerly storm blew up from the Antartic ... frigid winds an 15'+ of messy dangerous swell. Sigh ... can't win ... flat, then too big and too much at work!
BUT, the weekend's here and I am off to the snow. Yeah!
No posts for a few days till I come back ... hopefully we'll settle back into a clean winter swell pattern like the past few weeks!
Be nice and share out there. C.

Flat ... But snows up

Surf report this week ... flat, flat, flat. We have a saying here: "flat out like a lizard drinking" ... The ocean looks like a lake - even at low tide. Lucky I have had lots on at work this week ... Not missing anything! Too small even for my 9'6" Wegener Log (1" cedar stringer, 3" thick, lots of 10 oz glass)!!!
On the upside ... It's started snowing in the mountains ... 40 cm in two days, just in time for our ski-trip next week. My 6 and 3 year old girls are skiing for the first time ... I might try some boarding as well as skiing. Should be a classic ... Can't wait to see how my summer water babies dig the snow!
The flat spell has given me an opportunity to start to build some shaping stands so I can begin to repair some of the old boards I have collected ( a doz or so ... Mostly 70's single fins cause I can surf them!) ... More stories on my hobby to come, when I get some time to work on 'em.
So no matter where you are ... mountain or sea ... be nice and share out there. C.

Clear and getting colder

Getting colder here ... but a great day! This morning's swell was bigger that I thought (3-4'+ ... easy overhead + on the face) and I also stuffed up the tide ... it was half way to low ... some really solid peaks on my local beachie. A good mate of mine was out on his new longboard (he won it in a raffle at a contest) and getting some nice views on before getting slammed in the closeout.
I headed to a favourite reef/point set-up that doesn't normally work on an mixed E and ESE swell, was lucky and got some really neat 2-3' walls ... really glassy and sucking up nicely on the lower tide ... the takeoff was weird and shifty cause of the E and ESE waves ... got a couple of nice walls in the end some nice full-rail cutties off the shoulders ... got a couple of tip rides but no toes over ... next time!
All good, BUT, i was late getting home to take my daughter to her tennis lesson and got an 'earful' from the boss. One day I will learn to manage my time:-)
Hopefully I will sneak a quick surf tomorrow after lunch.
Be nice and share out there. C.

Keeping the stoke

Well, after scoring some clean 2-3' NE groundswell in my neck of the woods earlier this week for our "Queens Birthday" (sorry state-side crew, but there are advantages to living in a constitutional monarchy!) long-weekend - I had to do the early commuting thing for some meetings at work and missed some great sessions for the past few days.
Most of my local waves are fickle beach-breaks and will only be perfect for a few days ... but it seems the banks have been holding up really well in 3-4' offshores all week - spewing!!!
There are of course benefits to missing the 'early' ... in my case feeding my 1 year old son porridge (its winter here). It must give him a real energy boost cause he is only 11 months and already walking ... we think he is sick of chasing his older sisters on his knees (he better get used to it).
Talking of my older girls ... what a couple of little gremmies ... the 3 year old loves to ride on the front of my board and doesn't mind the odd 1' wipeout ... the six year old is a little more tentative ... she will get there. More on teaching my kids to surf in future posts.
So when I am not surfing I have to keep stoked and watching a couple of the new longboard flicks are classic way to stay amped! I was just watching the new "Glass Love" ... what a film ... so cool (I think its touring Cali at the moment). Nice to see people riding logs, fishes, bonzers and regular shorties: variety is the spice of life.
Anyhow, I need to go to bed ... the early beckons ... looks like a nice long-period E Swell and offshore ... I will dream of some smooth walls and the occasional little pocket to dip into :-) Will let you know how it goes.
Be nice and share out there. C.

Welcome to my blog

I am going to post my surfing experiences, talk about the joy of surfing, especially longboard surfing and logging (surfing heavily glassed single-fin longboards). I'll also share some of my surfing experiences, board design and my ideal quiver. Feel free to comment and post.

I live on the Central Coast in New South Wales, Australia. The beaches, points and reefs for the most part are clean (stormwater is our main pollution) and the waves are uncrowded compared with Sydney (even on the weekends). I commute around an hour and fifteen minutes to work in Sydney each day. My life is pretty busy.

I try to surf a board to suit the conditions but generally surf longboards or 'malibus'/'Mals' as we Aussies call them.

I have a young family so I find the dawn patrol hard these days but I try to surf one morning during the week and on the weekend.

I hope you enjoy my posts!