Day 09

One of about 15 waves like this that Harley scored that morning

Randy had just as many, but the wave looked way easier to surf frontside.

I think I can still hear John talking about this wave - and calling it a c--t.

Goofing off

Brendan @ the right

Notice the perfect shape, then the reef starting to stick up on the outside part of his board

A better look at the dry reef..

Day 9 was a pretty mellow one for me. I was surfed out from the sessions at Maccas, and it worked out to be a good day to shoot photos. The swell was still pretty small but was expected to come up. We anchored near a beachbreak and right reefbreak. Carrick said he'd normally anchor much closer to the right, but the local people paddle out to the boat in their canoes and demand money or food for surfing their wave. Randy and myself hung back while the rest of the crew went to check the right. They soon headed back over to the beachie (as the Aussies like to say) and all jumped out of the boat. Carrick told me and Randy to go check the right again so as soon as Bear got back to the Navi with the speedboat we were off. Harley joined us and in a few minutes we were watching 4-6ft waves peel perfectly across the tip of the small island. They were quickly filling up my camera's memory with images of perfect rights. Again, Bear drove the boat right next to the wave, but this spot was much more mellow as the waves here broke in exactly the same spot every time. And again the water was so crystal clear I think the reef can be seen through the back of the wave in many of the photos. After blazing in the hot sun for an hour or so, Bear had to go back and check on the rest of the guys at the beachie. They quickly realized they had made a mistake when they saw the first few sets come through. Unfortunatley Frank wasn't feeling too hot and went back onboard but the rest of the crew scored. Even the old man John got pushed into a few good ones by his son and our crew.
Later that afternoon, Carrick grabbed Brendan and myself and headed off in the speedie. He told us there was a wave not too far that was a kind of novelty wave. It broke around the inside of point but the swell probably wasn't big enough to surf it. We sat and waited for a few minutes and sure enough four or five waves peeled right past us. They were damn near perfect, but broke right on top of the reef. Carrick and I had written it off and just thought it was pretty cool to see, but I could see Brendan thinking about it. By the time we got back to the Navi, he had convinced himself to do it. Andrew and Randy hopped aboard and I got my camera. Once we got back he hopped right in and we all wished him well. One slip would have landed him on dry rock reef. He managed a few barrels and even a turn or two.