A couple of things.

I'll get the weekend waves out of the way first. Same Bat time, etc as last week, Flynns, 3-5 ft and shifty winds, but a very fun session except for a couple of dings In the borrowed MC from a guy abandoning his board with exquisitely bad timing.

As they say, shit happens, but I did say a rude word, which is not my custom, and I felt sorry for the guy afterward... he paddled that nose in the air way that said no too familiar with the water.

Still, great fun, plenty of waves, a good start to a new week. Sorry 'bout the shot. Timing is everything and I just missed the best moments because we had to leave early as Richie had to go to a party. D'oh.

The other thing..?

We received footage today, shot last week, of Derek H at J-Bay on a variety of boards. Astounding stuff. Any of those guys on the Swaylocks forums who say drive only comes from the fin will sit back a foot or two when they see this stuff. Picture a six foot plus Supertubes wave, DH on a 4'6", doing a carving, deep, long bottom turn, under the lip 360, then driving into a looooong barrel, and making it. Unfortunately that particular one we can't use as the tripod shook terribly at the worst possible moment, but there were other equally wonderful shots.

We cut some of them into the film this afternoon. Am I smiling or what?

Musica Surfica Update

In the final weeks of editing now. Last Monday the sound design guys were briefed, another labour of love, and we're heading to Sydney next Wednesday for a showing. Fingers crossed, but I'm getting happier by the day. It pays to have good help and the people helping on this project are amazing.

Yesterday I got a text from Derek Hynd, and later spoke to him. He's sending me footage, which will arrive on Monday, of him surfing 6-8' Jeffreys Bay on the 3'6" Thing shown in an earlier post, and reprised below. I can't wait to see it.We've also got film coming from Jack McCoy of the sizey Bells we got a couple of weeks back. Luck is smiling on us. Thanks Jack.

Also, up on the Australian Chamber Orchestra blogsite is a slide show of the shoot.There are several shots of the back of my head as I conduct interviews, and one of me and my new mate Tom Carroll. God I'm pathetic.

Update 20.3.08 for those of you coming from Tom Wegener's Newsletter.

The film is finished, and has been seen on Foxtel, premiering on Australia Day. We are working on the DVD with a raft of extras, hoping to finish in about a month. God I hope so. There is a new trailer up here (March 17 entry) and if you keep coming back there'll be another trailer very soon.

Also other news of the films progress can be found as you explore Safe to Sea from late March 07 onwards. It was quite a journey.

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks Tom, for thinking of me.

After a small bugger up posting hopefully this will work and no one will have noticed.

The weekend had great promise and the swell delivered, albeit with a flukey wind that really couldn't make up it's mind. In a two hour stretch it blew north, north east, south west, west, north-west and easterly. Wind strength from 2 to 20 knots. Thunderstorms loomed. Lightening in the distance. Rain. Bad jokes in the water. It had the lot.

Amongst it all, Richie and I got a few. I'm trying out a Maurice Cole 6'2" at the moment and I love it on my forehand, unconvinced on the backhand but I'm sure it's me, not the board. It's heavily concaved and accelerates like a thirsty man near a bar, so at times I resembled a spastic seagull as I flew by.

The shots are of the two breaks we surfed yesterday. Flynns, the right, a bit crowded, where I caught a great first wave, then couldn't buy one for and hour and a half. I have the terrible habit of trying to sit furthest out and across in the effort to feel like it's not so busy, which always results in a terribly low wave count, or a few bombs. Yesterday I had a bit of both, but luckily scored a couple of good ones towards the end. Then we jumped in the car and zoomed around to the left on the other side of the bay. It was starting to improve, I still had my wetty on, so jumped in and caught a few before my arms turned to jelly.

Five hours. Not bad for a couple of old farts.

For want of something completely different to post, I rummaged 'round in an old sketchbook and found this.

A mixture of paint, masking tape, acrylic glaze and a photo copy I did of a rock I found after a surf down south, I've always liked the image but have never been sure what it was I was trying to achieve.

The rock was, and is, an oddly embryonic form, and was dubbed the Rock of Doom by a workmate as it crashed any computer it was placed near.

Expecting a big swell tomorrow so with luck expect shots.

Good God, I actually got a surf in on Sunday.

Down to the island, tiny swell but Magics was doing it's delightful thing and had a fun session at a tidy little A framed confection. Busy, but fun, and everyone seemed to get their share given the slightly inconsistent nature. Banks everywhere too, so the weekend crowds, myself included, walked away happy. Sunny, the water warming up and a lot of smiles about.

The guy on the fish is Art (I overheard he and a mate talking and I think that's what I heard), hails originally from Kauai via the Carolinas, and seemed to be enjoying himself.

G'day Art, here's your snap.

Over the years I've loved a 'bit of size', but have always fallen into the self description of perhaps stalwart survivor, or maybe 'also ran'. Saying that, I have had some pretty good waves and will tell lies about them in my dotage, may it be a long time coming.

Today, while seeing what goodies the morrow might bring, I stumbled across this thing from a surf photog called Otto on the Coastalwatch.com.au site. This guy almost deserves a bravery medal for taking the shot.

As for the surfer, the guy has a lot of sack, and perhaps a death wish.

Ah, those were the days.

Going on the last remark it seems my old age has crept up more quickly than I thought.
I'm telling lies already.

PS: 14 Nov: Last night I saw some footage of this ... the guy in the pic made the wave! Unbelievable. It was Shipstern Bluff in Tasmania, just last week)

Today is the first anniversary of my beginning this folly. My first post (Nov 8, 2006) was a story I wrote and nearly had published about the death of a young Californian while on a boat trip near Nias.

I posted it because I'd have loved his parents to see that his happy last days were remembered and delighted in as well as his passing mourned by visitors to the remote islands where he died.

I got little response back then. Maybe one of my new readers (those precious few) saw something about it, knew him... who knows?

Have another read, those of you who have a moment. Say hello to young Tim.

The past couple of days the weather has been utter crap, with surf to match. To alleviate visitor boredom I offer the Maurice Cole finless that was used to much success down on King Island, and later at good sized Bells. I neglected to get a shot of it down there, and plenty of people had been interested in what he came up with.

Here 'tis.

The other shot is a sight that greeted me on the drive home.

The tires were secured with one piece of rope and boy I had no desire to be following that guy.

Following on from the waves of last week, I came across a shot taken by local surf photog Steve Ryan. I had to share it with you so thanks to Steve and coastalwatch.com.au

Given that all manner of craft were ridden, including a 3'6'' thing that when on a wave looked like Derek was standing on a ball of foam, it's a conservative choice, to say the least, but nevertheless, it is still pretty. Steve's based on Victoria's west coast and his work can be seen here. It's worth a look if you want to see the glories of the bit of coast that is closest to my heart and taken by by one who's devoted much time to capturing it's shining moments.