Surfing the Midcoast

It would be almost every South Australian Surfer’s dream come true if someone would come along and tow Kangaroo Island from the entrance of the Gulf Saint Vincent. By doing that there would perhaps be more waves hitting the reefs that now, only work occasionally. The breaks that work when the south westerly swells do get in through that narrow gap are places like Gull Rock, Moana Reef, The Trough, Seaford Reef, Seaford, Threepoles, The U-Turn, Triggs Point and a hand full of others.
I know that when I say that in “the good old days” back in the sixties, a lot of these spots broke bigger and better is going to upset the younger generation. But in the case of Seaford itself that just happens to be true. The early surfers were the ones that made this suburb popular and as some of them got older and married they moved down there when the land became subdivided for housing. With the housing came the need for storm water drains, which led to the authorities putting a huge storm water pipe right in front of the Seaford break itself. The effect that this has had is that now with all the sand washed away from the reef by the storm water it doesn’t break out as far and as neatly as it used to. When the "Beach Boys" toured here in the sixties they said the coastline and the reef breaks in the mid coast reminded them a lot of some of the surf around California. Funny thing was when someone invited them to go for a wave; I think only one of them could surf.

Three Poles

How I feel about the Mid is an opinion and on Sunday the reality of that opinion hit home. I suppose I could ramble on about how it used to be in the "good old days" but I don't have to. You only have to look at the upgraded pages on my website and compare the number of old 60's pics that appear on this Mid page to those on the South Coast pages. I get very irate myself when I see websites or read articles that dismiss or don't even consider the Mid worthwhile mentioning. It just so happens that I've had some of my best rides since our last trip to the East Coast at Middleton, whether that's got anything to do with my failing ability or just plain good luck, I don't know. When I surf these days I've usually got to take someone else into consideration, and that is the girl.

The River Mouth

Anzacs

Halfways

Anzacs

A far as my recent sessions at Threepoles etc goes, it’s been more years than I care to remember when I had my last session at the U-turn. I have faint memories of a summer’s day back in the late sixties when Frosty and I had it all to ourselves and we gave that nice little right a good working over.

Gull Rock

Triggs Point

The U-Turn

How does a 3-4 foot well shaped wave peaking left and right with slight offshores sound to you?
I could hardly believe it but as we pulled up at "Threepoles" there was no one out there at all which was really amazing considering the kids are on school holidays. So we got changed and made our way down the bitumen ramp to the beach and then just a few metres to the water edge, which was unusually, close. Right through this year we've had some very high and low tides so much so that this year has reminded me more of the sixties than any other time that I can recall since. Unfortunately the girl declined to go out at as she was still suffering from the cold that I had passed on to her, so she had to be content to sit on the beach with her camera.

Threepoles is a left and right hander reef break and getting out here is never a problem but it can be a bit tricky knowing just where to position yourself as the swell peaks over a couple of reefs before it actually breaks truly. Another major factor is the tide because if the swell is a decent size and the tide is high the left can be a ripsnorter and you really have to watch what you're doing as the tide drops. Back in the sixties the body of a young bloke by the name of "Dave Humble" was found floating in the shallows after apparently hitting his head on a particular part of the reef that juts up more than the rest. The right hander when it's breaking at its best is probably one of the best waves for a Mal just about anywhere with decision making the difference between a good ride and a lousy one. My expectations for this little session were not too high as I was really treating it as a chance to get my fitness up, if I managed to get a couple of good ones that would be a bonus. My first three attempts were absolute shockers with the third one being the most embarrassing as it was an extremely late take off. I went down the face of the wave and kept on going.

The nose of the board dug in and I sort of went over the falls and as I was coming back up I felt the thud of my board on the back of my head. There was no great damage done, only to my pride and I was hoping that my girl didn't get a photograph of that. Realising the mistake that I was not in the right position and I wasn't paddling hard enough in the early stages I started to take this session seriously so I paddled out a bit further. The fourth wave I went for wasn't too big but at least I had enough speed from my paddling to pick it up. I got to my feet as quick as I could and dropped into a bottom turn, then trimmed my board, took a couple of steps down to the nose to get through a section. As I came out the other side I hung a fairly radical cut back left, then another bottom turn and finished my ride off by dropping and climbing the face of the wave until I reached the shorebreak.

I got a few more half-reasonable rides but the best was yet to come. I decided the next wave I caught would be my last one so I paddled out even further just as a big set was coming through. I let the first couple go through and went for the last and biggest of the set. I very quickly summed up the situation that going right was going to be out of the question and this was going to be a left. As I started to pick it up I realised it was already breaking to my right so there was no hesitation from me as I got to my feet. The wave in front of me was starting to tube as I dropped into a crouching position to get ready for anything unexpected that might happen. The next thing I know is that I was completely covered up and all I could see was the glint of the morning sun on the face of the wave in front of me. Eventually I burst out into the clear just as it walled up in front of me to close out so I turned my board slightly right and headed into shore. I was rather pleased with myself as my girl walked towards me, I thought that perhaps with that last ride she might have caught it on film, especially the cover up. To my dismay she never even saw the ride and was watching a guy whom she thought was me riding the right. Oh well maybe next time!