…inspired by comments on the TC thread.
been a while since I’ve been for a proper surf, my board is somewhere under a house gathering dust, but I plan on getting back into it now that a friend has recently moved down to the coast.
I hardly get out anymore either, and after a terrifying incident several years ago I’m scared of anything over over 4’ anyway. But occasionally I visit my dad in Newcastle (which is the permanent home of my board) and we head out for an early session.
I’m sure there’s peeps on here who surf on the reg and have got some good photo’s/stories to share. I’ll pay my contribution with this classic;
Having come to terms with just hot attractive Deadlegs is the other night, I reckon it’s all down to his surfing.
This has happened to me heaps. It’s all about getting your confidence back. You’re not going to drown, just go with the beatings and hold downs.
as a non surfer/bodyboarder - id like to know how do you guys feel about sharks?
is it an acceptable risk like riding your bike on the road amongst potentially stupid drivers?
yes please chux.
I have surfed since I can remember, sharks are part of it, I also free dive and used to spear a lot and would regularly swim 1km off shore on my own, give me sharks over people any day.
The ocean is a special place if you respect it and can learn to relax in it, it becomes a lot simpler place.
Hold downs can be scary and I’ve had a few near death ones but you bounce back and paddle back out.
I’m a bodyboarder and get out as much as I can.
If there’s any decent swell, and the conditions are right, I ditch my bike and hit the water instead of riding.
Is freediving just mask and flippers?
Over last summer we got really into snorkelling, but I’m a pretty strong swimmer so didn’t have flippers.
I’d love to get a pair of those huge flippers, but a dude at the store was telling me it’s pretty dangerous from a “drowning” point.
My brother and my dad are both accredited divers and they’re not fans of it… love to give it a go though.
Here is a pic I got from inside a barrel a few weeks ago when I went on a mission up the East Coast of Tassie.
I’ve found surfing again over the last 18 months. Grew up moving between Coolum and Brisbane. It was late in highschool when I got heavily involved in Rowing I just stopped surfing and forgot about it. Wasn’t til I started kicking around with Dayne (Spirito of surfing) and a few other mates who egged me on to go for a surf with them. Nek minnit I have 2 boards in the quiver and another custom on the way. I can’t believe I left surfing for so long, I’m in love again. Doesn’t have to be big surf either. I’d be happy with clean 1-2ft Noosa any day of the week paddling the Mal around. My parents will be moving back to the coast in the near future and I’m looking forward to that day! Will get my old bedroom back and no doubt most weekends will probably be spent living at the coast.
Yeah Fin’s (the huge sort) mask’ (as tiny as possible) and a weight belt.
We often hit 25m deep some guys hit 30m+ easy.
So yeah it’s got a high risk of shallow water black outs.
But it’s amazing, but not somthing that should be attempted alone, I have not been for about a year and it’s somthing you need to train for a lot
I briefly got into longboards, #coolstorybro. This is my thread contribution…
I learnt to surf around Albany as a kid, which is really sharky and in almost 30 years of surfing I’ve seen two - a hammerhead and a white. I don’t usually think about it once I’m in the water to be honest unless you see some of the tell tale signs. In any attack though, it seems rare the person sees the shark before. I know people back in WA who are so spooked they don’t surf anymore.
That looks really, really cold.
Count me in!
Have wetsuit but no board, practiced a bit last year but still total noob. Keen to get back in the ocean once it warms up a bit.
I got interested in free diving when I was working on a lake in Canada and spent a bit of time doing CO2 tables, ended up doing a 3:55 (+ or - 3 seconds) as my pb (dry) and a 3 minute something as a static, wet pb. Didn’t own any equipment so only got to do a couple dives when I went water skiing and borrowed a mask off a mate, so peaceful 10 metres down. If you have any gear you want to offload pm me as I want to get back into it. Then we could go for a dive together.
A far as sharks go I was bodyboarding at Apollo and everyone jumped out of the water real quick and I turned worked to see a fin 6-8 metres away and started flippering like mad towards the sea wall. Was surprised to actually be in the water with a shark after watching so many movies/news stories.
Years back I would frequent a beach North of Newcastle named Boomarang. One day there was talk of a shark swimming between the surfers, a few of the guys came in but apparently the shark had swam off around the point. Anyway 2 hours in and this big old black fin pops up about 10m - 15m away. It spooked the hell out of me (and everyone else), but I figured it had been around the whole time and probably didn’t give a shit, so I stayed out for another hour never to see it again.
They’re probably in there more than we know. That said, attacks are very real, and I doubt I’d go in the water again if I knew one had been spotted.
Hey Rolly, here’s a little something to wet your whistle:
[video=vimeo;68657843]http://vimeo.com/68657843[/video]
Go full screen and crank up the volume