Safetosea

Odd is the only way I can describe this past weekend.

Odd weather, odd surf, and I saw my kids the odd couple of times.

School holidays are upon us and that naturally means for Tom: skating, skating and more skating, and Joey, a social life rivaled only by the the royalty of seventeenth century France. The kid goes to more parties that Louis the Bloody Fifteenth.

So we saw little of the kids and Saturday was the hottest Melbourne September day ever, barely out of winter and it got to 30C, or nearly 90F in the old money.

Global warming? Either that or everyone in Victoria had their heaters on.

Down the beach yesterday and still warmer than average. A lack lustre, but packed lineup at Bells looked less than inviting so we waited to see if it'd thin as the morning crowd tired.

We checked a couple of unlikely spots on the off chance of luck but discovered very quickly that the reason they are unlikely is because it was unlikely they'd be working.

Which they weren't.

So back to Bells, the crowd began to thin so we headed out to try our luck. I was on the little borrowed fish again, and lucked in to a couple of belters very quickly, which is also what the board did. The thing flys, and catches waves so easily, so although incredibly inconsistent, the odd set that came though underneath the increasingly strong offshore was worth the wait.

Unfortunately it became very very crowded again, with a few new faces out of the woodwork due to the warm weather. Which meant it was a bit scrappy out there, a lot of dropping in going on, and the inevitable deeper than desired take off position.

Richie had exited the water a little earlier than me, so took a couple of snaps that show towards the end of the session I was well out, caught behind again and again.

I did enjoy it though, and it was nice to feel the sun with a little heat in it.

Shots then, are the early crowd, me chasing whitewater, and Banyak pal, longtime surf buddy Rod Hyett, Australia's answer to Ansel Adams and the world's most consistent surfer. At 54 or whatever the guy is as surf mad as anyone on the planet, paddles like a madman, (his nickname is Ten Men, as in when he paddles out it might as well be ten men), and he occasionally rips off an off the top that has me gagging. Richie managed the aftermath of one such turn, he's throwing a bucket and setting up for another patented Rod Turn.

Onya Rodney.