Biff the Crystal Voyager

Between Christmas and New Year's I painted our van. Here's a few shots. This is what it used to look like.

One side done, but with paper still up.

Viola!!

New Journal Finished

This is for my upcoming trip to Queensland. I have included places for photos, writing, recording our surf sessions and keeping goodies I find along the way.

I have yet to trim the transfers I did on silk. They'll go in here.

Maps so we know where to go :)

Pockets and places for goodies!

More transfers.

Sandtrax and surf monkeys

After a crap day down at Secret Harbour on the weekend (Super shallow, no shape, every-man-and-his-dog-out-with-a-board) we had a fabulous post work session yesterday. The good thing about the weekend was taking a workmate out and teaching her how to surf. She was very happily installed on the white water with a soft board while I stood in calf high water, at a loss for a spot to a. catch a rideable wave, and b. avoid all of the many surfboards constantly torpedoing into the air. So more about last night... About 2.7metres at Rottnest. Wind was howling S/SW, but luckily we're protected from that. The waves were a nice size and I was able to paddle onto the bigger ones, which is a first for when there's actually been anything of note there. I probably caught 6-8 waves and had a couple of really nice lefthanders. I'm getting better at trimming, and making the drop - it no longer scares the shit out of me. (Of course the shape of the wave goes a long way to allaying my fears.) I do need to work on some subtlety on my backhand though. Only had 2 that I rode right, mostly i was avoiding the crowd. The second one was definitely better than the first where i sunk the nose at the end of the ride, but I'm looking forward to getting a bit more control on that side.

Big peaks would form out the back but would flatten out by the time they got to us, leaving a number of puzzled surfers.

Didn't nosedive on any waves which was great and only fell off the back of one or two that I caught. Made the drop on what felt like a big one for me and could feel that only the tail of the board was in the water, the nose was out. Swinging from my tail like a surf monkey!! Feels good!

James grabbed the camera out to try and get a few shots of me after I'd caught two really nice waves, but then a lull set in and nothing powerful came through whilst he had the camera out. Nice of him, though, as I always bring the camera and end up with a zillion shots of him and Richard and none of me! The most recent photo I have of myself where I look like I'm riding a wave is from March 08... Would love to see what I look like now.

Not a massive fan of the Adrenalin, faded brown wettie, but my good one is TOO WARM. Leanne in the middle ground in a rashie and boardies. Maybe I should toughen up. :)

Pretty quiet between sets.

Yesterday was also the first day with my board back. I was a little worried that after surfing a softboard for 3 weeks that I'd get all freaked on the hardboard. As it turned out, it felt great and I didn't really give it another thought!

Hopefully the next photos I post will be of me on some waves.

We're off to Queensland in less than a month and we're both gagging for some long, rolling, east coast waves!

Sandtrax turns it on!

Today was amazing! I haven't seen Sandtrax break like this since winter. We only had 2.5m swell at Rottnest, but some of the waves coming through were pretty epic for our sheltered little corner. I did an awesome nosedive today. I think the backwash made the wave kick up early and suddenly I was headed straight down. Surprisingly it was all fine, not even any water up my nose. I thought, 'here we go...' but I was up in no time. I had the pink foam 6'10 for most of today and it did me proud. After catching some of the smaller stuff in closer, which was nice, and turtle rolling under a massive set that broke in pretty close, I caught some slightly bigger ones. Ended up hopping to my knees on a few of them, when they got steeper than I expected, I think. Rich asked my why I was doing that and I said, 'just being a pussy.' So he told me that I needed to stop being a pussy, cos I know I can do it. Then he said that if i get that sorted, I'll be surfing better than him and James, cos I've got really nice style and flow. :* Aww Such a nice thing to say! So I went out the back and I manned up! There was only one other guy out the back, who looked sweet by the way. Surfed with his feet really close together. He would sit so far up the face. The first big one I paddled onto and caught, the drop surprised me so much that I fell off the back. Just a bit bigger drop and a bit faster than what I'm used to. The next one though... I caught it, popped to my feet, went screaming down the face and whizzed along all the way to the beach. As the wave started to reform I got down the front in a bit of a hang 5 to get some more speed. It was amazing! And the boys saw which was brill. Rich was coaching me in which was awes. Said I looked a lot more stable going along the face than straight. So then they were all inspired to get themselves a ride like that one! Surfing is great because you can get so much enjoyment, just from seeing someone else have a great ride. I caught a couple more like that and we surfed til we were too cold and hungry to stay out any longer. We'll be back to it tomorrow, with any luck!

Spray painting the car - Biff

Well I thought it would take 2 days and it took 5. Still, I'm really happy with the result...and glad its finished. It's been really hot here in Perth this week. A couple of days up to 40C. First I wet abd dry sanded it with 800 grit sandpaper. In some places the paint had worn off or was flakey. The roof needed some love and was the main reason I wanted to paint it. Worn down to the primer. Masked up and washed down, ready for the undercoat. It took me a day to mask everything... The primer i got was a little disappointing. I couldn't get other nozzles for the cans and the ones they came with were terrible. I used benton brand aerosols for the colours. As well as some custom car colours for the two main blues. This is the first time I've done anything like this, but I had my parents givin me some feedback on the wave as I worked. This is the other side. I did this wave second and learned from the first. i made up a stencil for the front as I didn't trust myself to free spray neatly enough. I've applied my clear coat and its time to take off the paper! The finished van!! Some odd white balancing going on in these shots. :)

Welcome 2009!!

It's been an interesting week or so. Surf has been crap and I haven't had my board. In desperation I bought us a couple of foam boards to use. Save my fins on my fibreglass board when its low tide and there's not much on offer anyway. The pink one is 6'10 and the blue, 6'6. A little but shorter, but we're getting used to them! The main thing is catching the waves. A number of trips to Scarborough have proved frustrating. No shape. no oompf. I was beginning to think that the new boards were no good. Turns out it was just the conditions. After Christmas there was a fatal shark attack just south of Perth. Pretty sobering. I was peacefully oblivious til a mate told me about it. Spent a bit of time talking about it with my dad, his mate, some friends... Its such a freak thing to happen and I think it scares us all on a really primal level. We all know there's a risk to being in the ocean, but its just not one we like to be reminded of. Most people I know have still been going to the beach, but every shadow makes you look twice and you're constantly aware of how far out you go. Soon the paranoia will fade again. The last two days we've had some great fun down at Sandtrax. it's been small, but some waves have actually been breaking - with shape! the first day I was having real trouble actually getting on the waves with the 6'6. Combination of not paddling hard enough and the waves not having much push, plus not wanting to catch the waves a metre from the shore. ended up with two really nice righthanders, zipping along the face. I learned that I can't nose ride this board. :D

We didn't take any shots on the good days, but these pics are the first day we took out the new boards. Tiny waves. Difficult to catch. But fun. :]

Yesterday I had a better handle on things. Caught heaps of waves. A couple of really nice ones. New Year's Day today and it was a bit hard getting up in the morning. The forecast showed light offshore winds down at Secret Harbour and that was enough to motivate us. Eventually. It was an excellent day! We surfed for three hours until we got too hungry and had to come in. Some nice sized waves first thing with some long-ish rides. Got smaller as the day progressed. Still great fun. A good opportunity to try all the different boards in the same conditions. The foam ones actually go well when the waves are decent. James was having a great time trying tricks on the pink foamie: head stands, giving thanks to the ocean, crane kicks... Kept himself amused. I managed to remember to try something new and got the beginnings of some rollercoasting happening before the wave died. A really satisfying day. Sometimes you feel so blessed to be a surfer. I see so many beautiful things. Sometimes it might be that you miss a wave, but instead you get to see into it - a beautiful, peeling wave. Or being out when its so glassy that you see the bottom magnified through the wave. I'm a lucky girl.