Finders, Keepers and Gilligan's Island

As promised, here are some of the pics of the latest discovered SECRET spots.

The Legend Unsatisfied

We decided this weekend in early January that we’d take the chance of freezing on order to catch some waves. The prognosis showed that there was a big swell heading in our direction and with it, a small snowstorm. We decided to take our chances and get there early to avoid having to deal with the traffic that occurs when it snows.

We arrived at the break around 9 am. It was really scattered and blown out. Grant wasn’t satisfied and knew it would build throughout the day. He suggested we check out some other spots that we thought might have great possibilities given a big enough swell. So we head out to explore.

We drove quite a long way. On the way we encountered some really icy roads. At one time, Grant said calmly, “Oh no boys, we’re gonna crash.” I thought he was joking until I looked up and saw he had the steering wheel turned but the car continued straight. Luckily there was a very small patch of asphalt and the tires got some grip and the car turned just in time. As we neared the breaks in question, we looked down a small, protected bay and saw white water. I snapped a couple of shots with my camera and we continued on.

Gilligan's Island

We arrived at a good spot to park the car, got out and began to walk to the spots. We walked for about a mile and a half and reached the first break. It wasn’t breaking the way we had hoped but we noticed that the island adjacent to the break had some waves. I said, “We should call that place Gilligan’s Island!” (It was mostly because growing up I watched this T.V. series and I loved it. It was the whole feeling of isolation that made me feel this place should get this name). The guys agreed that the name would do for now. The series of pictures is the wave coming in on the point of the island.

Finders

We also noticed that the spot we thought might be breaking wasn't but there was a break just around the corner from it. This spot wasn’t breaking that great but it was surf-able. Johan suggested we check out the inside of the bay where we saw the whitewash on the way there, so we walked to check it out.
















KEEPERS

There was a bit of “boonie crashing” since there were no roads, nor trails leading us there. We came over a big rock and the vista we saw made us drool. We hurried down closer to the water and watched in utter silence and amazement. Here was a break that was officially going off! The waves were enormous and powerful. I set up my camera and took a few hundred pictures hoping they would show the size and shape. Grant almost was willing to put on his wetsuit and hop in but I reminded him that maybe we should wait and check the bottom out this summer. The reason for my concern was that these waves were nothing to play around with being at least 6-8 foot (US/AU wave height measurements) or 4-6 meters (Swedish).

You could see in some spots the boils left by underlying boulders, which to me raises an eyebrow.

Do you see the face in this wave?

The snow began to blow in horizontally and sharp as glass, so we packed up and headed back to the car. Grant said, “I think we should call that place Keepers and the other spot Finders.” Both Johan and I agreed that would do for now. Any time we give names to breaks, we usually just come up with something to differentiate that break from the others. It’s not until we surf these spots that we know if the name best fits it. (Kind of like getting a new dog you give it a name by its character or personality.) We got back to the car and thought about what we just saw as we headed back to the break we are familiar with. -Jay

This is the link to the surf session:
http://200kmfromtheocean.blogspot.com/2008/01/last-surf-of-season.html

Last Surf of the Season

The Surf does not disappoint

The last surf session of the season has just been had. Ratty and Johan had been keeping a keen eye on the situation of ocean storms. We weren't sure that we'd actually take the chance to get into the water since conditions aren't really ideal for surfing (air temp, water temp and the fact it was due to snow). As it was, Johan took a break from moving into his new apartment, Grant came home from his cabin in the mountains, and I (Jay)... well, I had nothing better to do. So we set it all up last night and this morning began our full day of surf and exploration. Above is a picture of our true Legend Ratty, doing a magazine quality carve. As usual, he was on fire and for an old man in his 50's, (RAT) "thanks for making me 10 years older for free Jay!!"), he put us yung'unz in our place. Earlier today, the waves weren't ideal. They were blown out, and scattered everywhere so we decided to go for a little Lewis and Clark-ing around the general area. What we found was amazing and almost unbelievable. We discovered 3 new surf spots to which their locations will be kept secret until the day we die, so don't even ask. Pictures of these spots will be posted at a later time. -Jay

(RAT). When we got back to our regular spot it had settled down alot but it was still pretty chunky with some of the waves even pretty clean on the face. There were some 6 footers rolling through at times and it wasn't fun being forced to duckdive them, the water is what we call, 'COLD'.

This was the prelude to the picture above

Grant, launching his trademark Rat Air

With feminine grace, Grant carves the face ever so beautifully

The Rat Roundhouse cutty Re-Entry

A more realistic view of the size of the waves

Our Legend showing how to dress

(Rat) it was -1 celcius and snowing small snow flakes like little ice raindrops and pretty hard onshore winds at times hitting Johan and I right in the eyes. It was about 2-3 degs celcius in the water. The temps didn't bother me at all 'cause our wetty's are so good you don't get cold at all but the ice needles hitting our eyeballs wasn't really that pleasant actually!!

(Jay) Better description is like a constant stream of glass shards going into your eyes. I did paddle out and the whole time was hellish. The weather had actually gotten better when I paddled out but it was still blowing horizontal eye bullets.


Bert and Ernie

Johan and Grant

One last chance!

Looks like we may get one more shot at some really good surf before it ices over up here for the winter..It looks like really good surf both Saturday and Sunday but Saturday will be minus 3 degs with HUGE surf, howling onshore,snowing and 2 degs in the water !!! Sound appealing to you??

Needless to say it looks far more attractive for Sunday when it will still be as big but only 0 degs and not as howling onshore..I think we'll go for Sunday. What do you reckon??

It will be Jay Johan and I (RAT)..

I look forward to duckdiving a 6 footer in 2 deg water..hahaha. Here's a pic of the Sunday lunch time prognosis.

Oh yeah, hope yas all had a great chrissie and an Awesome new year. I spent 4 days skiing in the BEST snow I HAVE EVER skied in..knee deep perfect dry untouched powder..lets hope that the last surf for the year is as good..peace and keep reading our blog..DA RAT

Great day!

*UPDATE#2*
























*UPDATE*













(Johan) We got it good today! Rat, Jay, Andrew and I had a smooth winter session. Story and pics to follow...

Here´s a few teasers though....