I sometimes find myself overthinking the decision of where to surf, check the usual indicators in the lead up to a window of opportunity - swell size, swell direction, peak period of the swell, wind direction and speed, tide range, moon phase, consider the time of year for various breaks, try and remember where the sand was and what the waves were like at this time last year....bugger me, it just messes with my head with the endless options and wondering if I made the wrong call or not when I get to where I choose.

And then I remember when I started surfing and just the pure stoke and not really caring for the forecast at all, like not even looking at all - literally drive to the beach with my board on the roof tied down with 2 x broken leggies, chuck the board under the arm and get down to the beach and judge it from there ha ha. I learnt to surf in Winter (was a big Winter too) after getting a fun board from a girlfriend for my birthday, it was tough going but I got it done and was hooked from that point on..

With my time at a premium to surf I am now moving somewhere back to where I started but in a different set of circumstances - pick a time that works with the young family (and work) skim over the indicators and make a call and accept what ever it may be will be what it is and don't worry if you made the wrong call - take it as it is and just enjoy getting out there.

The other part that I used to do is going out on my own, I mostly learnt on my own never had mates bail on me, convince me to go for a coffee or whinge about it and kill my stoke, I was going no matter what. Getting back to that way is harder due to the safety side of it but I must admit the 'soul' surf's can be the most pleasurable and I forgot that.

Have been enjoying sessions in a different way lately and getting back to realising that sometimes conditions are not what they seem until you are out there and not to get worried if you made the wrong call on the location.

Ignorance can be bliss.

Good report, I think all guys who now have kids/wife/mortgage/job/social responsibility can relate.
I surf to surf nowadays if I get a window I go.
Its harder as you get older and fatter to keep the stoke.
I keep a surf diary it's riuthless if I don't go out I force myself to write why what the wind was and the swell.. look at it the year after it in summer and you would kill for some of the waves you walked away from cause it was too cold or windy or banks weren't good enough.
I wrote in it once pretty good but can't be bothered.
Its a good read the year after and helps you get motivated.
It also helps you score good waves at certain tides or times of year, you can argue with your mates about tides or waves etc etc but you can't argue with your own dated thoughts and weather conditions.
I bought my wife a camera so she can get some nature/surf beach shots. The kids are a bit young to surf yet but we all pile in the car and if it's flat we paddle around in the mal, if it's good they go for a walk/swim and I tell them to get brekkie (brekkie normally stings me 50 as the kids missy go crazy) but that's how you make it work.

Anyhow you are right and the better we learn to juggle the more waves we get the healthier we are and the happier....
tough gig sometimes but just gotta keep on keeping on

Perfect inspirations to get out and surf on this cold rainy morning with choppy conditions forecast.

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Souwester said..
I sometimes find myself overthinking the decision of where to surf, check the usual indicators in the lead up to a window of opportunity - swell size, swell direction, peak period of the swell, wind direction and speed, tide range, moon phase, consider the time of year for various breaks, try and remember where the sand was and what the waves were like at this time last year....bugger me, it just messes with my head with the endless options and wondering if I made the wrong call or not when I get to where I choose.

And then I remember when I started surfing and just the pure stoke and not really caring for the forecast at all, like not even looking at all - literally drive to the beach with my board on the roof tied down with 2 x broken leggies, chuck the board under the arm and get down to the beach and judge it from there ha ha. I learnt to surf in Winter (was a big Winter too) after getting a fun board from a girlfriend for my birthday, it was tough going but I got it done and was hooked from that point on..

With my time at a premium to surf I am now moving somewhere back to where I started but in a different set of circumstances - pick a time that works with the young family (and work) skim over the indicators and make a call and accept what ever it may be will be what it is and don't worry if you made the wrong call - take it as it is and just enjoy getting out there.

The other part that I used to do is going out on my own, I mostly learnt on my own never had mates bail on me, convince me to go for a coffee or whinge about it and kill my stoke, I was going no matter what. Getting back to that way is harder due to the safety side of it but I must admit the 'soul' surf's can be the most pleasurable and I forgot that.

Have been enjoying sessions in a different way lately and getting back to realising that sometimes conditions are not what they seem until you are out there and not to get worried if you made the wrong call on the location.

Ignorance can be bliss.

The good part is eventually (If your lucky) William will be wanting to give surfing a go and then it all changes again. I managed to surf Sat in the on shore and actually had fun, then Sunday went out again on my own until i noticed Ash preparing to come out on the beach. Lots of shouting and screaming that it was bigger and nastier than it looked ended my surf abruptly.

Surfing in less then perfect conditions can be rewarding, but time poor and accepting it is rather comforting for the soul..

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peguin said..
Perfect inspirations to get out and surf on this cold rainy morning with choppy conditions forecast.

Correct Penguin. Done. Enjoyed. Please Sir, may I have another?!

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Buster fin said..

peguin said..
Perfect inspirations to get out and surf on this cold rainy morning with choppy conditions forecast.

Correct Penguin. Done. Enjoyed. Please Sir, may I have another?!

Done as well. enjoyed, got washing machined lots as crap conditions. Repeat tomorrow.

Hoping the little man likes surfing thats for sure, would make my life a lot easier and be nice to share the stoke even if it is softboards between the flags for a little while ha ha

Then later on in life sneaking away down south or up North for boys trips

Good post!
I find more often I'm walking away from surfs because its the weekend or school holidays, too crowded, cant be bothered, too cold, wrong wind direction or too small.
If you saw what I was walking away from, you would all think I'm mad
A crowd is 10 blow in's, too cold is 10 degrees, NE is rubbish wind direction and head high is too small
Sucks to be you blokes hahaha

Jeez, I'd have walked away if I'd rocked up half an hour later today. It turned to kiters' mush.
My magnet was still active, however.

I don't look at the surf much these days. I have a quick glance to get an idea of size & head out on the board I reckon will be the go for the day. I sometimes end up on the wrong board & have to come in & swap. But it avoids getting caught up in conversation. I love a chat, but after I've had some waves...might also be unmotivated by what I see, but find its always better than it looks 99% of the time or at least get some exercise to retain paddling fittness. Always try & surf at least 3 days a week, but only surfed twice in the last 8 days. Been flat out the last week, hope to settle down by Thurs...gotta say for you blokes in Perth, I always thought the last 7 days weather was the best for surfing Perth. Swell was up & numbers were possibly down. Dunno what its like these days in regard to numbers when its 20 + knts onshore. But there are places that love some stormy winter days.

Greenroom your way too fussy mate. Even in the 90's, 10 blokes in the water down there isn't a crowd & NE head high is heaps of fun unless you mean between Killkarnup & cobblestones. Which is pretty much flat

Yeah I know of a few places that would have been good in the last few days, one spot in particular that I saw going off this time last year on the way back from a session at another protected wave that was still pretty fun.

Where this wave was the swell was bending in and the howling SW was pretty much offshore and protected for the larger part, 3 guys out getting stand up barrels and getting blown out of them one after the other - amazing to watch - I was surfed out so didn't mind spectating.

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Greenroom said..
Good post!
I find more often I'm walking away from surfs because its the weekend or school holidays, too crowded, cant be bothered, too cold, wrong wind direction or too small.
If you saw what I was walking away from, you would all think I'm mad
A crowd is 10 blow in's, too cold is 10 degrees, NE is rubbish wind direction and head high is too small
Sucks to be you blokes hahaha

Slacker. Drive forty minutes and NE is buff buff buff. Lol.

Still at least the NE keeps you southerners out of the water.

I move seasonally between the two because I am in between the two. Spring/summer head south, autumn/winter head north.

And yes, I am guilty of if it ain't head and a half plus with less than fifteen then maybe I don't bother. It does depend on how tight the take off spot is. I pretty much always take a lower quality wave to avoid the crowd. Or I go surf with Greenroom.

Great post, but its a sign of age I reckon the older I get the more fussy I've become, like Greenroom said too small too choppy too cold too many out, when I was younger I/we would just surf whatever and sometimes it was crap real crap.

I'm gonna surf some crap tomorrow, but better than no crap at all ....working Fri - Mon, so hasta be done...

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Macaha said..
Great post, but its a sign of age I reckon the older I get the more fussy I've become, like Greenroom said too small too choppy too cold too many out, when I was younger I/we would just surf whatever and sometimes it was crap real crap.

I agree mate, when I started all I wanted to do was to get onto the face of a wave the rest didnt really matter, geez I surfed some crap (and dangerous stuff given I was on my own).

Now I am looking for a 2m pure West swell @ 18 sec, 5kn NE winds, mid tide, good banks with not too many people out with the sun shining...oh and a car park right at the front of the shower ha ha

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Souwester said..

Macaha said..
Great post, but its a sign of age I reckon the older I get the more fussy I've become, like Greenroom said too small too choppy too cold too many out, when I was younger I/we would just surf whatever and sometimes it was crap real crap.

I agree mate, when I started all I wanted to do was to get onto the face of a wave the rest didnt really matter, geez I surfed some crap (and dangerous stuff given I was on my own).

Now I am looking for a 2m pure West swell @ 18 sec, 5kn NE winds, mid tide, good banks with not too many people out with the sun shining...oh and a car park right at the front of the shower ha ha

Sook

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MickPC said..
Greenroom your way too fussy mate.

It's easy to be fussy when you're only 10 minutes away

Even easier if you windsurf. Going off tomorrow

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thedrip said..

Greenroom said..
Good post!
I find more often I'm walking away from surfs because its the weekend or school holidays, too crowded, cant be bothered, too cold, wrong wind direction or too small.
If you saw what I was walking away from, you would all think I'm mad
A crowd is 10 blow in's, too cold is 10 degrees, NE is rubbish wind direction and head high is too small
Sucks to be you blokes hahaha

Slacker. Drive forty minutes and NE is buff buff buff. Lol.

Still at least the NE keeps you southerners out of the water.

I move seasonally between the two because I am in between the two. Spring/summer head south, autumn/winter head north.

And yes, I am guilty of if it ain't head and a half plus with less than fifteen then maybe I don't bother. It does depend on how tight the take off spot is. I pretty much always take a lower quality wave to avoid the crowd. Or I go surf with Greenroom.

YEW

Don't over think this!

I found these days driving back from the surf through the traffic kills all the stoke no matter how good it was.