Summer Bliss

This is what summers all about..living the life

life is just

A delayed merry christmas to everyone that reads this blog (i think im the only one that actualy writes and reads on it)..Everything in my life at the moment is pretty much routine. I havent gone on a good surf trip since the gold coast and apart from a fun day at west cape last week there hasnt been many waves where the winds have been favourable and waves over 2 foot.
Other news though. my lovely girlfriend holly is heading over the the frigid temperatures of europe for 7 weeks. my boredem factor will properly increase ten fold for the next few weeks until i head off to samoa where i will be lapping up the coconut cocktails and surfing over pristine reefs. something to look foward to

my lovely girl

Freeme co.

Freeme co. is the brainchild of the young mind Sam Norwood. He's just recently armed himself with a housing and has been shooting the surf every chance he has. His website freeme co is a cool lil site that showcases some cool local photos, artists, musicans and anything inbetween. I recommend checking it out here when you get the chance.

Freeme co.

fuck off negativity

a few months back wattsy karl and myself ventured over and hoping to get some waves at a few different waves on a different coastline. the swell forcast was for small waves but with favourable winds on our side we thought we'd get some waves. arriving we saw some swell pouring into the beach. hopes were high thinking we could get an infamous left on..walking across the dunes we were kicked in the twig and berries with 1-2 foot waves closing out on a dry ledge. discussions were had and shapes were eaten and the call was made to go for a lovely hour walk to a wave down the other end of the beach..walking along a beach isnt as romatic as it sounds and we were pretty glad to get to the wave. rockin up we saw one break out the back and just roll onto the inside ledge where the thing opened up and reeled into a little bay...we sat and watched it for a few minutes not seeing another one do what had just happened..
Hope were dampened we knew we had another hour walk back along the beach but we were faced with waves not worth driving 9 hours for. a tough decision.to surf or to walk back...

We walked back thinking the closeout onto dry ledge could, would and hopefuly will be better..walking back along the beach we were looking into the left reeling along the reef..yelps were coming left right and centre."did ya see that one..fucking sickk" was said atleast one every few minutes.
After a fastened walk back thinking  the tide would make the waves rideable we finally realised that our screams and yelps were for nothing..it was shit although one or two came through that made karl and myself keen enough to get out there and wash away our negative thoughts..

A few closeouts later we were soo off it..we got skunked 9 hours for 2 foot closeouts..shit..fuck..tits..bullshit...
another 20 minute walk back to the car didnt help the cause for some of us.on the way back to the car we walked past another wave that works on small swells which earlier in the morning it had just been washing through and wasnt really doing its usual goodness. But something changed. sun was out. tide changed. wind straightened up and we were faced with perfect 3-4 foot lefts reeling along this amazinly perfect reef with only 3 other mates out.

Usualy this wave cant handle anything over 3 foot as it washes though making it unsurfable but for some reason there were some solid 4-5 foot sets coming though and it was holding it. We surfed  pumping waves by ourselves everyone screaming each other into these perfect pits all morning until the wind killed it in the ass..Quite contempted with out trip so far we knew it was going to be similar if not a little bigger the next day so we were amped..
We woke early thinking another pretty famous right might be on in the morning..but the trend of the trip continued and it wasnt so we drove back to the wave we previously surfed the day before.

It was pumping again the swell had straightened a little and was hitting the peak perfectly making it a dead perfect split peak..lefts and rights were draining down this shallow little reef with no one else within a 150 km radius of it..
Another morning of pumping waves with no one about and we were all amazed how perfect the waves were the last few days.

Theres nothing better than driving back home when you cant count how many barrels you have got in the last 48 hours and spirits were high for the drive home..it was a good trip and shows you that negativity is never the way.

Heres some framies courtesy of  Wattsy.

Christmas has come early

Chris Apps from Science bodyboards has sent me down a new board for the summer and my trip to Samoa. Its a Science 5 and looks mighty fine and all im hoping for is some good waves to test it out in. the new range is out and you can order all your science boards from Big Surf Aus in Middleton.

interview

when we got back from qld from the national titles, Tim Doman shot me through a few questions to answer about the nationals and the state of bodyboarding in sa.
click the link to have a read
http://www.surfingaustralia.com/sa/news-details.php?id=59

BOOM!

I just recieved a new package from summerset clothings co... The new summer range is looking quite fine. If you want to check out their latest range and order yourself some fine new threads click here.
Better be quick because the new summer range has sold out twice already!!!!

its 1 foot and onshore

JOB First Look from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.


so whilst trying to kill time i have searched the wide world of vimeo and found this video. real crisp footage and some cool angle making a cool video

bordem killer

Few shots from south coast trip I did with young photog Jack Creevy earlier in the year

summer is here

the recent heat wave in sa is a sign that weve hit summer. i'd like to say goodbye to knights for a few months as the bodyboard population in south australia triples as every person thinks there the next ben player and surfs knights. This although is a blessing in disguise, as another amazing coastline that helps sculpture australia comes into season, with consistant swells and constant offshores its a good opportunity to get some waves during the summer months

goodbye knights- photo: Sonny Harlow

and hello other coastlines- photo: Jack Creevy

ill be back

The Raw national titles wrapped up on saturday.the swell dropped out thoughout the week, so it gave the sa guys a chance to sit back relax and enjoy what the gold coast is famous for. it was a fun week full of laughs fun waves and a little to much of lance's antics called 'is this porn' which is not really what you want to wake up too. Ill be back next year to do it all again and hopefully go a few more steps further.

slip slop slap

The mercury is rising and that only means one thing..sunburn baby..its a deep burn after a day in the sun that doesnt appeal to anyone. although there is a solution to keep your skin free from the burn, the new range of gear from sunzapper has kept me sun burn free under the australian sun bali and the cook island's sun so i know personally that this stuff is the goods

The rebelious national titles day 2

Day 2:  Cornflakes, banana, water, banana, water, stretch banana. These were the sequal of events that went down this morning. Walking down to the comp area this morning for my quarter final heat i met up with

Tim ' the big man' Doman who gave me the low down for my heat and what i should do to get through.. I thought 'pff what does he know about bodyboarding, ill just go out and do what i did in the first few heats and hopefuly get through'.

t didnt work, coming up against Sam Benett, Chase O'leary and a local queensland dude my tactics didnt pay off and wave count was considerable lower than Charlie Masons voice. I didnt make it through, but i achieved my goal of making it through one heat so i was over the moon to make it through two and get into the quarters.

The next few hours went down with the next sequence of events. grovel, beer, pose for photo whilst lance experiments with jake's camera, eat, beer pose.

The rebellious national titles

Day 1: We awoke all eager for the day ahead. Lance’s shoulder was feeling fine, Henny’s perm was bigger than big bird himself and jake, well jake wasn’t even awake yet. We walked down to Dbah to see the conditions were far from fantastic, team moral went down for a few seconds until we saw a few lefts break in the corner..Team SA were back in it. I was first in the water for Team SA coming up against Joe Clarke, ex SA now NSW frother Marshall Watson and a man who travelled all the way across the tasman who i don’t know his name. Feeling pretty confident in the mid coast like conditions i managed a second behind Clarke and beating Marshall, which put a smile on a SA team manager’s face, which was enough to put me through to the second round.


Next up was lance, by the time his heat came around the conditions were worse than the smell Henny’s poo left in the toilet. Not much came through in his heat apart from a few lil mushy rights were his competitors picked off and struggled to spin combo off. By the looks of lance he wasn’t up to the usual power boat paddling style during the heat, after confirmation from Tim Doman’s comment ‘apparently Lance’s shoulder is hurting’ all myths were justified, just coming third in his heat.

Last but not certainly not least was Hellwood. Who would have guessed that 25 knot onshore 3 Dbah could get any worse..But it did for henny’s heat. Struggletown was the theme for his heat with everyone not being able to link up any moves to get a score down. Eventually the heat finished with no one really getting a solid score down but unfortunately getting third as well and not making it through the next round.

After much discussion from the judges to see if 3 foot dbah was too big for the grommets, the call was made to push the second round of open mens foward a day.. I was up against Alex Halsey, a west aussie Lewy Finnegan and new south waleian Seb Miller. Quietly hopefully i could make it through my hopes and dreams went to shatters when didn’t catch a wave for 5 minutes.. But a few spin and roll combos went down and were enough to grab me second behind Alex Halsey and put me into the quarters.

Until tomorrow i fair you goodbye and goodnight

Sin City

We arrived on Sunday morning after a hideous early morning flight with Tiger air. We were all excited about the prospects of springy tans, foxtel, fun waves and good times all round, everyone except Jake as he had felt the effects of a night on the town and passed out before the air hostess had finished the safety instructions.

Arriving at our apartments we realised we are doing it in style. Staying only minutes walk away from Dbah, mr henwood and myself were straight across the river to surf lil wedgy beachy which produced a few hours of entertainment and trying get our comp surfing steeze on.

Later that night we relaxed back in the pool and spa for a bit before we retired to our beds to rest up for what lies ahead of us the next morning.

doing some light reading about the best fish and chips in australia

the team

the smell of hot coffee

Or the smell of  chicken burger from Hungry Jacks as im sitting down in the adelaide airport sharing a power supply with the man behind fuzed bodyboarding, Jake Seedy Seabrook..Arriving at 4:15 for a 6:15  tiger airways flight to the Goldy with Mr Henwood, Mr Hurford, Seedy and myself we are off to the nationals for a week to shralp the fun peaks that the gold coast has to offer.

Sir Lancelot ruler of the pool table

Local ripper and all round pool wannabe champion has updated his blog. check it out http://www.lancehuford.blogspot.com/

Its love

summerset summer 09

Summerset is a clothing company on the rise and I am lucky enough to get some support from them.

There new range came out earlier this week. check it out and get into some fresh new summerset gear at www.myspace.com/summesetclothing

Raw national bodyboarding titles

Were the first south oz peeps to compete in these titles in a few years. lets hope Lance, Henny and myself can get through a heat.

skate or die

Im not a massive fan of skateboarding..its not that i dont think its amazing its the fact that im shit at it.
apart from that i found this cool video of some pretty sick skating.
check it out
http://www.dvsshoes.com/skateandcreate/feature.html

saint mary's a slapper

You can have fun with her for hours on end, day after day, you can get deep inside her, she spits and can also have a go with her with a bunch of mates..the only problem is that she is located 10 hours away. So as desperate as Lance Hurford, Sonny Harlow and myself are for some saint mary action we decided to hop into the car and make the trek over to visit one of our new found loves.

All photos courtesy of Sonny Harlow

the dawn of time

After my good mate Lance has joined the blogspot craze I have been thinking of joining him in a continuing trend to post useless information, stories and pictures onto a blog. So here I am sitting down watching NBA on tv bored shitless and buliding my blog so i can join all the bloggers around the world.
So sit back grab a cup of milo and enjoy picking my brain..