Ok, let's get a top 5 from everyone. Need something to fill in this flat spell. List approximate year, location (don't be specific if it's a secret spot) and pics if you have any.
N-1 all time Cyclone Bianca Yellingup. Cause it was in WA, off shore and pumping.
N-2 Mitchell's, last year when every place was flat went to the wedge and it was over head green room action. Every wave was tube.
N-3 Surfing with the Brazilians on the Friday evening of the Drug Aware Pro last year, those blokes had a ceremony with howling cheering and 15 foot main break.
N-4 Nearly every surf in Indo.
N-5 When our local turns it on. When I say our I mean Bakesy and myself and about 500 others. That wave can be world class and most times empty.
i want to say, but no. its not worth the increased crowds. best surfs are with mates and no crowds, very rare in this state. flame suit on
Sengiggi 1999 Cyclone Vance swell. Turned a fun normally 50m 2-3ft wave into a 200m+ 6-8ft freight train. At the time there was only a handful of local surfers, none of whom were out and a couple of random Euro backbackers, who shouldn't have been out. Got some waves, made them all and each one scared the piss out of me. Overcast, oily and evil. I've been out in bigger waves but this was by far the heaviest surf I've ever had, 6-8ft Ulu's felt fluffy by comparison. Shudder to think what Desert's was doing at the time. I reckon whoever was there was giving thanks that it would've been onshore.
Countless surfs at Moore River growing up as a grom, never got bigger than 3ft but got so good at times. Picture perfect A frames that you could backdoor either way, the sort of $hit you used to draw on your school files. Don't mind mentioning it 'cos it doesn't exist anymore due to the Gingin shire digging the mouth through on the south side and changing the place forever.
As gay as it sounds, Mullaloo Point one day in September 1988, three of us out and just smokin, really, really long right hand pits. 2-3ft but so perfect it could've been Burleigh Cove. Sticks in my mind 'cos I was supposed to be at an english lit exam.
Boodjy early 90's 4ft maybe 8 crew in the water and as good as it gets. First time I'd surfed it and I've never seen it as good since.
Perth metro last year mikemaxted.blogspot.com/2011/08/lucky-lukes-luscious-lengthy-left.html 3 hours+ of perfection with no more than 4 other blokes. There was wave after wave like this. Honestly don't know how it came about, we sat out there watching traffic pass us by and 200m up the beach we were watching 30+ SUPs and Mal riders fight over fat close outs. Was utterly surreal.
Nothing gay about Mullaz... When it's hot it's hot and when it's not (360 days of the year) it's not!
1-Mex Pipe, evening surf after a rain storm, 10'+ glassy, not a drop out of place, boardshorts, no leg rope just pure surfing. doing big turns inside the barrel just to survive
2-Johanna 3 full weeks of offshore between 4 and 8 foot super clean spring swells.
3-Super tubes J/bay 6weeks straight 4 to 10 feet in autumn , when you get a run like that every surf you have is the best.
4-Cant name this one , a place very similar to backdoor pipe but more perfect, 6 foot and just me and no one for miles, sharky scary,bittersweet.
5- Hopefully the next one I have, or at least sometime this year.
mid 80's north shellharbour aged about 10, first surf on a board I painted myself and first time I worked out how to pull in...
early nineties teenager in highschool, get redsands all to myself and 1 mate on a sneeky swell on grand final arvo, barrel after barrel after barrel without lowey or the longottoms there dominating the takeoff...
late nineties ombak tujuh, isolated and super friggen massive, only one out, copped a twenty minute set on the head while constantly trying to avoid being smeared against the cliffs...
a week or so later out batu keras, 4-6ft right hand waves going from point to point pushing sideways down the beach multiple barrels per wave, no one else out,too big for the locals and the couple of euros hanging out at the losmens, I had my own private superbank... been back many times, never seen it like that again...
thats four, could never make a definate list too many good memories, too many good sessions.. like keramas ten years ago, people now wouldn't believe how many sessions we had out there with NO ONE else, and we'd surf it every day for weeks from knee high to overhead, or early morning out back beach, glass perfection not a drop out of place, take off into tubes and ride rampy walls all the way to shore, you could travel the world looking for waves like that and they were straight out from the track to the beach at the end of my street....
one I ways think of but, was christmas day first light out the farm with my brother, no one else out.
he pulls into this wave, gets cleaned up, fin chopped to the knee leaving this massive floppy skin flap dangling off his leg. I tell him it doesn't look too bad and I'll just get a few more and we'll head in, two hours later i wander over to the car to see him pale as, blood everywhere.
we stopped at hospital on the way home, I left him there so I could go home and tell the oldies (long before mobile phones).
they take off to the hospital to wait with him and come home something like four hours later.... he got a half a dozen stitches or something and i ruined christmas... apparently... (i always thought it was the christians who ruined christmas)
1.
Greenmount - When I first moved to Qld, I didn't get to surf the superbank for a good 2 years. One morning when I was about 15, I got picked up by and older friend and driven down. The results? 6 foot superbank. Greenmount perfection. my first Greenmount bomb, I remember taking off at the end of rainbow bay on a fat mushy section, around shoulder height. I faded back to where the power was, and then it happened. The wave started to hit the greenmount bank and the water started moving up the wave at a million miles an hour. I dropped down the face and did a subtle bottom turn and just stood there. The thing fully covered me and I could feel all of the pressure under my board. I had never caught a wave of this power and I had never got barreled like this before. I rode inside of it for what felt like forever, only to get pounded by the lip on the final section. I popped up after a good ol' beating and who is right next to me? None other than the man himself and one of my childhood heroes, Occy, giving me that ear to ear grin he is so famous for.
2. Burleigh - Sometime last year - 4 foot long period - 20-30 blokes in the water, all spread out (very quiet for Burleigh). Everyone was enjoying themselves and sharing waves. No sweep. Every wave was barrelling. I had many slouched stand up barrels.
3. Aganoa Right in Samoa - November 2011. 6-8ft. Two directions of swell causing hectic double ups. The heaviest surf I've ever been in. Caught the heaviest wave I've ever ridden. Waist deep on the reef, and anyone who has surfed samoa will know what those reefs are made up of. I started out as the only guy in the lineup cos the tide was way too low. Was soon joined by 3 other poor souls. it was one of those days when your heart pounds with fear and excitement.
4. Caves, Koel Bay, Cape Town, South Africa - 4-5 foot waves at about 7pm, groomed by a howling offshore. Wedging waves with an easy side takeoff - you could stand up on this 30cm sidewash and pull straight into the most perfect barreling righthander for 50m.
5. In about 10 months I'm heading on a trip that will hopefully last a couple of years. The first stop is Indo. I will be staying for as long as I can without going insane (probably 4-6 months). The next stop after that is central america, followed by south america. By December 2013, this list will have to be replaced.
Way back in 2010 a little pup dog aka WA doggie flew to the eastside and we hit up a very sick most eastern point break hell it was crap but meeting little pup dog was well worth it,cheers doggie,not bad for a shortborder come sup'er
Hard list to compile. Sheesh....
Probably best day of surfing ever. Currumbagan and T'Land border. My mate snapped his board in a hands over head stand up pit. He went in and counted me getting barreled 15 times in 30 minutes. He could stand no more and went back to my unit overlooking the peak.
We drove down to Cooly to get his other board and went straight back out for the arvo sesh. Slightly bigger, different tide, longer bigger waves. Rainy day, glass all day, swell pulsing, no sweep, banks in epic form. Gold Coast beachbreak rarity..... Oh and about 5 people all day as well........
only 3 surfs come to mind.. havent been surfing long enough really! buuuuut
3 - point break in vic two years ago.. me and two mates only guys out..glassy hip high right handers peeling perfectly all the way into the beach.. by the time you got in and ran around the point and jumped off the rocks another set was coming.. we spend about 4 hours out until a few longboarders came along.. and although i was still on a minimal surfing terribly back then was definitely one of the funnest surfs.. alot of high fives were slapped that day!
2 - my first surf down south last year when i moved to WA.. a pretty well known break, but was middle of the week and there really wasnt "pumping". 2-3ft waves (which at the time were pretty big for me but small for the spot apparently) surfed by myself with one other guy out. was the first surf i had on a short board where I got to actually ride the wave and try some turns. did alot of firsts and built up alot of confidence trying new things that day.. i was only out for about 2 hours but it felt like 10 hours since id accomplished so much!
1 -The best surf ive had by far though.. was in PNG last year. fast left hand reef. bit over head high on the sets and really fast. I never new i could surf so fast until that day. first wave was awesome and made it through a few sections and rolled off the wave.. later pulled into my first barrel.. didnt make it out. broke a leash and got absolutely pumbled on numerous occasions that day.. but i had so much adrenaline that i just kept paddling into set waves and going hard..
actually felt proud of myself at the end of that day.. even though i couldnt surf the next day since i had a really bruised lower back and a bunch of reef cuts on my ankles from fetching my board after my leash broke.
one thing i miss about vic is surfing with mates.. i get up and surf by myself every day that there are waves here.. which is awesome cos i couldnt surf every day in vic.. but at the same time it sucks.. nothing makes a session better than the stoke mates can give to each other.. i get an awesome wave now.. and its just me.. my wife sure is sick of hearing about it!
^^^^^ I surf a lot on my own but I'll agree with you, having someone out there to share the fun is better.
Not the best surf, but the most memorable.
New years eve 1999.
At the Haven.
The day was a shocker, had to work mowing lawns all day with the point cranking.
By 4pm work was done and I still hand to hitch back in to town to get food for Dudedog 1.This was done in record time, and Dudedog1 was happy.
Bolted down to the point, 2k run again done in record time.The crowd out the point had thinned as most people on this night had only one thought PARTY.There was a few still out ,but as I hit the water all but one had gone in.So it was about 5pm,I got a couple of waves,decided it was time.
So I paddle over to last guy in the lineup,and
said "mate I have surfed out here for 20 odd years,would you be pissed off if I asked yo to go in as I want to surf the point on my own on the last day of the year,decade,century,millennium.
He looked at me and replied "I am only down here for the party and my mates are waiting for me on the hill,so no worries."
He pointed up to the hill and back to the beach, "check out how many people are lining the beach and hills" he said.
I was so amped for this surf I had not really noticed the crowd,It was a few thousand people,just starting to party with many more to come.He went in.
There i was on my own out the point,4ft plus nice even swell,pick off the waves and a ****ING huge crowd on the beach/hills.
Well I surfed and YES even though this is hard to believe I even Smiled(those who know me know this is rare/even unheard of).
It started to get dark,the crowd seem to grow and grow.
Then ****ing BANG-Boom-Bang_BOOOOOM,The sky lit up with the 9.30 fireworks.
Not long after I think its time to head in as that familiar sound started in my head;;
Da-Dum...Da-Dum...Da-Dum Da-Dum Da-Dum
Da-Dum...Da-Dum...Da-Dum Da-Dum Da-Dum
I paddle in across the bay rather than in around the rocks,Why? I thought it would be safer to take on the paddle over deep dark water at night,rather having to walk through the pissed crowd.Well I hit the beach only to be surrounded heaps and heaps of people was handed a beer,wished a happy new year, so on.
Got home about 11pm,
had 4hrs of the point on my own,good waves and
I was STOKED,had a few hot ones.
Never really got over that surf,It was not the best waves that i have had out there,and it is not the only time I have had to myself till dark.
Still the most memorable surf.
1. 2002 remote outer reef west oz. This was my first surf at this spot and its still my favorite wave 10 years later. Was sheet glass and double head this day running for hundreds of meters.
2. 2007 another west oz outer reef (but a lesser known one). flawless barrels for 200m. just like indo.
3. Desert point 2001. 8 foot sets. Enough said.
Cheers zuke. I was going to up load some more (to make it a top 10) but haven't had enough time in between kids and work etc.
Btw that right you surf, did you find it or did you have a mate who whispered its location?
Looks like a nice wave, the way the right kinda bends in on itself. Reminds me of certain spot on Rotto (but I know it's not there).
I found it. I used to do a lot of exploring, up and down the coast dozens and dozens of times checking out every reef in all sorts of conditions. Like most places I surf it needs everything right to really fire; swell size, frequency, direction, wind and tide. It's surfable if most are right and not even recognizable if a couple of important conditions are wrong. I have it sussed now.
It's very sharky, I saw another one last time I was there. It was cruising along the back of the drop off and rolled over a little as it swam past flashing its white belly at me. I was sitting just in over the reef about 6 metres away.
G-Land
Mini-pipe
Maroubra (early morning peaks or the NE in the arvo - good rights)
VooDoo
Sandon Point
All the above a very long time ago. Then saw the light of Sup
.
my list continued,....
4. Balangan, Bali 2001. Caught an outrigger up the coast from legian and found balangan. Only a couple of guys on it and head and a half and smoking (low tide). No photos this day though DOH! Reminded me of the desert point sessions.
5. The rock, ledgy right 2010. Took the boat across with the bro in 2010. Had it to ourselves all arvo, overhead glassy and hollow.
6. Numerous times when "out the front" has turned it on. Only happens a few times a year (and sometimes not at all), but it can get good. Here it is in 2000.
to be continued,...
Sam "out the front" has had some of the best beachies I've ever seen at times, right up there with perfect Boodj or Boranup. Soooo punchy! I remember days there before the suburb was there, camped on the beach. Just thumping empty beach break pits.
Last year had fleeting glimpses of past glory, bring on the norwesters...Wish I'd taken more pics as a grom, I have none. Although I do have some pretty cool pics of last winter, will dig 'em up....
This was one arvo of pure joy....
hopefully I havent had em yet...if I have, I dont wanna know, gotta live in hope that my best surfing and best waves are still ahead of me...still chasin the feeling....
www.moresurfboards.com
yeh smicko last year had some good days down there,...much better than 2010 anyway!
fingers crossed for this year.
heres a guess where for ya. this is another old pic i scanned. hows the split peak.
got it smicko. i have a funny story from 2005.
we drove the boat over one saturday morning to find the peak absolutely smoking with no one out. we were dumbfounded and couldnt believe our luck.
we surfed (3 of us for several hours and just cleaned up - so many waves).
on the way home someone bought a news paper and it said the beach we were at was closed as whale was washed up on the beach and white sharks had been sighted in the area.
ignorance is bliss hey.
Yeah made it pretty sketchy for a while there, they left it to rot long enough before removing the carcass that for weeks afterwards you'd get a coating of whale oil whilst surfing. Bloody thing couldn't have ended up in a worse place, right in the keyhole at the end of the left.
It's buried at Narrowneck now awaiting sufficient decomposition and funds to dig it back up and put it back together like a lego set back in the settlement. Another waste of money just like Paulo's piano
1 to 5 Margs Main break
i cant say they were my best, but they were most memorable, maybe cause they were a long time ago?
just for the push of the wave on the take off, the fear, the exhilaration after flicking out, just getting a wave, the violent wipeouts, getting 5 set waves on the head.
every surfer should surf there at least once
