Want to go to the seaside?

It's been pretty quiet here, trust me, ...that is on the surf front.

As a secret weapon we have been indulging in an addictive alternative - watching the Billabong Pro, Quiksilver Pro and let me tell I AM now a Pro at watching this stuff.

Nonetheless, when conditions looked promising on the internet for our local beach we remained optimistic, but thought nothing of it. I mean how many times have the predictions actually been right?

So...when we walked over the top of the sand dunes and found clean lines rolling in, glassy and guys already in the water, it was hard to keep goosebumps from running down your arm.

Follow the leader

Offshore and lines rolling in

Draw the curtains...your stage awaits

So it may not be Teahupoo, Tahiti, but by gum there were some lovely barrels to be had.

Gilly you deserved every barrel! This post is for you.

Smack

Floater

Looking down the line

Crouching Gilly Hidden Barrel

Sneaking a peak

Down the line

On the head

A thing of beauty

Thar she blows

Gotta love the little sneaky ones.

The face of the wave

Down the line

Always searching for that perfect wave

Hypnotic watching them rollin in

We saw lots of these hollow ones...

Some of them you've just got to bail on, where is the eject button!

Love the calm caught in the moment

Looking into the barrel, as close as some of us will get.

I have grown to better understand the love of connection between man & wave

You really see the power of the wave when you see the pocket of air being forced out of the barrel

Acrobatics

You really would think that these waves are from Indo not France

Wave art...

Another amazing looking little wave, love how glassy it is and the lines suggesting its about to break

GRAPH 1. The quality of the wave is proportional to the amount of fun had 

I love the next sequence of shots, because it shows how enterprising one can be in order to get into the eye of the barrel!

So there it is, we were a million miles from the great winter happening on the other side of the world in New Zealand and perhaps a bit envious of it too, but then fate played us a choice card and the tables have turned...

All I can say is that I feel lucky to have been there to see such a beautiful day and nothing seems to come close to rivaling it!

TO BE CONTINUED...