Red Light
After a very dark, cloudy morning, at around 7 a.m., we were blasted with red light rays – it was spectacular and unexpected. Light is everything, freshening up my regular subject – Bondi. Coincentently, the waves were cooking this morning. Multiple peaks hosted 3-4 footers at sunrise. Everyone was on for hump day, scores of […]
24hours
It’s incredible what a difference 24 hours makes in the ocean. Yesterday, it was unsurfable and thundering into the bay, bouncing off the back walls. Today, it’s completely dropped off and only 3 foot – how good! Nice clean offshores grooming the multiple Bondi peaks. Large crowds up early, tackling the cooler mornings. It will […]
Enormous
It’s huge. I saw three surfers paddle out at North Bondi, weaving in between sets, to try to score a wave at South Bondi without success. There’s just so much going on out there, water moving everywhere you’d need a ski to fling you, I reckon. Wait for it to calm down. How big? Well, […]
Crunchie
It’s smaller, sunny, and crunchie. A shallow South Bondi was on the “mini tube” setting for tiny humans. The froth levels were high, as 25-35 kilo tykes dominated. Been outside, nice, isn’t it? Sydney at its best. It could hit 24 degrees today before going bad with rain, rain, rain and a whopping swell on […]
Turbo
It’s pretty frustrating out there on the lower tides. Basically, you paddle into a set and pray it stays open for a bit before exploding on the shallow banks. It’s a board breaker and claimed Glynnie’s board before sunrise. It’s a shame, as it has all the ingredients of a cooking day: sun, swell, and […]
Pounding
I copped a bit of a pounding at South Bondi earlier this morning. I guess I underestimated the sets as, at first glance, it looked reasonable. It’s very shallow, with a 5 am low tide and a lot of sand gathered at the South. Trying to slip under sets with a large camera and nowhere […]
Chilled
It’s the first cold morning of the year as the mercury drops below 12 degrees. The strong southwesterly bites deep, especially when exiting the ocean in ya togs. There is a lot of swell with waves breaking well overhead high. The lineup was relatively empty, with just the Dutch Olympic Surf Team out and a […]
Lil’ Bumps
Our fantastic run of swell has come to an end, and today’s swell is smaller yet still surfable. Clean conditions at sunrise under very dark, cloudy skies. A massive pack of hungry 20-30 kilo groms out, feasting on anything moving into the bay. The little ones have such a good time in the water – […]
Onshore Flow
The onshore pattern continues today and will hang around for days to come. Earlier, the winds were light so that you could find the odd clean face; now it’s 11 knots onshore and probably a tad junkie. Waves broke around head high, few rip bowls littered up on the beach. Quiet morning at Bondi, the […]
Ark
The ark doors have flung open, and we now walk out into the sunshine, a little dazed and confused. What’s this? Clear skies? Nooooooway. For how long? Looking at the charts, it could turn any minute now, so enjoy a coffee outside. The southeast winds are howling 20-25 knots, and Bondi is a 4-6 foot bay of […]
Suns Out
Wasn’t that a relief, a morning of glorious sunshine after all the constant downpours in Sydney? The forecast is calling for another week or more of rain, so I really hope you got out, as it’s now raining again. Surprisingly, the waves were good, head high and clean. The junior Dutch surf team was out […]
Hello Bondi
I’m back in the hood and enjoying the glorious sunshine. Lap it up my friends, as starting tomorrow, the weather will decline into showers, and from Friday onwards, it will be super wet! A pink hue surrounded Ben Buckler’s pre-rise as unsurfable 1-2 footers shut down—straight as a ruler. Several people tried to negotiate the […]
Abrupt Chills
And just like that, the switch has been flicked; we’ve got chilly mornings with large southerly winter swells. Bring out the jumpers from storage. Bondi was relatively empty compared to a few weeks ago. Two surfers were out, but there were not many people on the sand. The waves are 6 feet solid, maybe bigger, […]