The winter has arrived loud and clear. While Saturday started out fairly calm the first winter weekend finished with crazy storms and swell picking up to 5ft on Sunday.
Saturday morning, we caught a few waves at Palm Beach. Tiny waves, but a fun surf on tiny waves with Bruce and his friend Smurf (yes, you guessed right, it’s blue board) nevertheless.
Sunday was meant to be my first competition. I figured I better get some practice in before I compete in the Austrian surf team. The Bondi Boardriders have asked me a few times to join the girl’s division and I decided that Sunday was the day. Well, I decided that when I checked the surf forecast during the week and it looked ok. When I woke up on Sunday and saw that a Southerly change was due at around 11.00 am with 5ft waves, I almost changed my mind. It really did not look like the best of days to join the Boardriders. I was a bit hesitant anyway and a bit nervous I guess. It’s funny how doubts creep up about your capabilities in the water. You have to surf in front of everyone…what if you stack it really embarrassingly? What if I don’t catch a wave at all?
But then I got reminded about what I always tell aspiring gidgets: just get out there and have fun. So I did roll my bum out of bed and went there to register. As soon as I got to the South end, I felt comfy amongst lots of familiar faces. It was just the peeps from the line-up I see all the time anyway (dohh….it’s not called Bondi Boardriders for nothing…). I settled in watching the surf and it was picking up while we were watching with massive close-outs on the low tide. Oh well, I just had to survive 15 minutes I figured. Well, that’s what I thought and then the Southerly change arrived with full force. The competition tent was almost blown away. Within two minutes everyone was soaked to the bones. Everyone was seeking shelter in the bus. Well, almost everyone. Some of the poor guys had to take the tent down before it blew away causing damage. At one point I was seriously worried about ranga who was patiently waiting with the other boards to get into the water. I thought the boards would take off too and go AWOL. What a storm. But hey there were waves. The only problem you could not actually make out any surfers through the wall of rain and no competition if you can’t actually judge the surfers. The guys were trying to find a protected spot where you could see the surf. So for about half an hour we were not sure if it was on or not. The weather got more and more feral. More and more surfers left and I’ve decided to make a move too. I think they called it off in the end but even if they did not, maybe it was not the best day for my first comp after all. I was much happier under the hot shower than out in the line up in a raging storm. Oh well, trying to see the positive in the whole thing. I’ve signed up for the club and all set up for my first comp next time, but really…
Today, the ocean is still a bit wild but I’ve got high hopes for this week. Once the waves settled a bit, we hopefully have some surf with decent size waves. I just hope the banks did not get too mangled in the storm.
Have a great week.
x Clauds
No Comments