Warpy Ballito Barrels

Last few days have had some crazy waves. Here is a warpy back door barrel at the "Lane" on the #bonzer 📷 by @shauncotts via Instagram http://ift.tt/1FIpwOD

Surfing Ballito

First barrel on the @johnohutchison #bonzer5 can't wait for winter in Ballito

via Instagram http://ift.tt/1GVvSMq

5 Fin Bonzer Surfboard

5 Fin Bonzer Surfboard by Hutchison Hand Crafted

Winter this year is going to be a little more interesting with this crazy Bonza that Johno Hutchison shaped me. It's not a small board 6'2" x 20 1/2" x 2 3/4" and glassed nice and strong. Made for those super round well over head days.

via Instagram http://ift.tt/1GjDojs

Waves , Glass and Broken Locks.

My son Braidy getting pitted.

This past week had some great waves, we had almost given up hope that we would have any memorable days surfing this winter. My highlight was getting my lighty on film in an insane throaty barrel. We snuck in for a quick hour before school and got some crazy waves. In hind sight we probably should have bunked and spent another hour in the water. I just don't know if we will get a day like this again this winter.

But its not all roses. My car got broken into the next day at Bog, they smashed a window and broke the drivers door lock and the rear canopy lock trying to get in. All they got was a cell phone, but the damage cost and hassle of fixing the car is ridiculous.

The car breakins and thefts along the surfing spots is insane. In July alone 4 surfers cars were stolen and many have been broken into and fleeced. It seems that none of the parkings are safe, even the ones in the open with car guards!! Worst thing is that the police do nothing in response and there is even speculation that there is on group of cops that are in on the whole thing. So if this is true between the corrupt cops and dodgy alcoholic car guards we are pretty screwed!!

We need some solutions people!!

Coatesman

Spearfishing the Mentawai Islands Indonesia

Jamie O'Brien surfing and spearfishing in the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia 

Over the last few weeks there has not been too much going on at home, The swell has been up more than the vis has been clean, and even when we have gotten in to spearfish there have not been to many fish around. So for the most part it has been a bit of surfing and waiting for the sea to calm down enough to get a dive in.

But talking about surfing and spearfishing check out the video clip of Jamie O Brian spearfishing the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia. (if the video is not displayed above WATCH HERE)
Indonesia and more specifically the Mentawai islands is probably ultimate place to go on a surf trip, there are generally always waves. But these guys got some flat days and landed up doing some spearfishing.

I think that's my dream trip spearfishing and surfing in an epic location like the Mentawais.

Coatesman

Winter Swells Arrive

Warren Blackmore loving the off shore winds.

Well winter is upon us and on the north coast the spearfishing kind of goes very quiet. Its a strange time of the year, the summer gamefish have left with only the odd stray Couta lurking around and the winter Garrick and Daga have not quiet got here.

On the up side the morning off shore winds groom the winter swells and almost every point from Transkei to Mozambique is going off. So that's what we have been up to the last few weeks ... more surfing than diving.

This weekend has more swell and winter winds so next week is looking like a cracker for the surf.

See you out there

Coatesman

Billabong Pro Tahiti - Jordy Smith Goes Down!

Billabong Pro Tahiti - Jordy Smith injures his ribs. pic ASP/ Kirstin

The Billabong Pro Tahiti 2011 is going down in a spectacular swell. The 8-10ft thumping barrels exploding over the reef have provided some amazing performances from the worlds top surfers. As always guys like Kelly Slater have made there mark, making it look easy.

Kelly and Ricardo Santos had an awesome duel in round three, which was followed by Jordy Smith and Travis Logie's heat. To be honest they did not look as comfortable as the guys in the previous heat and it looked like they landed up taking off out of position and and a bit deep. Jordy's first wave was too deep and he got smashed, injuring his ribs. With all the attention on Jordy the heat was put on hold, this was rather odd and there were a number of protests.

Travis Logie getting putting everything on the line. pic ASP/ Kirstin

The clock was stopped and the heat restarted, Jordy eventually got back out and finished the heat. Both guys took a couple more big hitts and it was more like a WWF round than anything. Travis put everything on the line and got some scoring waves. Jordy remarkably still got some waves and put some scores on the board.

Travis Logie deep and committed in Tahiti. pic ASP/ Kirstin

Travis was just ahead at the end of the re-started heat, and Jordy got a really good wave posting an 8+ and it looked like he took the heat. Even the on the Heat Analyzer it shows Jordy winning, but the judges did not count the last wave and took the original heat time. This meant that Travis went through the heat and into round 4 and eventually through to the Quarter Finals where he will meet Brett Simpson from California.

It looks like the Quartes, Semi's and Finals will be held in cracker conditions... dont miss it.

Coatesman

Kanoa Igarashi - the Future?

Kanoa Igarashi Mini Freak from Toby Cregan on Vimeo.

I am generally not prone to posting vids of surfing, let alone lightys surfing. But you need to see Kanoa Igarashi this 13 year old from California rip. In fact for me its not so much what he is doing, its the in style that he does it. Most grommets look like grommets on a wave, Kanoa Igarashi has the style and poise beyond his years.

We all watch guys like Slater from the days of  'Black & White' and Jordy Smith busting the bowl at New Pier. And they were not surfing like this! If this guys continues to progress who knows how rad surfing is going to become?

Coatesman

Mr Price Pro Ballito 2011

Nat Young making an unbelievable barrel at Bog Bay.

Yesterday saw the start of the Mr Price Pro Ballito, the conditions were epic and probably one of the best days we have seen in a very long time. Each heat was absolutely mind blowing, the guys were getting some of the sickest barrels across Surfers Point.

Some contestant getting barreled of his nut at Surfers Point Pic M Adjes

While the contest was going on there was an all cast side show going down at Bog Bay to the south. It was hard to pull away from watching the 'Pro' but when you saw what was going down at Bog it made Modern Collective seem a little dusty. Added to that Bog was heavy ..very heavy. And guys like John John and Nat Young were showing everyone up. I have some sequences with John John smacking the lip and then doing a 12ft air drop with a gaping monster barrel coming down.

The high light of the whole sesh was watching Nat get a monster backhand pit that has to be one of the most insane things I have ever seen. The wave broke over him at the top of the point and he disappeared into the foam ball. I stopped swimming thinking that he was history. But next thing he pulls through the foam ball and sets up inside the sickest pit I have seen in years. Because I stopped swimming I was a little out of position but got some great wide pics of the barrel. (pic above) I also got the video of the barrle which is now on my phone and gets played over and over and over!

For those of you who missed the action yesterday here is the Youtube highlights of the day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjTc8TExNG4

The only disappointing thing was them running the last 2 heats in the wind. Which i felt was so unnecessary as there is loads of good surfing coming. Jordy surfed the last heat and got so skunked it wasn't funny. I think every one was so keen to see him surf they put the heat in. But it was a total waste, the waves crapped out and it was a dud heat.

Never the less the next few days have got some great conditions so I am sure the action will be hot!

Coatesman

Sunrise Point Grinds

Dan Redman coming through a sick section.

 This weekend the dive was no good at all, but the surf was ridiculously fun. Sunday even cleaned up and there were some of the thickest flawless barrels grinding across the sand banks off Ballito. Sunrise was starting to do its thing and my lighty and I got some crazy waves all to our selves before the other guys pulled in to surf. Dan and Josh Redman came to get there share of shade underneath the liquid anvils roaring across the bay. I grabbed my cam and got some great shots of the guys. 

There some flawless waves that just went unridden.

As always the rip was super intense and we all battled to stay up the point to get the good waves. This meant that there were many crackers that just went unridden. But that is Sunrise for you!! It a higher grade wave that demands extreme fitness and determination, but the rewards are big! Most guys just give up and sit off the peak and take the scraps .... got to love it!

For more pics go to: Sunrise Point

Cant wait for the next good tide and swell to collide.

Coatesman

East Swell Drain Pipes

Brad Johns about to get shacked up properly on on of the barrels of the day.

 The monster east swell turned slightly south and we have had some interesting waves the last few days in Ballito. For the most part its just been solid hard hitting close outs across the bay. But every now and then one lines up and funnels across the very straight and shallow sand bank.

Yesterday the conditions were perfect which made it impossible not to surf. But it wasnt easy with the prospect of being caught by the sets or breaking your board always lurking in the back of your mind. ...and I am already one board down this swell!!

Scotty the Style master in the sweet spot.

The sea is a bit all over the place this morning, but there is still a bit of swell left. My only hope is that the swell has not taken away all the sand that we had a week ago. ....It was looking the best its been in years (the sand banks that is)

Anyway more big swell coming this weekend and probably no diving ...I guess we will have to go surf

Damn!

Coatesman

Slabs and Sick Pits

Picture perfect, but more of an evil temptress than anything.

The last weekend saw some crazy swell coming out the east. So much so that any hope of diving was blasted by the swell. On the bright side we got some cooker waves at Salmon bay so we were not too bummed about missing out on the clean water that was around.

The tides were also low in the morning giving us a good opportunity to go and ride a slab that operated on a strong medium sized east swell. We dont often get it right or good but this weekend it was ON!!
The slab as so sick and ledging this time that I only caight a few waves, but for the most part I just sat on the shoulder like a little girl! Hence we have nicknamed the spot Barbie Dolls .... as it will make a Barbie Doll out of even the toughest man.

Steve Burel about to get smashed by a 6ft thick lip!!

Steve Burel joined me on the mission and got some incredible barrels and tubes. I eventually went in and grabbed the water cam hoping to get Steve in some crazy sick pits. Unfortunately I only caught his last wave, it was a thick short wedge that just mauled him. The lip was as thick as he was and it drove him down straight into the reef ending his session. He said we should maybe call it Rag Dolls after his beating ... which he said was one of his worst ever, even worse than the worst at G-Land!!

We will have to wait for the next east swell.

Coatesman

Whats Happening to the Weather

Its been more than a week ago since we had a southerly wind and clean water. While the good water was around there were loads of good fish around and things were looking good for February. That was short lived tho as we just have not been lucky with the weather, first it was the unbelievable amounts of rain, then the east winds that just have not stopped for a week now.

The sad news is that the whole of next week is horrible east winds, that means no surf or dive, or any joy in the sea. Bloody depressing!!!

Last weekend before the east wrecked the sea there was a small patch of clean water between the brown muck river water from the Tugela and Umvoti rivers to the north and the Tongaat to the south. We had some real fun with the shoals of snoek in about 6-8m of clean warm water. Both Braiden and myself got 3 snoek each all over 5 kg.

Braiden some good Snoek off Salmon Bay Ballito

The water dirtied up quickly at the beginning of the week, but with the low tides and the early morning off shores there were some waves to surf. I grabbed my water housing and hit the surf to see what shots i could get of the guys.

This is a new learning curve for me getting all the right settings down to get the pics nice and sharp. Its even another story getting into the right position to get the shot off. I did manage to get a couple good shots off and now all we need is some good conditions.

Chris Braim getting shacked.

I thought this one was nice with the green water and blue sky.

With the whole week of east wind predicted, high tides, and pea green sea I dont think we are going to be doing much else other than some pool training ...... oh so much fun I cant wait.

Coatesman

Great White Shark and Surfer

If Yesterdays pics of the Great White Shark did not send shivers down your spine! Well Hows this pic? I wonder if the surfer knows he was being watched by the white.

Coatesman

Friday Arvo Surfers Lane Cleanup

Some of Da Boys getting their hands dirty

On friday arvo some of the boys from the North Coast Surfers Union pulled together and gave our lane a TLC. The municipality had finally come and removed the 2 or more weeks of rubbish that littered the lane that morning .... but they did a bit of a rush job at it. Check out these pics. 

The other thing was all the holes, stones, rubble and mess still left over from the Mr Price Pro a number of weeks ago. We got stuck in trying to remove what we could, but its almost a no win situation. 

What was grass is now just rubble.

For now we will just try and keep the place clean until we can get permission to build the new deck .... which we were promised we could do after the Mr Price. We intend taking the Municipality up on this and we are just waiting for the drawings to be finalised.

Ryan Belfore in top form

This weekend was also supposed to be the local Winter Classic but large lumpy surf caused the guys to call it off till next week. There was an expression sesion for an hour before the east totally wiped out the surf.

Ryan Belfore won best move, Marcus Theron got the best Barrel ...and I got the best wipe out!!! Damn I am getting old!!

Syd finding a cooker even once the wind was on it.

Keep an eye out for the comp next weekend ...it should be fun.

Coatesman

Syd's Bizarre Quad Surfboard

Syd's Cross breed surfboard ... old meets new!

I bumped into Syd the other day at Jono Huthinson's shaping bay and they were glassing up this bizarre looking board. It wasn't an egg or a pin tail fish like the Shaun Thompson ones that are popular. This is well just different. If I remember correctly the board is 5'4" and 20" wide.

I asked Syd if the board worked .. and on came a very animated explanation of how well the board worked. This is not his first one .. he had one made up a short while ago, but got nicked by an angry girlfriend! He must have really dug that board that she would be that jealous. .... but we wont go there!!

Is it an Egg, a Fish, a Quad ......??

Another thing that is unique about the board is that has been glassed using pigmented glass. It is how the guys in the old days did it, but it is a serious skill and a work of art. I watched Jono pulling the resin from the glass and meticulously ensuring that it was 100% even as it shows up all patchy otherwise. Freak its a mission, but the end product it out of this world. I think we have forgotten what a good board looks like, and we have gotten so used to the usual spray and sanded finish.

Anyway Syd is up at Ponta at the moment with his Zulu Surf Adventures and it looks like he will get some serious surf later this week. I am keen to hear how this new one goes and if he sends pics will post them for sure.

Coatesman

Spearfishing and Surfing Lowdown

Hey guys,

Well the swell over the weekend kinda ran through to Monday and Tuesday so there has been little spearfishing done. But barrel riding well no thats another story!!The surf was pretty much firing from Saturday to Tuesday mid morning. Every dog and his cat was on it and it was rather crowded, except for Sunrise on Monday and Surfers on Tuesday. Go figure?? Anyway we will have to wait a while before we have a spread of surf like that again.

Talking about surf I was chatting Syd Boulanger yesterday about his Zulu Surf Adventures tour company. He has been sneaking off to some spots up towards Mozam and scoring some epic uncrowded surf. I thought I would take a peak at his site and came across this ...... I thought it was pretty funny, and very true!

Zulu Surf Adventures

Back to the diving the sea calmed down and I heard some fish came out off Umhloti, a good cuta and some snoek. I have not hear whats happening this side as my head has been in a hole with work. This morning looked great and I am sure some of the guys got in before the east goes and wrecks it again.

The weekend looks fairly promising on Saturday morning but dont hold your breath!! Sunday is a write off and early next week looks like some average but good surf. You will probably still be able to dive if surfings not your thing as it does not look like the swell will be that big.

Anyway thats all for now.

Coatesman

Epic Surfing at Sunrise

Ryan Belfore getting Sunrise ..... as good as it gets!

The last few days have been awesome!! The surf has absolutely gone mental, with Sunrise starting to show some real form. Monday and Tuesday were both well over head and so round every wave sent shivers down your spine.

The take offs were so insane but so worth it if you made it. One mate piped up"being in these barrels is spiritual ... " Seriously life changing!

I got may ass kick so hard so many times, but it was worth it for those steam train barrels. The freight train rip and impossible take offs also meant that must guys opted for Surfers or just to watch ........ perfect! it meant only a few guys out!

Anyway its all over, the swell gone and in its wake mostly just destroyed sand banks. The conditions still look good for the next few days but with out swell it going to be a next week before we surf again.

Anyway all good 

Coatesman

Spearfishing and Surfing

Guys,

Sorry I have been elusive on the blogging front. I have had my head in a whole trying to get the finishing touches to the Spearfishing DVD. Its going really well and we have put everything into this film to make it really beyond what is presently out there in the spearfishing market .... but you will have to wait to see it for your self ...very soon.

I have not been diving much ..as I said busy busy  busy!! the guys got in yesturday and it was nice and clean, but the fish were very scarce. The swell picked up in the afternoon and we though that we were going to get cooking surf this morning.

This want to be as the north wind blew all night and made the swell all wobbely. I check it earloy and almost got in .. but the landed up getting to the office early to get ontop of things this side.

Other than the shoal I have not heard of fish coming out, traditionaly this is when Hiberdene starts to work .. so if you hear of anything let me know.

Just a little heads up - Salty Divers Club meet week after next will be a the Wahoo Comp at Vidal. Some of us will already be there so why not make it a double whammy and come through.

All good I hope the clean water holds out till the weekend.

Coatesman

Voting Day's Cooking Surf

Early Morning Voting Day Sunrise Perfection. Pic Rat

Well the ANC did one thing right, they made Voting Day on a day the surf cooked. If they could organise that every weekend ... I am sure they might get a few more Votes? Or not!!

Politics aside yesterday was a fantastic morning, the swell was perfect the conditions were epic and with the banks just starting to show some life the wave started to show some real form.

I got down just after light and there were some guys already on Sunrise which was starting to look like the Sunrise of old. I could see the current was already pushing and the guys were having to constantly paddle up the river to keep on the spot.

I opted for Surfers ... no one out and the odd bomb grinding on the inside bank.

I bagged a couple real cookers before a couple guys pulled in to join in on the barrel fest.

Me enjoying some barrel time at Surfers. Pic Rat

I kept see the guys running across to Sunrise from the parking and I could not help myself I had to go and check it out. Sunnies was working there was a strong crowd of about 10 guys all paddling like mad to stay up the point. I got one good barrel as I got there (probably while I was still fresh) but spent the next hour trying to get onto the spot and never really got anything special. 

Ryan Belfor clapping the inside like an energiser bunny on jet fuel. Pic Rat

I went back out at Surfers ... less of a mission although I think the real bombs were at Sunrise ...I must be getting old!! We surfed until the east picked up and took the rest of the day easy, Voted and then hit the couch... nothing wrong!!

Til Next Voting Day ...... I hope not

Coatesman