by Franck Gazzola | Feb 25, 2013 | Daily Updates
Great to see some reasonable weather creeping back into town after the wild conditions we experienced over the weekend. Saturday night was completely off the hook with quite a bit of damage occurring around our beaches. Being a Firefighter, I’ve seen some radical stuff over the years but things were literally going sideways around 2am Sunday morning while we were out attending to varying domestic emergencies.
At one stage the footpaths was practically none existent as a river of water flowed down the roads. The 130 km an hour winds, equal to speeds for a category 2 tropical cyclone, made driving through horizontal sheets of rain quite difficult at times.
There weren’t too many places to surf in the huge swell. Bondi had a few, along with rare novelty surf spot, Nielsen Park. As usual, the pretty little harbour bay was quite crowded but at times had some fun rides. Here is a little video from there in 1974 which was a partially crazy year for storms, the one in May that year totally wiped out the east coast and it took many years for the sand that was lost, to return. Quality is a little rough in this old video but it shows the place wasn’t lacking a crowd even back then. Click HERE.
The water temperature has dropped a few degrees today with this north wind up welling but there is still plenty of swell around. Go enjoy it!
Billy
by Franck Gazzola | Feb 22, 2013 | Daily Updates
It's not that pleasant down on the sand this morning thanks to a very blowy SE wind that's ripping head on into our beaches. What a shame as we have a bucket load of swell for the next 48 hrs but the wind will hit the 40 knot mark which will make finding a reasonable looking wave over the weekend more of a mission. There are spots out there though. You just have to be prepared to fuel up the wagon and hit it out of the eastern suburbs. Good luck with that!
We have 5 FREE Frothers Trucker Hats to give away today to the first 5 people to visit the gallery at 145 Macpherson St Bronte. All you have to do is tell us that your FROTHING!!! There are some new red ones that will look good on your melon!
Enjoy the windy weekend! – Brad 😉
by Franck Gazzola | Feb 20, 2013 | Daily Updates
Early this morning was one of those days where you may have stuck your head outside the window and thought – I think I might just go back to bed. There was a mass of dark and gloomy looking cloud cover out to sea and it looked like the day would be written off before it even started. But if you thought a little deeper and realized that there was not a breath of wind and that we were expecting a bump in swell from the ENE then you would have had yourself a very nice old start to the day if in fact you decided to hit the beach.
I did just that and was rewarded with a glorious golden shower on sunrise and fun 3ft waves out of the NE. Many other punters had the same idea of heading to east facing Maroubra. Well over 100 heads in the line up out there.
The swell will increase in the next couple of days. Solid 6 ft so best get prepared. Check your leg ropes, fins, buy a fresh block of wax and maybe even watch a surf video to amp up!
Later skaters – Brad 😉
by Franck Gazzola | Feb 19, 2013 | Daily Updates
Another mild and windless morning with a thick band of cloud hugging the horizon of what was a clear, blue sky. That put the breaks on anything amazing in the sunrise department but it was still quite pretty as the sun broke through the cloud around 7am.
I had a little wander around Tamarama, which besides Maroubra would be the best bet for a wave today as there still isn’t much surf on offer.
The Reddam House School groms were out ripping up Tama Reef for morning sport. Surfing was so far from making the agenda when I went to school. It was actually frowned upon as a ‘no hoper’ activity. How things have changed from those caveman mentality days.
Looks like a new north swell building on Thursday but the S-E winds will kick in as well and probably ruin anything local. More rain for the weekend too. Could be time to jump in the car and head for a protected point down south if you want some decent surf.
Cheers
Billy
by Franck Gazzola | Feb 18, 2013 | Daily Updates
What is it with Mondays? I remember when I was at school that Monday was always the hardest day to get up and going. Just the thought of 5 full days of no beach, at least until the afternoon, made me reluctant to get out of bed. Even the sugar hit from my favorite Fruit Loops breakfast cereal couldn’t change my mood as my mum screamed at me that I was going to miss the bus and be late.
This morning wasn’t anything like that. Maybe because I didn’t have to work, except for doing this report and you couldn’t really call that hard labour. The sunrise was a beauty, except for the rain squalls that had me running off the beach every 5 minutes for cover. You’d think I’d be smart and take an umbrella like all the other photographers that were lined up around Bronte pool getting their sunrise shots today. It must be the most photographed pool in Sydney these days.
The surf is tiny but the water is amazing, so unless you are a beginner or really desperate you’re not missing anything and that always makes your Mondayitis that much easier to swallow.
Have a good week.
Billy
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