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TODAY'S SUMMARY

Friday 3 September 2010

LAST UPDATE: 0820

About 12 knots of SE at 0830. Feels windier than it looks.

Not looking (or feeling) like springtime yet. Cold and a light to moderate sou'easter blowing this morning. Looks kiteable to me from the balcony. In fact, it's blowing a lot more than the photo or the charts show. Forecast says it'll back off before swinging to the NE for tomorrow. Wind tomorrow should be good but looks as though it'll be raining as well.

SeaBreeze Sydney data seems to be off-air for now. Here's the link to the BOM N Head feed in the meantime:

http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/watl/weather/obs.jsp?graph=all_obs&station=66197

BOM SEZ:

http://www.bom.gov.au/nsw/forecasts/coastalwaters.shtml

Sir Richard Branson to mark 60th birthday
by kitesurfing across English Channel

Video interveiw:

http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog/kitesurfing-across-the-english-channel/

Article:

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-10652352

Branson says his wife Joan thinks he is "barking" mad

The Virgin boss will be accompanied across the 24-mile stretch of water by his children, Holly, 29, Sam, 26, and some of his nephews. He plans to leave Dungeness in Kent but said the French finishing point was dependent on wind conditions. Sir Richard, who turns 60 on Sunday, is to embark on the six-hour trip some time in August.

I'm putting my poor 60-year-old bones through an arduous 24.4 miles, over water, hanging on to a giant kite” Sir Richard said: "Kitesurfing is one of my favourite sports. I absolutely love the amazing rush you get when going at high speeds, in high winds, with the most beautiful kite acting as your only guide."

He added: "My wife [Joan] swears I get more barking as I get older. This year I've almost crippled myself running 26.2 miles in my first marathon.

"Joan could have a point. But as Holly, Sam and my nephews will be doing it with me, at least I can claim the whole family is barking and at the end of the day they are Joan's children as well - so she's 50% responsible."

FRIDAY THE 13TH STUFF

Swell peaked at 11.5m on Friday around midday

My DSLR is dead so can't offer you any awesome photos of this mega swell, but here're a few shots from my pocket camera .

DOLPHIN CLOSE ENCOUNTER ON WEDNESDAY

Sitting at the Point at Narrabeen having a surf with a bodyboarder from the UK Wednesday, without warning, a huge fin popped up out of the water about 2m away from us. Not being used to Oz, the UK bloke nearly jumped out of his skin. A moment later a huge dolphin, easily 2.5m, jumped completely out of the water less than 2m away and landed just beside us. A second later there were nearly a dozen all around us, heads popping out of the water and passing within a metre of us before heading out through the waves and around the Point.  What a great place we live in. 

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Always check the weather radar before heading out.

BOAT HARBOUR SESSION

Last Saturday was a reasonably decent day at Boat Harbour for about 15 of us. Once you get over the shock of the $25 admission fee to access the beach the wind was doing about 15-20 for a good part of the day. Water temperature was a decent 17-18 degrees but if you weren't in it for a few minutes, the toes and fingers started to go a bit numb. And I discovered that the REV quick release on my 11m was just a little bit too, well, er... quick.

PHOTO GALLERY CLICK HERE

It'd be a grand time to get away somewhere warm for a few days this time of year.

In case you want to punish yourself, have a look at Uge's (www.aquabumps.com) shots from Lizard Island .

http://aquabumps.com/

LIZARD ISLAND

NEED A KITE FIXED OR MODIFIED? GLEN'S YOUR MAN!

Had a very pleasant visit with Glen at Glen Salmon Marine in Avalon last week. While I was there having a mod done on one of my kites, he showed me a few photos of a trip he took to Indonesia last year.

How bout them waves, eh? That's Glen riding.

If you need some kite repair or mod word done, highly recommend Glen's work. Super professional quality work (he's a sailmaker after all!) and he's got all the right gear to do it properly.

Glen Salmon Marine

23 William Street, Avalon, NSW 2107

p: 0403 913 688 

LAST THURSDAY SUNRISE

Here's a shot of the sunrise in Dee Why from my pocket camera:

NIKON D100 R.I.P.

Sorry, but it's unlikely I'll be able to post any decent photos for a while until I can afford a new camera, as my old D100 has just fully kicked the bucket--bent shutter curtain and the cost to repair is going to be higher than the value of the camera. Still got a couple of pocket cams around but the big one is cactus.  RIP D100. XXXX :-(

LAST WEDNESDAY MORNING AT DEE WHY

If you haven't come across this site, it's got some great forecasting tools.

MAGIC SEAWEED DEE WHY FORECAST:

MAGIC SEAWEED MAIN PAGE:

Just spotted the first whale of the season off the balcony on Saturday!

Didn't stick around for long though--breached only twice, then vanished.

Moon shot from the balcony during last Friday night's full moon:

Couple of photos from early Friday morning at Dee Why Beach

DONTALS LOOKING LIKE INDO ON WEDNESDAY.

YOU COULD HAVE HAD IT ALL TO YOURSELF.

SATURDAY BEFORE LAST AT DEE WHY POINT

Wicked sunrise Monday morning at Dee Why:

FOUND KITEBOARD:

If anyone knows Josh who flies an 11m Orange/white/black Ozone kite, have him get in touch with me -- he's left his board at the beach at Narrabeen and a Good Samaritan has dropped it off with me. 0418 410 156.

Rob P. had some good fun on Anzac Day weekend at Long Reef. Can you believe this bloke has been kiting for less than two months???

STOCKTON, V2

Another trip back to Stockton on the weekend. Unfortunately, the gods were not smiling this time. After arriving early Saturday, the rain set in by midday and stopped only for about an hour in the afternoon-- long enough to set up the tent--then it proceeded to start bucketing again.This continued all night til about 9am, stopping only briefly to allow the tent to get packed away whereupon it kicked in again. By 1pm we decided to pull the plug and head back to The Big Smoke, hoping we'd get another chance another day

I can't say it was one of my favourite trips but there is something innately satisfying about successfully starting a fire in the rain then huddling around the fire to stay warm and devising ways to keep the rain out of the fire as the coals glow in the dark and you slowly polish off  nice bottle of red--continuously wondering how the bloody hell humans ever survived in this hostile world before modern conveniences came on the scene. 

Explored the dunes during the couple of hours when the rain had let up on Saturday and discovered the squatters village where (it's claimed...) that they filmed parts of the MadMax movie in the 80s, though this is disputed by some. Was originally built in the 1880s as a holding depot for supplies to provide for shipwrecked sailors and has been allowed to continue standing on strict terms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockton_Beach,_New_South_Wales

http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/article/5052507/lifestyle/tin-city

Making dinner in the rain

NEW VIDEO FROM BEN WILSON

Some awesome footage in a new Ben Wilson video called "The Dirty South" shot along the Great Ocean Road VIC. You can watch it free online after you register on the site:

THE DIRTY SOUTH CLICK HERE

Weekend trip to Stockton

"The Shark Factor"

Kat and I camped at Stockton Beach on the weekend (Check it out on Google Maps HERE)

Not a lot of wind but I did mange an hour or so on Saturday afternoon in marginal conditions with about 12 knots flying my 9m with a surfboard at  Birubi Beach--one of the only places I know of on the East Coast of Australia where the wind is cross-shore in an E wind and if it's NE or N almost dead offshore. Was paying pretty close attention to not falling off though.

Magnificent beach, uncrowded, pristine and even some nice peeling waves up in the corner. If only the "S-Factor" weren't such an issue...

This is the place made famous in that video a couple years ago: You HAVE to watch this video:

BEACH FISHING FOR GREAT WHITES: ONLY IN AUSTRALIA...

Drove over to Fingal and a couple of learners were kiting but not really going anywhere.  And just North of there, there's another S-Factor location at Hawks Nest:

GREAT WHITES INSIDE THE SURF BREAK AT HAWKS NEST:

FOR THOSE OF US WHO REGULARLY KITE AT HAWKS NEST BEACH,

THIS VIDEO IS A REAL EYE-OPENER:

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

(MY HAWKS NEST DOWNWINDER LAST YEAR CLICK HERE)

On Sunday we drove back down the beach about 5km and just chilled in the calm conditions with no one around other than a few folks on horseback and a couple motorbikes.

By late afternoon there was a bit of excitement around Nelson Bay when this fella turned up. Apparently on Saturday another one, TWICE the size of this one was caught.

280kg TIGER SHARK AT NELSON BAY ON SUNDAY

We were told someone caught one on Saturday that was 418kg.

STOCKTON BEACH: Lotsa beach, almost nobody around

STOLEN:

Black/red/white Mystic Warrior harness

Not sure what happened but somehow my harness is missing. Seems it's been nicked out of my garage. If you happen to see it, or hear of someone trying to sell one like it, a call would be appreciated. 0418 410 165. Many thanks, Rob

UPDATE ON "SHARK" ATTACK IN SYDNEY:

A WOBBEGONG, NOT A GREAT WHITE.

"UGLY" BUT NOT PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/3316992/Surfer-bitten-in-Sydney-shark-attack

SYDNEY SURFER BITTEN IN "GREAT WHITE" SHARK ATTACK

http://www.smh.com.au/national/surfer-bitten-in-sydney-shark-attack-20100211-nszo.html

GREAT WHITE? REALLY? I've had fin cuts worse than that!

The victim has signed an exclusive deal with Channel Nine, a NSW Health spokeswoman said. 

Earlier today he told The Manly Daily the shark was a two-metre great white but police said he did not see the shark.” Subsequent analysis of teeth marks have determined it was a bottom-dwelling 1m wobbegong shark

(photo:Matt Jones)

Or, the other possibility...

FULL GALLERY OF SYDNEY JANUARY BIG SWELL PHOTOS

CLICK HERE

One from the "GOOD IDEAS" Department:

PUT LOCAL COAST GUARD CONTACT NUMBER

IN YOUR SPEED DIAL:

02 9337 5033

Tuesday night just on dark I got a call from Jon at Fishermans. He was packing up his gear and was approached by an elderly couple who claimed to have seen a kite go down about 400m offshore between Fishermans and Collaroy. Jon couldn't see anything and hadn't noticed anyone out there previously but he rang me and we discussed what to do.

I drove up to the headland at Collaroy with my big torch and scoured the water in all directions as best I could and couldn't see anything. Jon and I hooked up at Narrabeen 5 min later and walked the beach looking for any sign of gear on the beach, or anyone else looking for someone and for kiter vehicles in the car park and after checking three carparks and three beach areas decided that it must have been a case of mistaken perceptions. Just in case, we drove back to S Fishermans where someone would have washed up in the prevailing conditions and checked again but found nothing.

It did however raise the thought of what would have been the best thing to do if it turned out to be a genuine emergency that required a rapid response sea rescue.

After some discussion we decided that it would be a good idea if all kiters had the Coast Guard emergency contact number in their speed dial. Additionally, it's also probably a good idea to have a number for the local police in your phone too, just in case.

SO, the Sydney Area Coast Guard contact number is:

SYDNEY COAST GUARD: 02 9337 5033

DEE WHY POLICE: 02 9971 3399

EMERGENCY SERVICES: 000 OR 112*

*(112 is the GSM international standard emergency number which can only be dialled on digital mobile phones.  112 can be dialled anywhere in the world with GSM coverage and is automatically translated to that country's emergency number.)

Awesome conditions down the south coast last weekend of  Nov.

Here are the galleries:

CLICK HERE FOR SATURDAY PHOTOS

CLICK HERE FOR SUNDAY PHOTOS

One of the best kiting days ever at Long Reef.  Unfortunately, the timing on the camera shots wasn't the best (takes a shot every ten seconds) and it managed to miss all of the big waves on the Bombies... c'est la vie.  Here's one of the smaller inside waves.

FULL GALLERY HERE

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ksmelikova/Thunderstorm#slideshow/5404653983809063586

Here's one I shot from the park

If you haven't renewed your NSWKBA

membership this year, go here:

http://nswkba.com.au/signup

DOLPHINS AT DEE WHY POINT

I thought they only did this in Flipper movies...

That weird day of the Sydney dust storm

Dee Why at 0715am

Same camera settings later in the day at 1030am

SHARK ATTACK PREVENTION TIPS:

CLICK HERE

Tip 1: When you see something  in the water, look panicked and yell "SHARK!" A friend shows Paris Hilton how to do it.

Coert seems to have had some fun times over the past few months in WA and offers the following evidence:

SLIDE SHOW OF SOUTH COAST WEEKEND CLICK HERE

Long Reef early August:

SUNDAY 19 JULY DEE WHY BEACH

FULL PHOTO GALLERY OF DEE WHY WHALES CLICK  HERE

Dee Why sunset

Jacques got some great shots at Curl Curl:

To view the entire gallery, CLICK HERE

Long Reef May 09

http://www.goprocamera.com

Dee Why waterspout May 2009

MORE PHOTOS CLICK HERE

UNDERSTANDING THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS

With all the chaos and and turmoil surrounding the so-called "Global Financial Crisis", few people seem to actually realise how we got ourselves in to this current mess. If you're interested in learning a bit more about how it all happened, have a look at these videos.

MONEY AS DEBT

THE ASCENT OF MONEY (PART 1 OF 6)

UNDERSTANDING THE CREDIT CRISIS IN 10 MINUTES