Safetosea

Yesterday, after the dutiful Saturday saw me pass up a clean offshore and some pretty special waves here and there, I made my way down to get wet. On arrival I had the surprise of my life as I saw Uber Pro Joel Parkinson and the recently retired Luke Egan suiting up and about to head out in pretty terrible 3-4ft onshore Bells.

Apparently they'd made a run down three weeks prior to the Bells contest...'to get some wetsuit practice' in. Seems they hadn't worn one for a spell.

Hmmm.

I've been decades between times when I haven't been in one.

Needless to say I decided to shine rushing out and sat on the steps to watch the show, not being disappointed at all by what I saw. They throw a lot of water around, those lads, and a cleaner surfer I've never seen in Joel, though to be frank, Luke was getting the best of it for awhile before Joel cut a few waves to bits and diced the leftovers.

A couple of sheets of spray had to have landed somewhere near Tasmania.

Sneaking out later, and I think I made a sparrow damp as it flew past, and I may have drowned a moth.

Pics: Parko, Luke and fellow spectator. Excuse the timing as I have a bit of shutter lag in the not so crappy snapper. Makes it a bit hard to hit the apex of a turn.