Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Xmas and a happy new year to you all

in october the rat went to jersey in the channel islands and was the team manager for the swedish surf team...a full story with pics is coming soon!



both sweden and norway have delivered good surf again this year and it looks like boxing day is going to produce the goods in sweden..it's gunna be -6 and snowing though and 3-4 degs in the water...brrrrr,,,,



The midnight runners will soon be back in action again with our blog and we hope that 2010 brings you all heaps of surf and good weather!!


Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Nice!

Last week we finally got the first taste of autumn when we got a nice (but not super big) surf..
It was solid enough and there were a few really long rides to be had..We checked out one spot first before deciding to hit another place and we were rewarded with solid lefts prealing off..nice..Kojak,me Heath and Woodsy made the journey and it was worth it..no pics cause it was pissing down rain but memories are good i guess..hope to get some pics up for you's soon..peace..DA RAT

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Finally it's starting again..sorry about the lack of posts this summer but the surf has been crap and I have been renovating at home..and since no-one else hardly ever writes anything on here it's been as dry as a desert for a while on the blog side!!
Luckily the surf has come alive again and we are lookin forward to a few nice ones...yes..norrland gets good and we hope we get some good stuff tomorrow..wish us luck and i'll try to get a few pics up after..peace and ...yaaaahhhhoooooooooooooo..(da rat)

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Sheepo/Seppo/Superswede BBQ!

Ratty turns 48..the crew gets together, Snare-ole and the kapten turn up (all the way from oz) and we get into a few 'shutthafuckups'
Jay holding the evenings warning sign, warning for unstable adults at night on the street.

the boys cookin up a feast
gettin on it
i thought jay was han solo but after a few coldies he reveals his true identity as bobba fett!
Rat transforms a transformer as the kapten scrutinizes the action thru his superreflectospyglasses
2 of the younger generation of surfers hittin the nintendo pretty hard

(Johan) Aaaw man, we had a great time at Ratman´s house. Great food and great company is a kick-ass combination!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

2 Awesome days

Thursday was truly epic..it's hard to describe what it feels like to be paddling out in sweden watching 4ft perfect barrells steamrolling thru unridden..Frexi got there first again (of course) and scored it bigger than what we got but at one stage we were just 3 aussies sitting out the back watching waves break and shaking our heads in disbelief..it could have been anywhere really good in the world and here we were 3 aussies in the north of sweden getting filthy surf all alone..the crew was there as well, Johan and the others but unfortunately Jay couldn't make it.
I forgot my bloody camera and no-one else had one but i heard via the grapevine that someone caught a few waves on video so we'll see if we can dig it up,,,

On friday the swell went south..i was watching it on the net and saw it comin'..i couldn't go so i rang frexi to tell him to get there..he answers the phone and says he's standing in the carpark at the spot trying to drag his wetty on as fast as he could cause it was puuuuuumping..frexi said it was bigger and even better than the day before at the other spot on a north swell..lucky him..he says he got a few shots when he got out at 11pm after surfing for 4 hrs..he said it had backed off a bit but was still pumping so i hope to get a few pics up from yesterday..
Isn't it horrible when you know the surfs pumping and you just cant' get there..it worse than turning up and finding it flat, at least you tried....pray for a few more summer midnight sessions before the light fades and the temps drop again lads..peace from DA RAT

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Wohoooo!

(Johan) Tomorrow it´s going off again, suuuuuper stoked to be able to go! It´ll be me, Björn, Heath, Woodsy and Pontus. Ratman´s gonna hook up from his summer home. WoooooooohOOOOOO!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

kick arse

It's been insanely good weather here for about a week now with 36 degs yesterday and 31 today..went out on the boat and took the kids for a spin behind with the special ringthing that 2 people can sit in and you drag behind the boat..nice..the only problem with that is that when the weather is good the surf is flat..hope it starts blowing and raining again soon..hahahahaha

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Time for an update!

(Johan) So far, both the surf and the sun has been completely absent this summer. Until a couple of days ago, when the weather switched, so we got the next best thing to waves, SUN!
Jay is off on the west coast, enjoying the real salty ocean, having a great time.

I thought I´d post some random pics just for the hell of it.

Ratman posing after surf in his school tie, draped in the Aussie flag. (He does this after every surf...)
This is the kind of poo(l)s we market in Sweden.

My son Jacob (5 yrs old) is a kick-ass skateboarder

I really hope we get some waves soon, then the summer`d be pretty damn perfect. Peace

Friday, June 5, 2009

Frexi scores again..alone..then we get the dregs!

7.5 degs in the water, i guess about 10 degs out and nooooooo wind..the swell rolles in..and...

Frexi got there first and it was pumpin' .woooooohoooooooooooeeeee

frexi taking off on a really nice one

frexi just about to get a nice backhand cover-up

bailin' out in front of another juicy one. See his head?

the crew Woodsy, Kojak and the Gnarly 'Cutterman' before the surf minus frexi (unfortunately not in this pic, nor i for that matter) An aftersurf midnightsun (cloud haha) photo.
p.s this photo is NOT photoshopped for colour or anything..just clipped to hide identity markings..!! We got out just before this photo because it got smaller,,but still glassy as and super nice! The 'Runners' score again, but frexi scored it best and all to himself for 3 hours before we got there....wish we'd gotten there earlier!!!
Peace readers, DA RAT

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

hoo hoo hoo

Here it comes. A big one due to hit on thursday with a 6 metre swell..are you ready? I am..at last some surf..
I'm stingin for a surf..get ready for a few serious waves boys..it don't get better than this prognosis..lookin gooooooooood..Yeeeehooooooo I can't wait!!!..Peace from da rat

Saturday, May 30, 2009

surf...no surf...no surf...no surf...no surf...no surf...no surf...no surf...no surf...no surf...no surf......................................................................none

Streets of San Fransisco


Where's Kojak disappeared to?

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Not much happening

No surf on the horizon so here's a pic i just found of me in 1964 with my sister...hahaha.I was 3

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Frexi gets it glassy!

Our team member Mr Frexi Jansson got it REALLY good last thurs morning..

We all saw that a new season swell was on the way..

Frexi turned up to 1.35 degs celcius in the water and just a few degs + out..His friend owns a cabin right in front of this little spot we have up here and they turned the sauna on and went surfing..frexi said that these pics are of the last bit of the session when the swell had dropped off to about half it's size.

He said that when they got there it was head high and really glassy and ..of course.. no-one out..he scored it good..here are the only 5 pics taken..at last we are on the way to more surf..
Congratulations on what looked like a really nice surf buddy.....RAT

Monday, March 16, 2009

Midnight Runners score again!

(RAT) Hello fellow bloggers!
Here we are back in Östersund after a week in the cold waters of Norway during winter (but warmer waters than in Sweden!!!)

It's a risky business booking a week of surfing 2 months in advance because it can just turn out that the week you have booked can turn out dead flat, totally howling onshore or out of control, unsurfable, massive slop! However, it can also turn out really good if you have the luck!

We don't normally book in our surf missions (we just hit it when the prognosis is 'on') but this year was different because our fellow 'midnight runners' member Jay and his wife are expecting bub number 2 and she was due to arrive 4 weeks after our return. So we earmarked a week and hoped she didn't pop one out before or during our mission..We were lucky and all was well and we made it home without Jay having been an 'absent' father..

We lost our faithfull 'runners' member Andrew (from California who had lost his job here and had to go back to the states) just before we were due to go which was a big shame. Woodsy, the other ozzie, is in Oz at the moment on hols..We were down to 3 members in Östersund: Johan, myself and Jay.

2 weeks before we were due to leave, Johan rings me up and hands over his mobile to a guy from Adelaide, in Oz, named Heath that Johan had met at the language school that day! (the same day that Andrew left for the U.S.!!!) Turns out that Heath is a really keen surfer as well and was the Billabong rep in Adelaide before sacrificing it all to come to Sweden with his girl.. another victim, hahaha--but thank God for that because all of a sudden we were 5 again (counting Woodsy). Heath was naturally flipping out when he heard that we were going to Norway and we wanted him to come along...He was stoked to think that he was gunna get wet again..
Unfortunately, 2 days before we were due to leave, Johan had to pull out because of work and family commitments, but it was lucky that Heath was there, otherwise it wouldn't have been as fun driving with just 2 of us in the car..It's always more fun with a gang..

We took off for the west coast of Norway at 6am on Monday, March 9th (as soon as Jay finished his night shift) with an 11hr drive ahead of us. Because of the horrendous night-time experience we had last february, we decided to be the 'Daylight Runners' this year for fear of dying before we got there!

Apart from one part (when we had to drive over sheet ice for 30kms with a HOWLING 'hurricane like' side-wind that all but blew the queue of cars doing 4okms/hr OFF the road, including us) .....
the drive went well....... and we arrived just on dark to a 6ft offshore swell and no-one out, as usual.. Olav takin' off.. We decided to get settled in and set to work immediately by making a reasonably large dent in a case of coldies as a warm up for the surf the next day ..hahahaha. We woke up the next morning and settled into a week of tasty waves ranging from 3-7ft..yum yum--here are some of the pics. hope you enjoy!!

Jay and heath took the pics.. and jay wrote most of the comments to the pics!
Peace and love from Jay, Heath and Ratman...

Afternoon glaze
Ducking under a nice one Heath paddling out Olav The Viking chargin' a killer right, never afraid! Jarrand from Norway doing a cutty Sweet left. Heath goin for broke on this close out
After a quick bite to eat the boys construct a game plan
Jarrand goin for it,he didn't make it but it's a really nice photo! Jarrand with a nice backside barrel Ratman Ratman with the cool bottom turn Olav taking a rest after a long day of surfing Ratman at the guillotine Ratman slotted Still slotted Jarrand goin for it does he make it?? Nope. but nice try
Rat on a sweet left Rat showin the lip who's boss. Floater Ratman setting up
to indie grab,
to floater,
to 3½ foot free fall and pulls it. Jarrand takin off
Rat on another clean left
The electric slide
To the sweeping hack
Just there.
being beautiful
Ratman slotted again
Still in the pit and into the close out, and got slammed.haha..and loved it!!
2 of the lads after a nice session.
Another perfect empty one goes unridden!