That wave last week

I don't know how or why I got sick a few days ago and I still am.

The weekend is wasted.

So, instead of winging I'd write about last week.

As I wrote in the previous post, I got a very good wave. A few good ones, but an incredible good one in particular.

It was the second wave of the day and I was testing the VersaTraction.

I was sitting on the shoulder halfway between Snapper and Greenmount and there were big sets (over head high - for me it's big) coming every ten minutes or so. 

It was one of those days where the waves were a 100m wide, left to right. Not breaking, peeling perfectly like it does at Superbank, but with the wall of water out and high just there, in front of you.

I love it when it's like that. Only problem when it's big and it's like that it scares me, because a killer set can leave you without escape.  

So this set came and I was sitting wide and safe, still measuring my distance from the breaking point, from the curl, from the others. And all the waves were taken from the horizon. The second one, I think it was the second one, was this beautiful, high, powerful, blue wall of water, and this guy with a yellowish longboard was doing all sort of numbers on it. Then he made a mistake and fell, leaving me with less than 5sec to go. When I saw him going down I felt great joy! Now that I think about it, I wonder how I didn't worried about the size of the wave approaching. I remember joy, and determination to catch it. So I turned the board and paddled and I felt it was the last moment available. I jumped up and there I was! On top of this moving mountain. I started my trimming routine and then I realized that probably the people I came with were still near the car park watching me. I became self conscious and in a fraction of second I thought something along this line: "every time someone is watching me there are horrible conditions and/or they are never there when I get the best rides and they never saw me actually surfing well like the others. So now I stop trimming like a chicken and I go down this wall and turn back up!" And I did it!

And after that the wave was getting to half the size, and I cut back, and trimmed and moved my feet, and finished my ride well pass the rocks of Greenmount, with my heart full of great, unbelievable joy.

I knew I could ride decently one of those big mountains and recently it just happened that I did it a few times. Not that I care about upgrading my waves, but when you see and evaluate the conditions around you, and what the others are doing, and understand that the crowd is the only reason you don't get to ride a 2m wave, well.. you start to say: I can do that! Let me try! And when you finally do it.. well.. you know.. it's unbelievable!

Then the people at the car park actually saw me riding it! I only regret there's no record of it. You see, I often have the GoPro with me. I don't use it when it's big because I don't have mental RAM available while big things are passing by around me. But I don't mean that it's a shame not to be able to admire myself, no: I would like to see if I did what I believe I did. You know what I mean?

Did I really went all the way down and bottom turned up?

After a couple of hours I took this pic at Durambah

Wild life note: a dolphin played around me for a good 5 minutes! And I mean: in front of me, to my left, behind me, to my right.. just among the surfers!

 

Malato.

Weekend buttato.

Quindi dopo aver guardato di tutto su youtube mi sono deciso a scrivere questo post.

Ho accennato nel precendente post di aver preso delle belle onde.

In particolare la seconda del giorno e' stata magnifica.

Era un giorno di set molto grossi (per me, ovviamente. Caramelle per gli altri. Ma per me onde da due metri circa sono cose con cui non scherzare) distanziati da minuti di quasi piatta.

In ogni caso stavo testando il VersaTraction e me ne stavo bello tranquillo sulla spalla, largo, e al sicuro da onde traditrici. Ancora valutando la mia distanza dal breaking point, dal picco, e dagli altri intorno a me. Trigonometria applicata!

Quando e' arrivata in vista la mia onda era gia' occupata da uno che c'era su da chilometri, e con un longboard faceva numeri da circo. Quindi questo bellissimo muro d'acqua si avvicinava e io guardavo il tipo maledicendolo, sorprendendomi poi che le mie maledizioni avessero funzionato facendolo cadere giusto in tempo per me! 

Senza esitare ho girato la tavola e ho remato come un disperato sapendo che un'occasione cosi' non sarebbe tornata (ero l'unico a quell'altezza) sentendo anche che la stavo prendendo proprio all'ultimo.

Sono quindi saltato su e, magnifico, mi sono sentito il re del mondo. Tutti giu a remare e togliersi di mezzo mentre io me la godevo. E me la godevo in modo conservativo, trimmando allegramente, quando mi ha colto questo pensiero: "quelli in spiaggia probabilmente sono ancora la e mi stanno guardando! Non mi hanno mai visto su un onda decente e quando c'erano le onde non c'erano loro. Quindi ora smetto di fare la femminuccia e scendo giu' da questa montagna, giro e torno su come un serfista serio!". E cosi' ho fatto!

Giu', girato, su, trim, cut back, onda ormai scemando, passi avanti, giochini.. da meta' baia a oltre le roccie di Greenmount! Una goduria infinita!

E poi in effetti mi avevano visto! Peccato solo che non ho niente per poterla rivedere! Spesso ho la GoPro con me, ma quando il mare e' grosso evito di fare lo sfigato che gioca con la videocamera perche' le probabilita' che venga punito dalle onde ci sono tutte. Ma il peccato lo dico pensando al fatto che sono sceso giu' da quel muro e ci sono risalito: sara' andata veramente cosi? Ho magari la mia mente ha ingigantito tutto e mi sono mosso di mezzo metro?

Mah.. un giorno lo rifaro'..

Nel mentre guardatevi la foto scattata qualche ora dopo a Durambah. Giusto dietro il point.

Nota animali: c'era un delfino che giocava intorno a dove stavo io per almeno 5 minuti.. in mezzo a noi surfisti.. troppo bello

New spots - Posti nuovi

Since I recovered from my health problem I've been trying few more spots, mostly for crowd reason.

Nothing secret or remote, just places less considered by the big crowd.

One is Moffat beach, north from here, one is Currumbin and the other is Kirra.

Coincidentally the first sessions I had in this places have been good, or good enough to make me think of going there again.

Moffat is a strange place, a mini point, and the waves crash on a rock bottom. I don't know much about best tides, size and stuff. Waves pick on different spots and they don't really peal. It's strange and interesting. I'm sure with the right condition can be a lot of fun. Also it's closer to home than most of the other places.

Currumbin is a hell of a place! In a good way. I'm not discovering anything and actually it gets big very easily. It already gave me a very hard/almost scary time. Again, I'm not sure what's about this spot, but it seems like it's underrated. When Snapper is pumping, Cur is huge.

I'm waiting to find the right winter day, when small and clean waves will come and all the beginner will clog Superbank, all the flying guys on shortboard will be south, all the expert will look for and wait for the best conditions, and me and few others will have fun there.

Then there's Kirra. The legend.

How the fuck can I put it in this list?

Well.. every time you go to Superbank, you drive past it. Everyone drive past it. That's the point. Kirra has world class barrels but it happens just once or twice a year. In my range size waves are never as good as the point just down the road. And there are always just few people out. So, it's not worth it, I alway think.

I tried it once, but I was too much of a beginner and I couldn't tell if it was me or the place. I struggled a lot with the current and although I had some interesting rides, I gave up, choosing the safest comfort of the Greenmount crowd.

But I just went back there and I had so much fun. Yesterday conditions were part point, part beach break. And my board loves steep water, and I made a lot of progress since that day. It was just me, some SUP, some short boarders further out near the rocks and beginners near the beach. While everybody was at Superbank. I got a lot of waves and I had so, so much fun.

Sometime I got to ride the board from the tip, with my feet close together, facing forward, sometime I got to attack (pardon me if I use this term but it's the way I perceived it) the wall, pushing up and down. Aahh.. you know it's hard to describe the feeling. But I'm still high!

Overall, in my short and limited experience, I'd say that nothing can beat good Noosa waves. But the excitement of catching all you want, even if it's just average, it's something I rarely experience. And it's goddam good.

Winter is always stingy with waves, and it's approaching fast. But I'm confident that having added a few more options, I could still have some fun. I really need to keep the momentum.

Wild life note: it was Anzac day and a metal bird, loud and fast, flew through the sky, just above the ocean, along the fantastic shore of the Gold Coast. Not exactly wild life, but worth a mention!

Da quando mi sono ripreso ho aggiunto qualche nuova location di posti serfabili nella mia cortissima lista.

Intendiamoci, se sei bravo ci sono 2000km di posti serfabili. Ma io vado per gradi e non passo certo la vita ad esplorare e provare.. ho un lavoro fisso lontano del mare e vita sociale da portare avanti.

I posti di cui parlo non sono certo segreti, anzi, il contrario, ma hanno in comune il fatto che non ci va molta gente.

Uno si chiama Moffat, a nord di qua. E' una specie di mini point, su fondo roccioso. Non sono sicuro delle condizioni con cui lavora meglio e le onde che ho visto sono un po strane. Pero' grandine e c'e' potenziale per divertirsi. Ed ovviamente ci sono solo i locals, che rende il tutto piu' semplice.

Il secondo e' Currumbin, che come Superbank, a cui sta quasi accanto, ha una storia lunga e non e' certo una scoperta.

Ma la grande folla e' attratta dal super point di Coolangatta e Cur rimane un poco più in pace. Un fatto particolare e' che qua le onde arrivano più dirette rispetto a Coolangatta e quindi sono sempre più grandi e il posto mi ha già punito una volta.

Sono certo che con la giusta disposizione della sabbia, ci siano giorni invernali di piccole e fantastiche onde, che non vedo l'ora di provare.

Poi c'e' Kirra. La leggenda.

Un tempo, prima di Superbank, Kirra era Il Posto.

Com'e' possibile che ne parlo solo ora e lo metto in questa lista?

Beh.. Kirra si scatena con tubi da mille e una notte per una o due volta l'anno. A quanto pare l'intervento dell'uomo ha snaturato il posto, e per la maggior parte del tempo e' un beach break non particolarmente attraente. Infatti ci si passa sempre accanto quando ci si reca al super point di Coolangatta. Tutti ci passano accanto e vanno oltre. C'e' sempre poca gente in acqua.

Ci avevo provato tempo fa ma forse era troppo presto per me e avevo anche faticato molto contro la corrente costante.

Ci sono tornato l'altro giorno esasperato dalla folla di Rainbow beach e mi sono divertito molto. Le condizioni erano a meta' tra point e beach break, ed arrivavano cavalloni interessanti. Quando ho beccato il punto giusto, ho fatto delle belle cavalcate. Alcune sul muso coi piedi uniti, altre un po' più aggressivo contro il muro d'acqua,  a seconda delle onde. Bellissino, la goduria aumentata dal fatto che c'erano quattro gatti più' in fondo, o alcuni beginners vicino alla spiaggia, e io ho fatto quello che volevo.

Insomma, finalmente ho aumentato il numero di opzioni disponibili.

Spero che l'inverno non sia spilorcio e mandi comunque qualche ondina divertente. Vorrei mantenere l'inerzia acquisita e portare avanti i miei piccoli progressi.

Sono arrivato ad un punto in cui se posso prendere una bella onda, mi diverto veramente.

Nota sugli animali avvistati: un jet esattamente come quello di TopGun e' passato a bassissima quota seguendo la fantastica linea costiera della Gold Coast. Velocissimo e rumoroso, mi ha ricordato che era un giorno di festa per l'Australia ed ho pensato che si, la festa me la stavo proprio godendo.

Catch up

I've been away for a bit too much, I know.

Busy with life and surfing!

Since February I kept surfing every weekend, and I had two stupid sessions and some very good.

I just came back from the long Easter weekend in Noosa, where it was obviously packed, but where I scored some great waves.

This morning I had this great experience that I want to put down in words.

The forecast was always the same in the last days: 3ft at around 8sec, from east. 

It was the last chance for a surf before getting into the car and drive back to Brisbane. So at 6.15am I was taking a look at Little Cove were only a few tiny little waves were coming, with 2 surfers out. I said, fuck, where are the waves? ..whatever, I'm here.. I will catch something.

I went out, spent some 15mins trying to catch some ripples above the rocks, taking turns with and old guy (a better surfer than me, btw - the other guy was closer to shore) and feeling the frustration rising. Then, while the old man was all so proud to score the only real wave passing by, I saw some white water further out, at National Park (not really out from the land, but along the headland) and said: well, this is so flat that a little paddle down there won't ruin my session. And so I went.

There was a guy with a SUP and as I came closer a nice set came and he got one.

I positioned my self where the weaves have been and sat there. And waited, probably a minute. And then another set began to brake further out on the rocks, and someone with a short board did some fancy turns. The set came to me and it was nice and clean. The guy with the SUP was somewhere else so I had nothing left than to go for the bigger.

I rode this fun, fat wave all the way to the rocks, probably a 20sec ride, and paddled back.

And so it began: on a seemingly flat morning, high tide, every 5min or so a set of 3 fat waves came to life exactly there, and I rode them, not needing to wait or negotiate position with others! I was in ecstasy! 

In truth, two boys with short boards came near me but they were trying to catch them in my inside, almost over the rocks, without great success, and we didn't cross our paths once. Actually I surfed, they only tried. 

Some guys with SUP passed by again, but without great interest on waves. And a beginner came close to me, but he was unable to catch them. 

To make it short, I've been physically alone for 30mins I think, and when I was not alone I kind of ruled the little spot! Unbelievable!

I start laughing of joy, and also at those guys walking on the tracks and checking out the ocean, seeing me waiting for nothing, and going on toward Tea Tree bay, where I guess every body was.

Oh man! What a morning!

The joy of trying and trying the same thing over the almost same wave without waiting for the others. Just pointing the one I liked and going for it. 

Some of them were steep. I caught a few on the breaking point, feeling the tail lifting high   and jumping up, with good timing, and then riding it, pushing the board against it, turning it down, walking to the nose (I don't cross step but I can go there) and feeling all the reactions under my feet.

On a side note, I saw hundreds of butterflies flying over the water, and even more on dry land, in the NP. Must have been a special day for that species, like the only day of their life or something similar. Well it was a good day indeed. :)

Back to Cooly - Ritorno a Cooly

After many weeks my friend and I went back to Coolangatta.

As I said many times this is the place that I love the most: the water, the sand, the sunshine.. I don't know. I just love it. Even though this surf spot can turn easily in a punishment for me.

Anyway, I just wanted to write down that we surfed all morning with some reasonable waves. Specially during the first hour I got some kind of big waves and I surfed them as I never did before. As I said my surfing is evolving and now I'm enjoying moving my board as much as I can.

But don't get me wrong: I don't care about upscaling my waves. It's just that I'm stoked about being able to surf them and being able to do my little things.

Once again. I'm so stoked. :)

ps- On a side note I just decided to create a "wild life" tag. Unfortunately I didn't write yet about all the wild life spotting I do while out in the water. I kwon that for australian surfers what I see in the ocean is nothing compared to their lifetime experience, but nevertheless I'm so surprise and amazed every time it happens.

Yesterday a stingray cruised below me, while a Pied Cormorant popped up from under the water just few meters away. It was fishing and didn't give a damn about the waves, or the surfers! I love australian wildlife. I love Australia.

Dopo piu' di un mese sono tornato a Coolangatta.

Come ho scritto altre volte amo questo posto. Sara' per l'acqua, la sabbia, lo scenario, il sole.. non lo so.

In ogni caso volevo scrivere brevemente che specialmente durante la prima ora ho beccato qualche bella onda alta quanto me e le ho cavalcate degnamente.

Il mio surfare sta cambiando e si evolve. Muovo la tavola sempre di piu' e sono in grado di interpretare -se mi passate il termine- almeno un poco l'onda, invece che esserne sempre e solo un semplice passeggero.

La soddisfazione e' enorme.

Ogni volta ho un sorriso enorme mentre remo per tornare in posizione.

Cavalcare poi onde cosi' alte e' una bella scarica di adrenalina. Non che mi interessino onde grandi, tutt'altro. E' solo che quando non c'e' scelta ti devi adeguare, e sapere di essere a mio agio e' una grande soddisfazione.

L'utimo mese e' stato fantastico e anche ieri ho finito molto contento.

ps- Aggiungo ora una Tag chiamata wild life-animali. Purtroppo ho sempre dimenticato di scrivere a proposito degli animali che vedo mentre sono in acqua, ed ho deciso di farlo da adesso in poi. Gli avvistamenti sono sempre tanti e belli, ma parto da ieri e lascio al caso il racconto dei prossimi. 

Ieri mentre aspettavo e riposavo, una manta e' passata sotto di me, radente la sabbia, in planata. Poi qualche tempo dopo, un Pied Cormorant e' comparso da sott'acqua, mentre pescava. Era a due metri da me e di certo non se ne preoccupava minimamente.

Non c'e' giorno che non veda qualcosa che in Italia era riservato ai documentari. Amo questo posto.