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The Waiting Game
Friday, April 27, 2001
We went down the south coast Thursday to find it small with a howling cross-offshore wind blowing. And despite our endeavours to find something half-worthwhile riding we didn't. Of course the local boys told us on Saturday morning that the swell came up late on Thursday and that we should've been there..."What an original suggestion!" My retort to that was that on Friday we followed my instincts and we went down the mid coast, where I shared a nice sized wave at Anzacs with only three other surfers for 3 hours.
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Although it was a bit crumbly at first it glassed off and I'm pleased to say that I was amongst a handful of some of the more astute surfers who can find a wave on our coastline on a day when all forecasts say there shouldn't be any. You'll notice I didn't include myself as "one of the better surfers", for my wave choice and riding on Friday was deplorable.
First off, and before I went out I noticed that there was another longboarder who seemed to be struggling to get out the back. I just thought the bloke was an egg and had gone out from the wrong spot. I soon found out that the spot that I launched from wasn't any better as I spent about 10 minutes getting pounded and drifting further south than I wanted to be.
I eventually made it out the back and found myself about 100 metres away from where I should be. I was pleased that I hadn’t had an early breakfast before going out as I think I might have done a bit of recycling of it, having taking a good gob full of a decent sized wave while going through it. There’s a lesson for the young newbie surfer here: it not only pays to keep your mouth shut out the back but also when you’re paddling out.
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I was making some wonderful bad wave choices and when I did manage to pick up a goody in the right position, I’d either fall flat on my puss just after the bottom turn or lose my balance and wipeout like a goose. Not good surfing when you’ve got your own personal photographer standing on the beach, patiently, for hours on end.
The high tide had been at 6:00am and I had gone out at around about seven. Now the reason I’m telling you this is that Anzacs is a strange, shallow reef break that peaks up rather sharply and then peters out to a thick shoulder after about 20 metres. Then it builds up again, and if you’ve ridden it correctly you can have some fun being crushed in the extremely shallow, rocky shorebreak. These conditions change as the tide gets lower and sometimes this break can work a treat when it all comes together. Mind you it’s not much fun doing the rock dance when the tide gets to its lowest, in fact it’s a pain in the arse.
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Just to give you the picture of what I was doing out there and how unwired I had the spot I’ll explain. A big set would come through and I’d paddle out to meet it with the others. I’d go for one of the waves in the set if I thought it was my turn a paddle like buggery for it. And nine out of ten times I was missing catching them as I was, as I thought too far out. The following one would come through with less water in it and break right on my flamin head. Kraft Cheeses! It was frustrating but I was determined to stay out there until I got a couple of "you beaut" rides. Mind you the way I was travelling I could still be out there now.
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On my way back out after another inglorious ride I said to the three other blokes, "Golly gosh! My wife cleaned all the wax off my board the other day and I hate riding a board with fresh wax on it". I only hope my lie worked and that they wouldn’t consider me just another old timer getting in the way and making a fool of himself.
Actually, they were a fairly decent bunch and in between sets the conversation was very friendly and it was pleasant being out there amongst them. One of the blokes was Trevor Williams, a local lad who had the misfortune of loosing his board on one of his rides and had to do the rock dance to retrieve it. The other two blokes I’ve never seen before but I don’t mind saying that it was a pleasure to be out there trying to surf with them.
Towards the end of my session I did manage to get a number of pleasing rides and thank Huey for that, as I’m not real crazy about surfing with headlights on.
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Photos by Sibylle Martens
Copyright: Ron Taylor & S Martens
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