Fckn Newy pumps!
Some epic footage coming out of the Newcastle beachies recently, can you talk us through the session?
Yeh it was a epic day in the salt, got there nice and early to see it bombing with only Ando and lewy out getting pitted off there heads, both Jimmy Leayr and Ducky (Ryan Duck) rocked up at the same time as me as per usual (seems like we have all kept as keen as each other through the years and there awesome to surf with!) wetties went on quick and we started the fun challenge of getting out.
Who was the stand out rider in your opinion?
I felt like we all brought something to the party, and after watching the footage I could really see how different we all went about setting up barrels, none better than another, just different.
How much of a physical work out is it in these conditions, given that you’re dealing with a big paddle out and shifting conditions?
There’s definitely moments of intensity, but breaks inbetween, you could sit for 10-20mins picking one off and get a clean paddle back out, or duck dive for 30mins straight and end up getting out at the wrong end of the beach, but that’s why those days are so rewarding, as you just don’t know what’s next, best wave or best beat down.
Newcastle seems to have beaches that can hold these large swells, and idea why that is?
I guess it’s the outer shelf, it seemed to help shape the swell lines on this day anyway, you could see them coming from so far out.
We noticed you were wearing a hood during the session, what prompted that?
Actually I kinda inforced it on myself, the week previous I lost all my hearing in my left ear and finally went to a specialist to be told I only have a pin hole left on that side for the sound to travel through and not much better on the other side, basically stay out of the water and the cold until I get it operated on, basically it freaked me out as I’m probably up for 1-2years on a waiting list to get it done. So I made a plan to keep my ears warm and dry in and out of the water which involved purchasing a wetsuit hood, blue tac, new hat with thermal ear flaps and also cranking my beanie given to me by a good mate.
A few days later my hearing came back and I’ve had about 10 surfs since and all good so far. Only prob is the weird feeling of not hearing in surf and also the hoody makes you feel like your in a bubble or something when your getting smashed, still not used to that yet.
What board were you riding that day, why that choice and how do it perform?
I’d been in the shop ( D5 bodyboard shop) a few days earlier and there was one 41.25” science pro ts left in black/orange, an old favourite, so I purchased it at 100% discount and had 2 surfs on it previously to this session and it was feeling magic, so it was a no brainer. Truthfully I never even thought about my board for that whole session, 100% trust in it to do its job, it’s nice when you have that ride under you!
