Thursday, April 25, 2013

Internet Forecasting vs Old Fashioned Eyeballing

A long time between swells saw the crowd numbers spike midweek a fortnight ago at Snappers with 25-30 in the water at one stage but then come the weekend Saturday arvo saw just 3 guys surfing fun 3ft Snappers. The situation kind of perplexed me at the time but then I made the connection once again and realised that a hell of a lot us rely heavily on Internet surf forecasting nowadays.
Excuses like "Im too busy to go and check it", often arises and another great one I've heard is "what? do you reckon there will be waves tommorow swellmap only says 2 out of 10"..
Leaves a lot to the imagination but the bottom line is that if you solely rely on what "the net" says , you are going to miss a lot of surf in Nelson as those mystical swells just roll on by!!
Take this week for example, 3 days of surfable conditions when big brother said it was flat.
(above): "Dave", sent in this shot of a fabled point somwhere along the Heaphy last week.
Some of you will know but you wont find it on the net.

Moving right along this week saw the closure of "sewer-side drive" the road leading from the first carpark at Boulder Bank drive up to Snappers forcing the hardy crew to walk for 10 minutes up to Snappers. Oh dear!!! If the road was closed permanently this walk would become the norm and would probably infact create a little bit of "beach culture" which we often lack due to the convenience of there being a carpark so close and the fact that we have no beach at snappers,

Rumours rolling about of epic solo sessions around the grounds through the week and those making the walk up to Snappers being rewarded for their efforts with the lazy crew graded out.

Food for thought,

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Photo of the Week.

This weeks shot comes from Graeme Loveridge, who took time out between snippets and got this picture of Snappers on Tuesday.Check the stonking set out back!! If anyone out there has more photes please send them in and share!!



Thursday, April 11, 2013

Nelson Groms Hit Nippon

Nelson's own Colm and Iona Dubienic proved you cant take the froth out of a Nelson Surfer hitting up this beachie in Japan yesterday. Nice Work.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Surf Buy Sell Page Updated:

Finally the "Surf Buy Sell" page had had an injection and is all ready for action.
Check it out !!

Photo Of the Week!

Gary Miller took this random snap last year and said "it was mad".

Froth Dogs Predictions

Froth Dogs Predictions: "You have weathered the calm well my pups. Just one more week until everybody froth. The change is in the air"

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Madness.Charity On!

Just on the flipside of this good deal, most of the boards recieved actually get sent to Indo for the groms who cant afford boards. Now that really is being a G.C.

STOP PRESS: Waves over 2foot in Nelson!!

Thats right folks, last night (wednesday 3rd) saw the wind die out just in time for a desperate crew to hit up Snappers until dark with some solid overhead sets coming through as the swell cleaned itself up and up to the point where it was most probably pumping at 10 o'clock last night!!
Heapa crew out including James Laird, Jeremy Pooley, Rachel Clark, Conal parkes and the new crew of Nelson College grommets. Theo Walton also seen destroying a few alongside CJ Barton and a mysterious SUP rider patiently sitting wide and avoiding the pack. Lets hope this cold snap destroys the continuing run of over high-high pressure systems and we sink into a more consistent run of swell patterns.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Nelson Strike Force Bombs Westport

Last week saw Keni Duke, Barry Fitz, local pro photographer/skater Jimmy Wright and myself hit Westport with all the forecasts pointing to some tasty treats to be had.
Upon arrival we were a bit surprised at the size of the swell with T-Bay breaking in excess of 6 foot on some sets but a couple of us got out there and enjoyed a surf with about a dozen Hectors Dolphins and then retired for a lesser known break in town.
Meeting up with local Andrew Beaufort we certainly had found the pot of gold as 2-4ft peaks detonated right on the beach in front of us. Surfing until we dropped we felt like surgeons as we left the water with our theatre being a total success.
Just remember to take your board.
(above): Keni Duke at top and Andrew Beaufort below.


On the local scene a quick windswell on Easter Sunday never really eventuated to much however some eager beavers got some desperado waves at The Glen late sunday with a surprisingly hardy crew getting amongst it including Rory Dubienic, Hayden Goulding and Rachel Clark.
All of these amazing photos were taken by Jimmy Wright.
Copyright: Jimmy Jay Wright 2013

See you next swell.

Just When you thought it was over someone grabs you by the cucumber 🥒

What’s really going on .....