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Bullies
The Bullies return
Monday, 16 October 2000
The weather has been very sporadic here lately with the opportunities for a session being likewise. So it was with a certain amount of uncertainty that we headed down to the South, bypassing the Mid as I knew it would only be tiny down there, judging by what I saw at our local beach. At home the wind was blowing from the east to northeast and I expected something similar down south but with a bit of lumpiness to the surf because of the persistent onshore winds that we’d been experiencing for the previous few days. I certainly wasn’t ready for what we were about to see as we reached the top of the hill overlooking the coast, as it looked nothing like what we usually see...mid18june.jpg Looking down to the south I could see the horses manes blowing off the back of large waves breaking a very long way out. While out in front of us and looking over the other side of the small town of Middleton there was whitewater, which is a rarity to see as it only looks like this when the surf is really huge. Just out of curiosity and for the failing memory banks I said to the girl, "let’s just go and have a quick look at Middleton". We did and it was a very brief look at best. Even on the best of days Middleton can look uninspiring but when it’s this big and the place is devoid of all life forms it can look daunting and extremely unfriendly. The tide was very low, as it is at this time of the year, with the first waves breaking about a kilometre out. There was some reasonable shape to some that we saw but hell, it certainly wasn’t worth the long paddle out. If a bloke was desperate enough to go out, then the only way would have to be via Suicides and then you’d be sitting way out the back on your own. Not very pleasant thoughts when one ponders the tragic events that have happened recently, over on the West Coast.
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So we finished our Cooks tour of Middleton and headed west to Bullies, which I thought would be going off its brain, considering the size of the swell that was around. Pulling into the car park I noticed that there was only two cars there and only one guy out in the water. At almost the same time I looked out to see a reasonable sized set coming in but to my disappointment it wasn’t as big as I’d hoped it would be. The girl decided to take our two dogs for a walk along the beach, while I got the camera gear set-up, just in case Bullies started firing. Walking to the lookout I noticed another bloke just about to enter the water, then looking down at the shorebreak I thought to myself. "Well, I hope you make it Sport, as that shorebreak looks as vicious as I’ve ever seen it". I’ve mentioned before in an earlier story that the beach here is very steep just where the shorebreak hits. It’s particularly very nasty, with jagged rocks that look like decaying teeth almost lurking under the water, ready to rip into a board or the body of an unsuspecting surfer. Surprisingly, in the end he made it out there quite easy, as most generally don’t with that 30 metre or so gap from the sand to clear water.
The new bloke was about out there for only about half an hour later, when more guys with boards started to appear. It seemed as though most of them knew exactly what time the lowest the tide would be, as the break itself appeared to working with better consistency than before. I also noticed that a lot of the blokes who were getting caught inside some of the bigger ones were ditching their boards and diving for the bottom, rather than duck-diving. Another thing with the tide being so low was that a lot of the rides they were getting turned into really hollow barrels.
As is nearly always the case, when a number of blokes sitting on a break there’s always one who gets more than his share of his waves. One rider in particular came into my lens site fairly often with more than one good-looking tube ride that I caught on film. Just as he had finished a particularly brilliant ride my film ran out, and in my urgency to get another one in I opened up the back of the camera. I couldn’t believe how stupid I was, not only had I wrecked the last three shots I had taken but I also missed the wipeout of the day that followed, shortly afterwards.
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Photographs by Ron Taylor/Sibylle Martens
© Ron & Sibylle Taylor
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