Let the games begin

So I've quit my job, saved a bucket of money, sorted my mortgage, packed my backpack and bought a new board........I have six months of surf travel ahead of me with the one goal to be surfing waves that will eventually get me in the green room. All going well, I'll be surfing most days in waves that will challenge me.

Once a journey is designed, equipped and put in process: a new factor takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness, A journey is person in itself, no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing and coercian are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip. A trip takes us. (Rolf Peters, Vagabonding, The Art of Long Term Travel).

Quitting my job and bucking the trend is one of the scariest things I have ever done. In general people have been supportive but there a few who find it a little hard to digest. I am not in my twenties any more and I am supposed to be seriously thinking about children..........However I have a really strong belief that there are a million ways to live a life and the lessons on the road are as important to an education as an MBA or a PhD. Particularly when those lessons are learnt in developing countries........Monday - Friday, 9 - 5 is an honourable way to earn a living but its not the only way......I'm going to live my dreams regardless of what others say.

My travels will take me through Indonesia and Central America with a little of the US thrown is for a bit of fun. My focus is predominantly on surfing, a little on language development and a lot on self development. I'm starting out with yoga teacher training in Canngu, Bali and ending with a few weeks in Hawaii. In between, I really don't know and that is half the fun!

The artwork is by a Hawaiian artist, Heather Brown..........I'll definitely be picking up some of her work when I am surfing the islands......

My Quiver

Introducing Zak......welcomed to the family at 2.34pm this afternoon, 6'3 / 183/4, 21/2.......mum and board are doing fine.

I bought him from Yahoo surfboards in Dunsborough (awesome guys, great service and a real, authentic surf shop!). He was shaped locally for Renee, whoever she is. Not a ding on him.

Zak joins the Grubb (6.3 / 19 / 2 1/4), Len (6'3 / 19 / 2 7/8 ), Dicko (who is permanently retired due to ongoing injuries), the Mini Mal (7'2) and the blue spacca board (my very first). He will be accompanying me on my travels to Indonesia and Central America later this year. Yew!

Trigg Point

Trigg Point is the most crowded wave I surf on a regular basis. To be honest, I've only just started surfing the point.........not because I don't think I can't make it but because its full of little rippers who have that place wired, WIIIIRRRED.....there is little room for a mid thirties women who hasn't quite nailed her right hand takes offs...........

But today.........something worked. I finished training at 8.30am and thought I'd check out the point on the way home. There were 10 people on it........which for a Saturday morning with swell was something very unusual......I waxed up, zipped up the wettie and headed out. I sat right on the Point.

And I took it and I made it.......the bomb wave of the biggest set of the day. It was the third wave and the first two cleaned everyone out. I was there in the spot and I pulled it off.

I swear people where cheering as I was heading down the line. All. The. Way. To. The. Beach.......

It was the only wave I took all day but I've been smiling all week. All goddamn week.

Duck diving and New Years Resolutions

I surfed at Windmills on Cape Naturaliste the other morning. It is a really amazing spot - typically south west, isolated, desolate, windblown but truly beautiful in that real West Aussie way. Its a great spot to surf because it takes a little time to get to. Its off the main highway right on the cape and requires a little walk in. I've never surfed it by myself but I've never surfed it with more then 10-12 in the water. It breaks left and right, although the right is definitely the better quality wave.

I knew heading into the water that this was a surf that would push my buttons. It was probably only 3 - 4 foot with some bigger sets pushing through but enough to get my adrenalin pumping. It was a good day to practise my duck diving - push board down, throw leg up in the air, hold and pray. I haven't quite worked out how to bring the board back up to my chest so that I can pop up nicely on the other side.

I've only recently realised that I do a breast stroke kick to push through the bigger waves - my friend Simone let me know one day when we were surfing an out of control Scarborough. It seems to work but it doesn't let me get deep enough under the wave to clear the foam and to stop getting dragged back. It also means that I lose ground so I am in a worse position for the next wave in the set (which is often bigger, harder and faster).

So perfecting my duck diving technique will be one of my new years resolutions for 2012. To do this I'm going to keep watching you tubes showing me how, reread Taj Burrows book of hot surfing, page 30 (I really don't think I am the target market for this book) and keep putting myself in the impact zone so I can practise the damn thing.

My other resolutions for 2012 are:
1. Quit my job.
2. Take 6  - 12 months off my career to travel, study, write and most importantly surf.
3. Get barrelled (or at least be surfing well in waves that will eventually allow me to get barrelled).
4. Practise more yoga, surf as much as I can and eat as raw as possible.
5. Be a kinder, gentle, more forgiving person and a better friend.
6. Find the right balance for a good life.

Boxing Day Surf

The best five things about todays surf -

1. That fin was not a shark, it was a dolphin.
2. I was not the oldest in the water.
3. I duck dived successfully (but not properly) under some decent sized waves and held my position.
4.  I was surfing a right hander.
5. I took one half decent wave and called it.


Clearly it wasn't the best surf ever but I was out there, it was Boxing Day and I was in Margaret River. And that fin was not a shark fin. Thankfully. The movement of the water and the flicker of grey really spooked me for a second.