VOL.
SELECTED SPREADS MAY JUN
’09
251
ASL 251 :: Saluting a bloody great Autumn at home + Tahiti, Fiji, Portugal, Chile and more
m g gi ee oo rl t d ra po ness yc st he er ! l
Every coast cops a caning Winkipop to Kirra, The Box to Narrabeen, & all points between
The Tahiti Files
Bobby bites back, Kelly & Manoa score perfection, Laurie goes large
parko, ace & cloudbreak
MORRISON MEDIA ISSUE 251 Aust: $8.95 inc gst NZ: $9.95 inc gst JAPAN: 1,200 Y PP 435266/00005
ISSN 1036-3491
9 771036 349005
08 Michael Hopkins south coast, nsw photo: ray collins
It’s a hard knock life
The Search
goes to Supertubos
Jamie O
gives us the Twits
Dayyan
on being Manly
Mikala Jones living the dream
www.surfinglife.com.au
Early Days// I learned to surf down by what we call First Pipe. There are two stormwater drains and it’s the southern one in front of The Corso. We weren’t allowed up at North Steyne because we weren’t good enough and the old boys wouldn’t let us. As soon as I heard about The Bower I wanted to surf it, but my parents forbade me because they knew it had rocks and reefs and stuff, and they’d heard reefs were dangerous. I had to sneak out there with my friends and hope I didn’t get caught. I got busted once and we had this big talk. My folks had to call my uncle in who surfed and he decided whether or not he thought I was 74 // surfinglife.com.au
capable. Because my parents said it was so dangerous, the first times I surfed it I was petrified, but me and my mates would hang down the line at the surge rock, and take fat twofooters and try the biggest cutbacks we could. Guided Tour// Fairy Bower is a rocky bottom, rocks that have fallen off the cliff, and then further up is Winki Pop, which is a flat ledge. Winki has a second reef that breaks a little further out on the big days, but generally doesn’t really barrel. Then there’s another ledge even further up called Deadman’s, which only breaks when it’s over eight foot. Bower is the softest of the
lot, and you generally get a lot of old guys out there hassling the crap out of each other for the inside, thinking they’re doing something getting past the surge rock. For Deadman’s you want a long period SSE swell, over eight foot, and a SSW wind. Winki you want an ESE swell, four to six foot, and then the same for The Bower. T h e B owe r i s o f f s h o re i n a southerly, and even in a sou-easter it’s still pretty clean. If the tide’s too low the rocks stick out of the water, and if it’s too high it doesn’t work very well, so you want to surf it for the two hours either side of mid tide. I guess if it’s really small you want to surf it on as low a tide as possible
though. It’s one of those waves that can break any time, or could go months without breaking. When it’s on though, it’s a zoo. Insider’s View// Everyone tries to park up the street, because in the carpark you get charged for parking and it’s something ridiculous like $8 an hour. But if you’re fortunate like me you’ve got a Manly Council sticker and you park as close as you can get to the track. Then you get down the cliff and jump off behind Winki. If it’s really big you rock-off at Deadman’s, there’s a flat ledge down there. There isn’t really any current at Deadman’s, but once it gets a bit bigger there’ll be a current
{
1800-Dial-A-Local… Lineup: Matt Smith/vieu.com.au // portrait: crumpet // Interview by Chris Binns
&}
“this one came through at Winki. I free fell into the thing and got the deepest I’ve ever been out there. Then I got spat out and I remember claiming the absolute hell out of it!” pushing through Winki down to The Bower. Paddling back you have to go out wide and around, you can’t cut any corners. Out at The Bower the guys to look out for are Jeshayle Singh, Tim Hanrahan, who runs Aloha, Matt Toghill and Beau Mitchell. Richie Lovett used to rule out there, but since his hip operation he’s held off a bit, which is fair enough. Back in the day Paul Appleby and John Boom used to regulate. Boomer would sit out the back and tell people to fuck off, but if you were lucky he’d give
you some scraps. It’s one of those places where respect does come into it. Half the time it’s one foot and overrun with lids, but as soon as it gets a bit bigger you realise that most of the guys in the water have been surfing the place since they were 10, and everyone backs off a little. Typical Ride// When it’s the perfect size and swell direction you paddle in at second-reef Winki, before it hits the reef, and set up the barrel. If you want to make it to The Bower you want to
}
Dayyan Neve
be going really fast out of the barrel and just racing it. If the peak’s too big out wide you won’t make the section. You can get pinballed through some rocks there, but if you know what you’re doing you’ll be fine. If The Bower’s good and five foot it’s a wall that you can get four or five good turns in on, maybe another 60 metres.
That Day// I remember back in the day, years ago, I must have been 18 or 20 or something. I’d just started riding for Aloha and I went to the factory and borrowed a bigger board, a 6’4 ’cos it was pretty big and perfect. I got to The Bower and
there was someone filming on the rocks and I was excited about trying to get a few clips. I got a couple of good ones and then this one came through at Winki. I free fell into the thing and got the deepest I’ve ever been out there. Then I got spat out and I remember claiming the absolute hell out of it! Where Else?// Boodjidup in WA is fucken awesome, but I could never leave Manly. I’ve tried it. I moved to Byron a couple of years ago. It’s such a great place, but it still wasn’t enough for me.
surfinglife.com.au // 75
windswell // contents // intro // travelog // letters // foX // FROTH // any excuse // i shit you not // reader pics // flash // HYBR // MY beach // technique
{NSW}
Fairy Bower
{{
{{my beach}}
76 // surfinglife.com.au
photo: ord
{{contents}}
windswell // contents // intro // travelog // letters // foX // FROTH // any excuse // i shit you not // reader pics // flash // HYBR // MY beach // technique
Windswell 14 Intro // Cam Irwin’s worthy tale 17 Travelog // Corey meets Moroccan magic 19 Letters // It has come to my attention that… 23 Fox // Raychel’s dance class is now in session 26 Any Excuse // 250 touches down, party goes off 29 I Shit You Not // Kelly’s cousin gets sooo many birds 32 Reader Photos // Teahupo’o fires for legomen, surfers shit bricks 34 Flash // Sir Jamie O’Twitalot gives us the lo-do 37 Heard Ya Been Ripping // Mikala Jones lives the dream 38 My Beach // Dayyan’s yarns ’bout the Bower 40 Technique // A Chippa, a chopper, a praying mantis 42 one2three // An arc, a chunk, a pot of gold
“By that stage we were all pretty sick of going surfing. We had the best run of waves over here,” says West Aussie Yadin Nicol. “It was probably good for about a month straight. I got home for the last ten days; we surfed Box a couple of times, Gas Bay, everywhere was pumping. The Box is right there when you check Margarets, and as soon you get a west swell and a high tide it gets pretty sick. There was a bunch of lids out, there always are, but you can still get any wave you want really.”
Got that? Autumn’s been so good that guys like Yadin actually got sick of surfing. Standing tall at The Box, 9.11am, May 18, 2009.
Features
50 68 81
Girt by sea
Days Of Our Lives
You can have your Fall. In Australia we call it Autumn, and by Christ this one was good. J’ai les pieds marin
Tales from End Of The Road
Bobby rules the reef, Slater scores outer island bliss, a coupla naughty pros go the biff. SHOUTING WON’T HELP!
All Over the Joint
Drifting through Chile, Thailand, Portugal and Fiji. Great waves and friendly folks.
outgoing 100 Flash // Camera company gives surfers license to shoot 106 Flash // Whit-locked up 113 Flash // Stocky’s story. 114 Stuff // We eat stuff for breakfast 117 Reviews // Lights and music 119 Grass Roots // Tawana-rama 122 Flick Off // Billy the Kid and his waterman way 126 Next // Fasten your Birkenstocks for the enviro-issue
surfinglife.com.au // 77
abcdefghijklmnopqrs
{
}
One thing that you quickly learn about surfing in our big country is that autumn’s the time. But autumn 2009 took the Australian surfing life to a whole new level. And it wasn’t just the famous spots; backyard beachies that’d sucked for months of summer slop suddenly turned into fantasyland. Here’s ASL’s tribute s to our season of
hgreatday words: Nick Carroll • photos: credited
abcdefghijklmnopqrs 78 // surfinglife.com.au
tuvwxyz1234567890-=
}
tuvwxyz12 a
Morning check {Photo: Bill Morris}
Bronte outside bank, May 13
surfinglife.com.au // 79
=
1 gold coast
i 1 JOEL PARKINSON 2 ADAM ROBERTSON 3 JORDY SMITH 3 FRED PATACCHIA
1 Bobby martinez 2 taj burrow 3 aritz aranburu 3 Michael Campbell
6 trestles
i
5 jeffreys bay
i
4 santa catarina
i
3 TEAHUPO’O
i
2 torquay
i
1 JOEL PARKINSON 2 ADRIANO DE SOUZA 3 Mick Fanning 3 TAJ BURROW
7 HOSSEGOR
i 8 MUNDAKA
i 9 SOMEWHERE
i 10 PIPELINE
i
Words: Andy Morris photos: credited
i
The frothy bits of the 2009 Billabong Pro Teahupo’o
When Teahupo’o is this size and you’re that deep, reaction time plays a large role in whether you make the barrel or not. Bobby Martinez isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, as the results reflected. Photo: Tim Jones
Adventure! The unknown! The slightly known! It’s the ASL travel section!
drift *CHILE *THAILAND *PORTUGAL *FIJI
sta
asl mission
{{01}} page 82
asl mission
{{02}} page 88
asl mission
{{03}} page 90
asl mission
{{04}} page 94
Right Foot Forward, Left-Hand Bliss By Michael Kew
Thailand Timing By jody perry
supertubos stops the search By tim fisher
working hard for the money By ADRIAN BUCHAN
surfinglife.com.au // 83
rt
asl mission
{{01}}
drift
*CHILE *THAILAND *PORTUGAL *FIJI
Right Foot Forward
Left-Hand Bliss
Always good to know mum’s got an eye on you.
Nate throwing a fan for his, er, fans.
But three is definitely a crowd…
pointless fact #1 Chile is about 2,600 miles along and its average width is just 110 miles, and nowhere is Chile more than 250 miles wide!
pointless fact #2 Arica, in Chile, is the driest town on earth. It gets just 0.03 inches (0.76 millimetres) of rain per year. At that rate, it would take a century to fill a coffee cup.
pointless fact #3 Chile has the world’s largest pool at the resort of San Alfonso del Mar. This artificial lagoon is eight hectares in size and contains an incredible 250,000 cubic metres of water. (see below)
Mendia moving some serious latino ocean.
Actually, if you ever wanted to do something new and exciting, you could organise a Chilean boat trip. The southern third of the country has hundreds of islands accessible only by water — it’s a complex maze of fjords, inlets, canals and peninsulas — and if you did some solid research, made the right connections, and had enough time (and luck), chances are you’d stumble upon setups that would make that slabby lefthander in 2007’s Rip Curl WCT event seem soft. There may even be a Patagonian version of Macaronis, but our guess is that nobody will ever commit themselves to such a risky and expensive mission. It’s just nice to know it’s out there, down in Patagonia. Using our friend Google Earth, have a look-see of Isla de Chiloé, the Archipelago de los Chanos and the Archipelago Reina Adelaide. North of Patagonia the coast is a bit more accessible, but much of it is straight as an arrow, kilometre after kilometre of featureless beachbreak, albeit loaded with austral swell. We’re not saying whether some prime rivermouth waves exist down there, but it’s safe to say that considering the amount of rain southern Chile gets, and that the snowmelt from the Andes Mountains always makes its way to the ocean, the adventurous goofyfooter could easily luck into an unsurfed and ultra-pristine rivermouth wedge. And then there are the celebrated Chilean left points. However, not all of them are celebrated and surfed, which means you can easily find your own. Which means you’ll be the only one out, assuming you don’t bring your own crowd, like most surf-trippers do. “The number of setups in southern Chile is just mental,” said Nate Tyler, one of the goofyfooted surfers on this recent trip with photographer Chris Burkard. “It’s a total paradise for anybody who likes to surf lefts. There are no crowds, either. I’m fully backing the place.” “This area is so photogenic and pristine,” agreed Burkard. “The possibilities for epic surf spots do seem endless, especially the farther south you go. I’m sure that one of these days somebody will discover a sick left point in Patagonia proper.” Who knows? Maybe you’ll get lucky, dear goofyfooter, and that nice señiorita you met at the Punta Arenas disco will take you there. Just be sure to tell her ASL sent you, and thank us later. Special thanks to the folks at www.gochile.cl
nex t sto tha p ila nd
Job’s off, to the cantina!
86 // surfinglife.com.au
{{123}}
{{
1 one 2 two 3 three
1:
images that put the lime in asl’s coconut this month
02 02 09 East Coast lad Benny Turner prescribing a tight arc on the west coast of South Oz. A prime example of a classic Aussie larrikin getting down and dirty in the bush. Photo: Mitchell For more mad angles of TM’s epic road-trip sessions go to www.surfinglife.com.au/extras
surfinglife.com.au // 87