Great surf.....

This was the surf report..... for Piha Wed 06 December 2006

"A drop in swell overnight and a blustery southwest wind has been up all night.
White capping lumpy and a wind affected 3 to 4 ft of broken west / southwest lines.
Not flash but surfable around high tide this AM with winds clocking south/easterly. Fresh south to southeasterly winds this morning and a southwest swell of 3-4 feet at South Piha. It is bigger on the exposed coast with 4-5 feet. Wind Direction/Strength: Kaipara @ 0730 Sw 23Kts Manukau @ 0730 Ssw 19 Kts.
High tide 08:25 Low tide 14:50 ......"

What other choice do we have as the dreaded "South-westerlies" have been blowing for months and we were both in need for a surf....Kosuke and I headed off to the "Wild West Coast"......at least the sun was out .

Our first indication was that the waves didn't look that promising 3-4ft SW and a gusty (and chilly) wind and to tell you the truth it looked pretty "crappy" out there but hey we had driven all the way there and we still had the 15 min walk/trek to go.
It was funny to see the pohutukawa's with splashings of crimson red (all a good indicator of Summer) but here we were,beautiful clear day with a SW chill......more like a Winters day.

Kosuke commented on how he hated the swirls of sand that would dance and play across the beach towards us but before I could answer the said dancing sand had turnned into a thousand neddles stabs blasting into our faces.....pheff,pheff!

As we entered the water I was surprised at how warm and quite pleasant the temp was despite the chilling breeze the sun was out with a clear blue sky.....the waves however were another story........

Out the back it was like trying to ride a bucking horse and there was the typical West Coast "rip" so staying in position was alittle difficult.

Im not that proud not to admit I was alittle "cautious" t first (flash way of saying scared) watching the sets out the back as they were freaking angry mountains of water morphing into these huge slabs of dark brown and white walls of death........but as they pounded over the rocks and broke up.....and still with a lot energy they would re-form,peak and then fatten out (that's surfy talk for it was easy to catch) and for the next hour and a half we surfed our brains out.

Kosuke made the comment "Ive never seen you catch so many waves".......yeah baby I was on everything like a rash.......and it felt so good. Paying for it now cause Im stuffed...............