Month: February 2009

Day: Saterday 7th Feb 2009
Time: 8am
Location: Eastern View
Wind: Strong to Light SW on shore
Swell: 2 foot
Something else: Surfed with Mr Outtram before he went off to photograph a wedding in 45ºC temps, nice day for it, ouch!

Conditions: well it was supposed to be firing but it wasn’t, the swell built a little from the night before but that offshore didn’t show up until later that day, around 12pm. Turned out to be the hotest day on record in Melbourne and contributed to the states worst bushfires on record.

Vibe: lots of crew down early scratching their heads, wondering what happened. Everyone jumped in for a grovel anyway and a few started hassling for slop, much to our amussment… We paddled up the beach to another peak that was probably better and escaped some of the madness.

One or two of these shots could become the stimulus for some paintings down the track I think.

Day: Friday 6th Feb 2009
Time: 7pm
Location: Eastern View
Wind: Light ENE cross shore
Swell: 1-2 foot building swell
Something else: love those moments when you score a little peace when you don’t expect it.

Conditions: we have had zero waves all week, to be expected in this neck of the woods at this time of the year, summer is never ideal on the west coast unless you get in the car and get really serious about chasing it! Hard to do with work, house, family commitments – oh to be a teenage surf bum again… Surfed an interesting little bank, really close to the beach, kind-of right in the easterly trench, made a few right through this second super sucky section, bloody good fun. The water is close to as good as it gets in Vico at the moment, too hot in the 3-2 tonight, I can feel some boardies coming on…

Vibe: classic evening glass, conditions improving with every set, myself and one other guy out at this break. No words exchanged, just a knowing smile and a nod.

Pretty amazing footage, it had me in right away. I am sure this is what George Greenough was looking for way back when…

Brian Conley also has a wave submited in the Billabong XXL ride of the year, from 2 angles so you can check the POV and how it looked from the beach, very nice.

The power was out for 6 hours so we had candles and torches out, add into the mix a digital SLR and some boredom…

Day: Friday 30th Jan 2009
Time: 4.30pm
Location: Fairhaven
Wind: Light sea breeze
Swell: 1-2 foot wobbles
Something else: first boardshort session for the year, down the beach with the girls cooling off as the power had gone out at home (ended up being out for 6+ hours)
Something else plus: the shark spotter plane flew over and did about 5 loops right where everyone was in the water, everyone got the out of the water instantly, although the plane didn’t stick the siren on and headed off down the coast. False alarm I guess but it was an interesting scene to see the mass exodus from the water!

Conditions: small, closing out and a little random, found a section here and there. Highlight was the water temp, warm enough for boardies, yet cool enough to be refreshing after a string of hot dry days, yuck Victorian hot with less than 20% humidity…

Vibe: learn to surf day I think, I paddled out on my own and had a crowd join me within 15 minutes for no apparent reason, other than I was out there already…