Summer Reprieve

So we moved recently. We've been in our new house for three months and they've been big ones. We're loving it - so glad we moved. We're slowly making it our own and finding homes for everything.

James waxing up his new board ready to surf

We've already made ourselves a boardrack!

We've had a lot of wind and heat and not many waves this Summer. We went to Manly, Sydney for Christmas, but more about that later...
James and I got a surf down at Hussas late arvo, after a wild search through Dunsborough and Yallingup. I learn about conditions and places every time we head down there. It's pretty confusing when you don't see places regularly. We looked at Yallingup, went to Smiths... We wound up at Windmills and it was so big it was dumping overhead onto the rocky, granite shore. After that, I'd decided just to head back to Yallingup and go out there - by which time, the wind came howling in.

So Hussas was good. It looked big but was actually too fat to catch. We both caught a wave and felt pretty good, I think, about being out somewhere unfamiliar. The next day was another lesson wave hunting. We went here:

Unridden perfection

- A place suggested by my Uncle, who is a local. His call was good on Hussas the day before and when we turned up at Moses Rock it looked soooooo nice. I was going to be going out on my own and got to the point of suiting up and standing on the stairs... before I chickened out and decided I didn't like it so much with the wind shift... and were those set waves getting bigger..? So, second guessing myself, I decided to go check out Hussas again. Upon arrival though, we found that it was flat without the wind pushing swell in, and the conditions had obviously dropped, unlike what was forecast. So we missed the window.

I second guessed myself and missed out. It's hard to be brave sometimes. And it's always easier when you go out with someone who knows the lay of the land to tell you how it all works, where to get in, get out, watch the rocks, where to sit...

And I think it is a definite balance between *being safe and knowing your limits* and *having confidence in yourself and judging the conditions with a clear mind*. I think I should have gone out at Moses Rock. It has become a monkey on my back and I hope I'll be able to give is a go on one of my next trips south.

In the meantime, I'm trying to remind myself of what I'm capable of. To stop over analysing waves and just get out there. I definitely need to find some bigger balls.

We've just started surfing Tom's in the last few weeks. You could say that we've discovered it. For ourselves, that is. It's no secret - loads of people surf there, but we never have. I assumed it didn't break in Summer and Scarborough was always closer. When Cott breaks, we go there. So it's been a real treat to realise there is a reef break in Perth that breaks on a small swell! We've had 2 out of 3 good surfs there and are starting to get it sussed. Between Tom's and Wedge, I've actually had quite a few surfs over the last fortnight. It feels good.

Summer Soaking

Surf conditions have been dire this Summer. Can't remember the last surf I had here. Lots of early seebreezes and intermittent, lacklustre swells. So I took the dSLR out finally in the waterpoof housing I bought a few months back. It didn't leak, which was a good start and I saw a huge eagle ray on the way to shore. A real treat.








I can't wait to take the kit out in some waves. Also excited to get some shots around sunset.

Around town

Spring has been pretty nice. I've been enjoying my new 5'6 mini simmons and my new (2nd hand) canon rebel 2000. I think I might need me one of these bikes with a basket too...

It's been a bit of a challenge finding waves with shape lately - the curse of living in Perth. Hoping that we're not done for the year as far as swell goes. Can't wait til the next session with decent waves so I can build up some confidence and consistency on the new board. A standing wave in the back yard sure starts to look good after surfing day after day of close outs.

Cottesloe in Winter

It is almost Spring :]

Sunny Sunday

Today was wonderful. We're back to our usual Winter weather for a few days; blue skies and 20 degrees.
Finally found some surf somewhere with shape. Leighton was glassy with some nice a-frame peaks. Managed a roundhouse style cutback on my mal which made my day. Then James met me at the beach with a coffee and we went for a skate on the super smooth, new hot mix paths.
The afternoon has been spent sitting in the sunshine, drinking tea and binding a new 'colour study' sketch book.

Roast for dinner. Perfect end to any weekend.

Winter Solstice

Today is the shortest day of the year - and longest night. To celebrate the return of the sun I watched it set over the ocean to be reborn tomorrow. Surfed my local, small and glassy, with two other guys until finally, it was just me and the Indian Ocean.

Happy Solstice.

Day Off

I had a day owing to me and took Monday off. I went on the search and, as usually happens, wound up at the first place I checked. It was a lot windier than I'd thought, so the spot out of the wind was where everyone inevitably wound up.
Full moon and a high tide made it super deep and super fat. Found a couple of waves. One of them caught me by surprise as the fat lump of swell I was riding hit the bank and turned into an overhead steamer. All I could think about was the submerged granite rocks somewhere along the shoreline. Only succeeded in catching one other wave after that, but am hoping to go back tonight and check it out on the lower tide.

Lazy Days

Some shots of Cott from my sneaky session.

Taken with the coloursplash lomography camera. I kinda thought all plastic cameras were created equal, but it appears not. Just ordered some provia and velvia film on ebay. Can't wait to start using it.

The rain has started this week. Big storms and winds were forecast but it hasn't really happened. Was counting on them to stir up some sand banks around the city. Looks like we may be waiting a little longer.

Surf Trip FWDing Fun

This is a shot from our trip up to Gnaraloo last year. With any luck we'll get up there again this year.

I'm sure the swell can't be far away. It is now officially the hottest Summer we've ever had in Perth. This Summer's average maximum has been 32C. Compound that with the fact that we missed Winter last year, because we spent it in the Northern Hemisphere, and you can see why I'm getting excited about uggboots and surfing in the rain.

In the meantime, we've done our 4WD course and managed to score a compressor, so I'm primed for some 4WDing and have my fingers crossed that things look good this weekend for a surf trip to Derrs.

Green Head Getaway

Our latest adventure took us 3 hours north of the city to a little place called Green Head. The weekend, in celebration of a friend's 30th was super relaxing. The highlight was definitely the trip out on her dad's boat to a little offshore island to visit the locals...

 

Turns out they were pretty friendly!

  

Welcoming committee

We made it up pretty late Saturday night so enjoyed a magical nap here after frolicking with the sea lions. The Sou-wester was finally in and was very welcome.

 

Side trip on the way home... Apparently the dreaming stories of the local aboriginal people tell that the pinnacles were the bony hands of giant spirits buried under the ground. Their fingers are stretching towards the sky, looking for something to grab onto to pull themselves free of the earth.

Easy to see why it is a sacred place. 

Waiting for Winter

First Day of Winter from Hannah Katarski on Vimeo.

Winter 2010

Those were the days...

When every wave was big,

When riding the foam was the most fun you could ever have,

and the shape of the wave didn't make any difference at all...

 

The world is wide now

and full of waves. 

Good shape is hard to find,

but the search can reward life-

defining moments,

breath-taking experiences

and memories for flat days.

What a wonderful journey we've started on.

It's been hot hot hot here. Not a lot happening surfwise, but there's plenty in the pipeline.
Tomorrow marks the start of a girls' surf weekend, so it's off to Lancelin for some fun and, with any luck, decent waves!!

Yallingup long weekend the following week and we have all our fingers and toes crossed that the conditions will be good.

Summer in Oz - hot hot hot!

We've been keeping busy, making the most of the Summer weather and fairly damning lack of swell. Even a few trips down south didn't turn up the goods. Instead, we've been getting some regular dosings of island time...

Rottnest

Main mode of transport on the Island

reliving our youth

Walking out to Penguin Island. 700m from the mainland. Felt like survivors from a shipwreck with all of our flotsam.

Into another world

Click the photos for more on flickr.

On the mend...

At 5 and a half weeks, the Dr has given me the ok to stop wearing my splint and boy is it a welcome reprieve! I've been doing the stretches the physio has given me so that I can increase the flexibility in my wrist from nonexistent back to normal. Strengthening starts next week and then, so long as I have normal mobility, when I hit the 8 week mark I can go surfing!

Swimming and "water exercise" is apparently good for healing a break, so I went for a paddle on my 6'8 the other night. Sitting on my board, chatting to a mate and watching the sun go down was pretty special.

So the forecast is that we're gonna have a hardcore cycle season. Pretty sure that's the meteorological term. That sucks. But if it has to happen, I'm hoping that we might get a few bursts of swell down here before the Summer flatness descends.

This is my local. One of my favourite spots. I haven't surfed it in almost a year because we were away over Winter. It is seriously swell deficient and only breaks when the rest of the coast is firing. I'm hoping I might get lucky with a few freak sessions in November before we say goodbye to the waves and hello to the sou-westerlies until next Autumn.

Derrs - last minute!

Gear: 7'6 Conditions: Glassy/ NE. <1.5m swell. High tide I had Friday off and Dad said he would join me for a surf. We went to check out Trigg, decided it was shit. Couldn't get excited about it. Both were thinking a cup of coffee instead when Dad suggested we could go to Derrs if the wind was gonna stay light. So we drove home to swap cars to then drive back, past Trigg to Derrs. When we arrived there were 3 people there, one just getting out. Then it was just Dad and I for about an hour til another guy came in just before we left. Nice shape. I caught a head high right!! Lots of lefts and another reaaally nice right that opened out into a nice rideable/cutback-able shoulder. A few extreme dismounts in the shallows today. I also learned the hard way that you can in no way milk these rides. When you see an out, you've got to take it. Had to have your exit strategy ready. I managed to bruise my toes on rocks on one ride. Caught it late and so it broke and the foam jetted me straight at the beach (which was not very far away). Got a bit tumbled on the rocks. They are feeling better now after a few days. I had some good rights today which is great after last session where I was a bit unco and overbalancing. One left was so fast that I had trouble staying attached to my board! I needed to be taking off closer to the peaks today, but wasn't really pushing myself as much. So next time I need to be a 'bit more courageous', as Dad put it :) Such a terrific day!!! The sun was shining...unspoilt beauty basically all to ourselves. So lucky.

Shaping up

We head to Gnaraloo in about 5 weeks! Were trying to up our fitness a bit before we go and have been swimming a couple of times a week. I'm dubious as to whether the fitness benefits are higher than the chlorine poisoning we get from the experience. We went to Derrs on Saturday arvo and it was magic. Only the three of us. No one else to be seen. The sun was shining. The swell was small, but plenty big enough for James and I. We managed to catch heaps more waves than we have here in the past. Managed some rollercoasting along a left and got my rights sorted out eventually, when I started bending my knees again!! The drops were pretty exciting. Great day!!

Surf Beach Photos!

Jo took some pictures when we were down last weekend and here are some of the better shots. I thought they'd all be average - we now have a million pics of ourselves riding ankle high foam - it is so great to have some shots riding on the face AND some waves that allow us to do as such. frontside!! Nice size, this one. (above)

High five!

One of my faves. (Below)

A very happy girl - Striking a pose.

Angling right.