Bodyboarding In Big Waves

Now that I live right by the ocean, and have taken up surfing, I like to keep an eye on the surf. I can either do this by looking outside of my lounge, or bedroom, or bathroom, or kitchen window, or I can look here (NSW Cams - Manly). When I looked on Friday (2nd) night, for the weekend forecast, I was quite surprised to see that we were expecting 5-8 foot swell. For a novice like me, this is obviously way too big, but I looked forward to people watching nonetheless.

Anyway, I got up on Saturday (3rd) and saw that the prediction was spot on and, to me, the waves looked huge. I decided that it would probably be a good idea if I kept out of the water, especially as it tends to get a bit busier on the weekends, and I don't really like the idea of getting in other peoples way. After an hour or so of watching I changed my mind. Afterall, you have to put yourself in these situations. I decided that although the waves were far too big for me to prat around in on my Mal, I could have a go on the bodyboard. So off I went. No fear.

To be fair, I didn't do too badly. After resting out the back for a while (it was quite hard getting through the breaking waves) I caught my first wave. It was a real beauty, all the way into the beach. It was a real confidence booster and I went back into the surf. It didn't go so well the second time round. I got wiped out big style. And it wasn't like any old wipe out in a two foot wave. This was at least 5 foot of water throwing me around. The intial impact wasn't too bad but the force of the back of the wave did what it wanted to me. I didn't know which way was up. I did know that I needed to breathe pretty soon though. I came up to the surface just in time. I took huge lung full of air, turned around and saw another massive wave about to break on my head. I was thrown around in the wave again, and once again, I very nearly ran out of breath. When I came to the surface again, this time breathing pretty heavily I knew I needed to get out of that part of the break so I swam out back again. I could have gone in at that point, but it's kind of like falling off a bike or a horse. You just have to get back on. Anyway, after spending what seemed like an age recovering I managed to catch another one all the way back in. Although I'd got hit big time I was glad I stuck it out. I guess getting hit like that is all part of the learning process.

Here are some pictures of the surf on Saturday, so you can get an idea of what it was like.

























































A month before we arrived some monster waves hit most parts of Sydney. The swell was caused by high winds that were part of a tropical cyclone. There's an interesting article here about it, with links through to a cool photo gallery. Sorry if I have bored you about this (like I have with H - I am really beginning to do her head in).