How good was it? Finally, some decent waves again.
Saturday, I ventured to the Northern Beaches. Apart from the fact that we were all hungover (and potentially still a bit drunk) from various Christmas activities – yes, the silly season has well and truly kicked off – we did get some good waves in Dee Why. It was about 3 foot and good banks. A super fast left and a not so great right. I had some fun waves but did not necessarily enjoy myself as much as on other beaches up North. It was a strange vibe in the water and it felt quite local – as in fuck-off-this-is-my-beach local. No smiles, just lots of testosterone. Anyway, waves were good and hangover only half as bad after the surf. When I got back, I figured the Bra, Tama and Bronte were all pumping too. So the trip to the Northern Beaches was not really justified. Should have stayed in the hood. Well not quite, Bondi missed pretty much all of the East swell, but in the neighbourhood anyway.
The East swell was meant to build over the weekend so I was heading to Maroubra this morning and oh boy it was big. Like proper big. Like you rarely see it in early December. I was about to chicken out as all I could see was whitewash. I did not see many people catching waves either. A few bombs coming through and closing out. Paddling out looked like a pain in the butt. There was no way in hell though my mate was going to bail now that we made the way to Maroubra and peer pressure was on for me. Reluctantly, I gave it a go. We were lucky enough to get out in a lull and made it surprisingly quickly and unscathed to the line-up (which only consisted of the two of us as everyone else was in the corners which were even bigger). Anyway, quite happy to have made it out, one massive set after another rolled through. I made a few half arse attempts to paddle onto some sets but quickly changed my mind. The drops were massive. I felt like I was in Pipeline myself (well that might be a slight exaggeration). So there we were – sitting out there by ourselves dodging close-outs. And then…holy crap…massive, massive wave popping out of the blue (you see what I did there…). We were just looking at each other, mentally wishing each other good luck and see you on the other side (or not). Deeeeep breath, deeeeeeeeeeep duckdive and hold onto your board for life and again, got fucked over a little bit, but it was not too bad after all considering it looked like a whole skyscraper of a wave was breaking on top of us. Next challenge, how to get back to dry land without getting killed? Well, some positive reinforcement and gentle persuasion was required. I promised my friend a case of beer if he took off on one of the crazy sets (still wanted to have some fun out there). You would not believe what you get guys to do if you promise them alcohol. Straight away onto the next wave. I did not want to stay out by myself so I psyched myself up and paddled for the next one and tadaaaaa I had an awesome left all the way to the beach. I was almost tempted to paddle back out again but all I could see was walls of whitewash and it would have been far too much hard work. That was my exciting one wave session for the day. Quite happy nevertheless for having had the ball to paddle out and catch a wave.
I had a couple more surfs in Bondi after having survived the morning session. 2ft fun at most times but a bit inconsistent. Nothing to write home about.
Weekend ahead looks like it’s got some waves in store. Excellent. Looks like a big Southerly coming through on Tuesday. Crap weather but good waves. Fine by me.
Venus Goes Gidget 
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