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.

New board rack for our new house

On the weekend we made a boardrack for our new house. 

We started off with a 3m pine plank and a 3m, 25mm dowel. 

There was a lot of measuring twice and cutting once. Followed by a fair amount of sanding and hole drilling.

Then there was some painting... (note the board arrangement in the background)

and some hammering...

More drilling...

Our finished rack - looking very pleased with ourselves.

Our great rack. Stocked with boards.

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.

Magenta L❤ve

Magenta L❤ve, originally uploaded by Hannah Katarski.

Took the new board for a surf today. The conditions were pretty average - post storm, drunken swell. Took me ages to find waves. Only found a couple and then the conditions died. Took a leaf out of James' book and caught some foam. Should have done that at the beginning to at least get a feel for how it trims.

It will take me a bit of getting used to, I think. Like any new board. I found I needed to stand further forward which was surprising. Once I get it sussed I reckon I'll be able to catch anything on it! Planes nicely and duck dives like a dream!!

She's so pretty!
❤

New Toy!

My mini simmons arrived today! Isn't she beautiful?!

She is now all waxed up - I bought pink wax for the occasion - and has a lovely new leg rope. Allll ready for this current swell - as soon as the wind gets sorted.

Excuse the blurry shot, but you need to see the fins!

This board will be a huge size reduction from my usual 9'1 and 7'6. My 6'8 rarely gets a look in because we rarely have the waves for it but this board has heaps more volume. My first custom - stoked. And stoked with the colour. Never thought I'd ride a board shorter than I am tall.

5'6" of magenta goodness. Can't wait to see how she rides!! 

My new board

It will be winging its way to me next week!!

Check it out here!!
http://www.blackapachesurfboards.com.au/uncategorized/mini-simmons-deluxe-for-hannah/

5 feet and six inches of magenta goodness!!

Mint.

Mint., originally uploaded by Hannah Katarski.

Resurrections and collections

Somewhere along the way I have unwittingly become a camera collector. I don't really know how or when it happened. I made the leap that many hobbie photographers make a couple of years back, switching from a digi-point&shoot to a cheapish dSLR. I then flirted with a number of cheap waterproof film and digital cameras when I started surfing. I've since upgraded to a canon 7D and have recently gotten into film again. So I've bought a number of fun 35mm toy cameras. Then an opportunity to buy a secondhand waterproof housing for a dSLR came up and I'm now the proud owner of one of those! Plus another dSLR, just because it fits the housing and came as a package deal...

The newest arrival to the family is a canon rebel 2000. Got it on ebay for $39 and it is so exciting! I've loaded it up with a new roll of provia 100 (another swag of loot off ebay!) and can't wait to see how it goes. The bonus is that my EF lenses for my digital camera fit it. The 50mm 1.8f Mark II even auto focusses. It has pretty limited settings by the standards of today's dSLRs but so much control compared to the plastic toy cameras. It still allows for multiple exposures, which is pretty cool.

My canon D10 (my first reasonable underwater cam) drowned a few months back. This was after a year's worth of use on our round-theworld trip, during which time it performed admirably. I wasn't using it, so can't be clear on what happened to it. Insurance came to the rescue and I've just recieved the shiny new replacement. So what better way to recognise the occasion than with a photo of my cat. Isn't that why we have cameras??

The mal (above) is my dad's 1969 Cordingley's Stringerless Mark IV. Took it out on the weekend! Broke the legrope on my 3rd wave. Fun though! Convex bottom and weighs about as much as I do.

It's been in the shed since I took this shot back in 2007. When he surfs stand up, he doesn't surf goofy or regular: he just stands up facing the wave, whichever way he is going.

Normally he looks like this - click image for a larger view

Second board makeover

At work on an old kneeboard

I finally plucked up the courage to attack one of my own boards with Posca paint pens. The first board was an old one of my dad's that he doesn't surf anymore, so if it turned into a disaster, it didn't matter.
I wanted my 6'8 to work out. Plus my husband surfs it as well, so couldn't have anything too girly on it. A challenge. Having said that, he did used to surf a pink foamie in Summer a fair bit - he doesn't really care what his boards look like.

Originally I'd planned to work on the deck, but the original spray was just too busy to add to.
So I drafted up a design for the underside of the nose hoping that, one day, that bit will be out of the water a lot and shown off while I'm busting reos etc :P.

I found it quite a challenge to work in such a narrow triangle, so I solved this by drawing the waves on an angle, effectively giving me more width to work in. I added the stars to echo the pattern on the deck. I used a more limited colour palette to minimise the girliness by avoiding the rainbow effect of the board above and stuck to simpler lines.

completed 6'8

First Surfboard

I've just completed my first surfboard makeover. Done with posca pens on my Dad's old kneeboard. Moving up to a non-retired board soon. Complete but unvarnished close-up below:

So what's next?? I'm trying to find a watercolour course to have a go at some landscape painting. There's so many inspiring landscape photos on flickr at the mo and I'd love to turn some into small paintings. Magical goodness below! Click on the photo to take you to the artist's photostream...

Chris Brunt

Karl Mackie

Sarah i
Finally... check out Matt O'Sullivan's beautiful travel watercolours... click it

Lancelin again

We're off to Lancelin again tonight. We've got a house near the back beach and 4 mates to spend the weekend with!! Good times ahead. We'll be throwing the boards in the van and heading off about 4:30. Along with out 7'6s, the new addition will be making its debut over the weekend... 6'8" x 20 1/2" x 3" Nice. And. Fat. The spray is growing on me. Can't wait to get a handle on it. I'm mainly worried about stability but also just getting my confidence up. Guess I'll be learning how to duck dive this summer... A few pics from Bali. Taken with the Go Pro board mounted camera. Lovin it. Definitely James' turn to get some good shots this weekend.

Queensland 5 - Byron and back

Here's me with my new board after our great session at the Superbank. We headed down to Byron, but were not blessed with terrific conditions. This was the Pass the arvo we arrived. It was tiny and we wondered whether James' 7'6 would even carry him on them. The shape is amazing. Peeling right handers that stretch across the bay. We checked out Wategos too, but nothing going on there at all. The other beach down here, Tallows is east facing and had all the swell, but as we turned up it was starting to rain and super windy. I'd love to check out Cosy Corner next time we're over. Maybe we'll be lucky.

The lookout at The Pass

Bird and stormy skies.

We walked along the beach into town. Off to the left in the shot below is the Wreck. It's in the centre of town. I hear it can be good, but on this day there were soo many guys out and hardly any waves even coming through.

Rasta

The rain came in that night. We would have got about 100mm in a twelve hour period. But it didn't stop there. Some places got 200mm. We were ill equipped in our van with fly-less tent, holey tarps and not a lot else. The next morning I went out for a quick surf at the Pass on my own. James was keen to get everything packed up. It was bigger than the day before. Still good shape, but messy. I was a wuss on my own without someone there to give me confidence. I had the long board out and wasn't confident catching the bigger stuff on it - having not really mastered the angle I needed to prevent the nosedive on it - and there was a short period meaning I had to keep getting under them as they came in so close to each other. Still glad I surfed it though. Caught three waves before heading back to the van to get going. Back in Coolangatta and the rain didn't stop for 2 days. We checked out the Superbank in the rain. Looked awesome, but neither of us were that keen to surf in the rain on our summer holiday. Save that for winter in Perth. Later I saw a surf news report about the amazing waves everywhere had had on this weekend. All the places we'd visited going off. http://www.coastalwatch.com/news/article.aspx?articleId=5182 The Pass was the last surf we got over there. A quick dip on Friday back at Superbank, but I didn't really count the one wave - what with the ridiculous current, the brewing storm and the stupid anxiety I had. The one thing I'll say about the trip is that I'd hoped to surf more. Probably goes without saying, but I'd come over hoping to surf every day. Any experienced surf traveller will probably tell me that this was unrealistic from the getgo. I can see that now. I really wanted to step things up, get my technique to the next level, but didn't really feel that I got enough water time. I got some good trimming going and some fun waves, but didn't catch anything as big as the stuff I've surfed at home and I guess I disappointed myself in that regard. It is understandable, I think, when you're somewhere new and unknown without anyone to tell you where to sit, where the rips form, where is safe. But next time I think I'll need to push myself a little more, take every opportunity that presents itself, otherwise you're left wanting more.

Superbank in the rain. More people out than the previous weekend when it was sunny.

Sets rolling in.

The day we flew out. We cursed ourselves for packing the boards before checking the beach!

We'd decided on a relaxed morning, cooked breaky and leisurely pack up. Seeing this made me wish we'd done it all the night before and surfed! Even if it meant wrapping our boards in the airport! The whole trip was great. There were some interesting moments, of course, and things we'll do differently next time, but we'll definitely be back!!

Queensland 4 - Heading South

We checked out Ti-Tree again the morning we left, but there wasn't anything breaking. Determined to have a surf before we spent the whole day driving, we stopped in at Maroochydoore. I'd bought my new Mal the day before and couldn't wait to try it out. 9'1, bob Brown shaped. Half red and half blue. Plus it was calm enough to get the camera out again. Recording history. Waiting for a wave. The shape here was amazing. It looked more like a reef break than a beachie. They looked big but didn't have a lot of power. If you weren't taking off from the peak, it was really hard to catch. The shoulder didn't give you any love.

Waiting

Paddling for a wave!!

One of my first rides on the new board and most recent picture of me surfing!! (Doesn't really give much away though, does it?) I did a fair bit of nose diving trying to get used to the new board, where to lie, the angle to paddle on. I'm slowly getting it sorted. I was amazed by how easily it turns! And its light, not like some of the longboards I've tried to pick up and can barely carry.

We arrived back at Coolangatta that arvo and were lucky enough to get a 2nd surf in at Rainbow Bay. The superbank was doing its thing. We were were in a spot removed from most of the hardcore surfers. But that also meant that we didn't have to compete for waves. There were so many to share out. Got a better handle on the mal in this session. I had a couple of really nice righthanders, staring into the sun, setting down the line. Some super long waves and cut backs!! I just didn't want to leave.