Bronte

What happened to the small waves?

You might have started surfing last summer in small, gentle summer waves. You got completely hooked, so hooked that you don’t even mind the cold. You got yourself a nice, warm wetsuit and are dead keen not to let the winter chill to keep you out of the water. I’m very proud of you frothing gidget.

There might be only one small challenge, well, actually it’s a big challenge. In winter, the small gentle waves you are used to from summer turned into proper big waves. The winter swells are usually much stronger than the summer swells (unless it’s a summer cylone swell) delivering big waves. They are created by big low pressure systems off the coast.

Predominantly in winter, the swells are coming from the South which means that beaches like Bondi who are facing South get the whole brunt and get much bigger in winter. Ok, admittedly, at the moment we have a NE swell which means Tama, Bronte, Maroubra are bigger than Bondi but that’s more the exception during winter).

That also means for beginner gidgets, that it’s mostly too big to surf. Even though we know you are super brave already because you are determined to surf despite the cold, you are not quite ready throw yourself into 6ft Bondi close-outs (and don’t worry it’s not fun for more experienced surfers either).

But where to go?

If you don’t have a car and you are forced to stick to Bondi, you can always try the North corner, which is usually much smaller. And remember, you don’t have to get out the back anyway. Just play in the whitewash and practice your pop-ups. You can never have enough pop-up practice and by the time, the size is a bit more manageable again, you’ll be catching and standing up in green waves in no time.

If you have a car or friends with car, you might want to go for a drive. What you are looking for is a protected corner. E.g. any beach that is facing North or North East will be protected by the South swell. Some of the waves will still get in but they will be smaller and gentler. You are now wondering how the hell will you know a) where the swell is coming from and b) what’s a North facing beach?

Any surf report sites like coastalwatch, swellnet, seabreeze or willyweather will tell you which direction the swell is coming from. You can tell by learning how to read swell maps and watching the waves too but it takes a bit of practice. For now, best just hope online and read the surf report.

In order to find out what’s a North facing beach, look at a map i.e. Google maps and find a beach that’s open to the North or Northish at least. Have a look…you’ll find some of Sydney’s Northern beaches like South Manly, Collaroy or South Palm Beach. They should be smaller in big South swells.

In contrast, if you look at Bondi, you’ll see how it’s open towards the South and won’t get as big a wave if the swell is coming from the East compared to East facing beaches like Tamarama or Bronte.

You can also buy one of the little wave-finders. They are little surf-guides that show the best swell direction for each beach. So if it says, South swell magnet, DON’T go there. The surf-guides are generally written for more experienced surfers who are generally looking for bigger waves so just do the opposite of what the surf-guide tells you. If the surf report says, swell coming from the South, look for a beach that’s best in North East swell and go there.

I hope it did not do your head in too much. It takes a while until you get the hang of the swell direction (see also surf report crash course) but you’ll see with a bit of time and experience, it will all come together eventually and in the meantime, just ask the right people. So if it’s too complicated to get your head around it just now, don’t be too shy to just ask in your local surf shop for example. They should be able to tell you where you can find a protected corner.

x Clauds

Weekend Wave Wrap: Out of sync

There was good surf all weekend. That’s what I hear anyway. It was one of these weekends where I happened to be either at the wrong place or at the right place at the wrong time when it came to the choice of surf sessions.

Saturday, I got up at 6.30 to make it up North pre-high tide. We’ve checked a few spots and it was not as big as we expected.  Bungan looked good though from up the hill. Glassy and 2-3ft. It’s never a good sign though when you are about to get changed to get into the water and there is a mass exodus from the water. We’ve asked some of the guys who came out of the water and comments ranged from ‘fun, get out there’ to ‘oh a bit full now’ and ‘a bit small’. We did end up hopping in there anyway and yes it was ok but not the type of surf I would get up for at 6.30 on a Saturday morning if anyone had told me beforehand what it’s going to be like. We were simply too late. The high tide did not do the spot any favours at all…we should have been there earlier. My bad timing did extend beyond surfing. We were even too late for brekkie. We could not decide where to have brekkie at. By the time we did, they’ve changed over to lunch. Oh and did I mention, we missed the finale in Dee Why in the Layne Beachley Classic while we were trying to find brekkie.

Whilst I was up North, Maroubra, Tama and Bronte were apparently really quite good. Of course…

Sunday, I wish I would have stayed in bed altogether. I did not feel great (don’t feel sorry, it was all self-inflicted, I accidentally had maybe one drink too much at a friend’s bday party the night before). We checked Tama and Bronte and Tamarama looked great. 4ft + and super clean and not even crowded. But it looked like hard work. I thought it would be irresponsible to jump in pretty heavy surf when I was not 100% fit. I did not want to end up on Bondi Rescue either. So we thought Bondi would do. It was much smaller than Tama but seemed safer at the time. Hm not sure about that one though considering how busy it was…I had 3 waves in 45 minutes. Crap waves and then I was over it. It was definitely not my best surf weekend.

That’s ok. Happens. There will be waves all week. Whoop whoop. Surely, I’ll make up for the crap weekend sessions at one point.

Weekend Wave Wrap: Sick Waves

What a fun weekend of waves and sun. It was around 3ft depending on your beach of choice. No wind at all. Sun all weekend. We like. On Saturday, Bondi looked very pretty but a bit small.

So I went down South for an early surf. I love those autumn days when the sun’s out. The water is still warm but the pesky onshore winds stay away all day and swell has that little bit of extra bite.  Even though I felt under the weather myself due to a nasty cold, I could not resist and jumped in nevertheless.  Such a fun wave, even though it was a bit shallow with rocks sticking out where we surfed. Some grommies were playing around too. They kept on dropping in on each other and pushing each other off the waves until one of them got hurt. I presume he hit his head on one of these rocks coming out way too far. Oh well, that happens when you drop in…

Either way, the surf in the morning was so worth it, even though I had to pay for it in the afternoon. Despite it being a gorgeous day, I had to spend the rest of it in bed feeling sorry for myself when the flu took over.

A good sleep (pretty much 16 hours) did wonders though and (almost) made me feel my normal self again. Normal enough anyway to head to Maroubra for a surf. We tried the South end first which was …well…3ft but mean 3ft. It was out closing out quite a bit but then I did see quite a few barrels too. I thought the bank was just mean and pulled out of most waves before going over the falls and crashing on the shallow bank. I figured they were board breakers.  We decided to give the North End a shot. And, yes it was crowded, but it was also damn good. 3-4ft walling up for quite a while. I had some fun waves even though I had to ‘share ‘ a few….

Surf stayed good all day. Bondi was glassy all afternoon. I waited until the crowds left and went for a late one. Again, heaps of fun. 2-3ft and a fun right off  South walling up all the way to the middle. Yay. I stayed until after dark. Gutted day light savings is over. It’s going to be dark by the time I get out of work. Bye bye after work surfs. At least it’s light early again which means longer surfs before work.

All week should be good. The current East swell is meant to be building further. I guess we’ll see some decent size waves in Tama, Bronte and Maroubra but even South Bondi should be fine. Let’s only hope it’s stays that way into the long Easter weekend.

Never Enter Smelly Washrooms* – Surf Report Crash Course Part 2

This is how I learnt to remember compass directions when I was little…North (Never), East (Enter), South (Smelly), West (Washrooms) in clockwise direction. Little did I know that this would ever come in handy when I try to decipher surf reports. Welcome to the world of swell and wind directions – the second part of the surf report crash course (see here for part 1 about surf size in case you missed it).

Most surf reports sound something like that:

That’s 5 or so mentions of compass directions in the first two sentences.

Ok, I shall attempt a translation for you. E(ast) or N(orth) facing means that the beach is open to the East or North. Bondi is a South facing beach. Maroubra, Tama and Bronte are facing East. So if you are not sure which direction the beach you are at is facing, just check out Google maps where you can see which direction the beach is open to.

If you read things like East swell, North swell or South swell that denotes the direction the waves are coming from (how they are formed and why they are coming from another direction is a different story).  Depending on which direction your beach is facing, the swell direction can be good or bad i.e. mean waves or no waves.

Ever wondered why Bondi is flat sometimes, while Maroubra is pumping? Well, Bondi as a South facing beach misses any swell from the East. Having said that, if it’s a massive East swell and all the East facing beaches are unsurfable, Bondi might be the pick.  Because if it’s a big enough swell, it will literally wrap around the corner and you’ll get a smaller size version of the big stuff.

Same goes for winter, when we tend to get big South swells. Bondi can’t handle big South swells. The waves are likely to be ball and board breakers… South swells hit Bondi with full force as a South facing beach (see glorious drawings below). You are better off to check out neighboring beaches or head North to protected beaches that don’t get hit straight.

So in short, if the swell direction = same direction as your beach is facing = there will be waves on your beach.

With the wind it’s a different story. If the wind is coming from the same direction like your beach is facing = not great. That means that it’s onshore. That’s when you get the mushy conditions. You can usually tell by not even looking at the wind direction though. The air tends to smell salty and humid (as the wind carries the salty water on shore…). If the wind comes from the opposite direction, it means it’s offshore which is good for your surf conditions. E.g. Southerly wind is not great for Bondi as a South facing beach, whereas wind from the North makes for nice conditions. Best is no wind that’s when you get the glassy effect.

Sorry but that’s only the super basics, there are hundreds of swell and wind combinations and angles that make or break the surf conditions on a certain beach. Local knowledge is the key (no worries, you’ll get there after a few years..).

If this is doing you head in: Sometimes it helps drawing it up (in your mind or on paper). See below that’s my example of how the surf conditions in the surf report above is affecting Bondi: ENE swell in blue and Southerly wind in orange… See how the waves go straight past Bondi and the wind right into it. Worst conditions for Bondi really.

And if it still does not make any sense after carefully interpreting these drawings, don’t worry, half the time they get it wrong anyway…

Or you can try to follow me on Twitter @rangsies for gidget friendly reports from Bondi most mornings.

*That’s actually not the way I remember it. I’ve got the Austrian rendition in my head: Niemals Ohne Seife Waschen

Weekend Wave Wrap: BIG

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.

Oh and here are the Pipe Masters highlights >>