WAY OF THE OCEAN

A Humpback whale in South Australia splashes around for the lucky few on the beach below.

Its pretty amazing to see such a big “fish” up close and personal. Humpback whales generally reach between 40 and 50 ft and although harmless they can make you feel pretty insignificant. The humpbacks were almost hunted to extinction in the past but with the help of a whaling moratorium there are now almost 80,000 around the world.

Every surfer dreams of finding a new spot or a secret wave they didn’t know existed. The thought of such a thing is what keeps us searching in spite of the recent technology that has made it easier for everyone to search from the comfort of their home computer. Sometimes its doesn’t take an epic wave to satisfy this notion, just a good old wedging beach break with a few friends. That’s exactly what we found when we set off for a hike down a long path none of us had been down before.

The great thing about Australia is that there are so many headlands and little nooks all along the coast to explore. Being from Southern California, where any bend in the coast is likely to have 44 friendly faces bickering over who had the last set wave, this option to explore untouched places is extremely refreshing.  As we headed down the long slippery, rocky, winding trail, we encountered lots of big hairy spiders and a few snakes. We knew something good had to be at the end of the road with all the hazards involved. There wasn’t a whole lot of swell at first light and the headland we were scoping appeared to stick out a bit like a catchers mitt, hopefully acting as a swell magnet.

After a good 45 minutes of ducking under webs, we got a glimpse of the ocean and to our surprise there was actually some whitewater down in the small cove.  As we got closer we could tell that there was a pretty good right bouncing off the rocks and dumping on the shallow beach. Its hard to tell how big a wave is when you see it from a distance and there is no one out, so we could only guess that it was surfable.  Down on the beach the delightful sight of spitting tubes came time and time again in the same spot and we had a session on our hands.  Exploring can be fun.

New wallpaper images from the making of the film: WAY OF THE OCEAN.

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The Australian coastline is over 16,000 miles long and with plenty of options for surf along a good portion of it, we took to the road again. A road trip is always a gamble, but usually the rewards can be far greater than the risks involve. After a few weeks of the Gold Coast ‘s crowded right points, we searched for something completely opposite and within a few days we were on to it. The beach breaks in Australia are up there with the best in the world, and a few of the smoking left-handers we found were holding true to that statement. Content with our current surroundings, we will be posted up for a few more days of dark emerald caves.

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Finding solitude can be quite refreshing.

Two double exposures.

On this particular day the surf was so consistent and so good that we were all seeing double by the end of the day.

The surf had been solid for weeks now and we wanted to get away from the Gold Coast for a bit and find some different waves. While perfect point breaks are always on the top of the list, sometimes a wave that keeps you on your toes can be much more rewarding. There are many types of waves in Australia and reef slabs are all over this surf blessed country. Reefs come in all shapes and sizes and can bend and transform waves into all kinds of different forms. In this case the shape was round, sometimes almost square and somewhat below sea level. It wasn’t the biggest day but there were a few on offer and Asher Pacey and Josh Kerr traded barrels for an hour before the tide turned and the waves turned off.

“The loss of Kirra Point has been caused by an excessive build-up of sand that has been pumped and dredged into Coolangatta Bay over the past 12 years. In this time there have been relatively low levels of storm activity and the sand has not naturally made its way north at the same speed at which it was placed in the bay.

An increase in the level of sand in the bay by 3–4 metres on average has resulted in a significant widening of the beaches – in some cases by over 150m, the loss of surf quality, an increase in rips which has made swimming more dangerous and the loss of Kirra Reef. The reef, which is located at the northern extent of the temperate marine zone and the southern extent of the tropical marine zone supported a diverse range of marine species.”

kirrapoint.org

Although Kirra looks nothing like its former self, it can still produce fun waves with a barrel or two on offer. With the swell up a bit Asher and Kerrzy gave good old Kirra  a go and found some clean long lines and a very light crowd. After all the rain from the previous storm the water was far from the usual topaz blue making Kirra look a lot like California or anywhere else but the gold Coast for that matter.

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This is some of the art that we designed for Asher Pacey’s board during the filming of the movie.  Click one of the links below to download this desktop wallpaper. enjoy-

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below are some photos of the creative process

getting the idea down on paper first is key, then it’s on to the board.

Just laying on a few minimal colors to keep it simple.

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Sand is of the up most importance to the many world class points on the Gold Coast and during the summer and fall months the sand bars can take quite a beating and change drastically. We witnessed such a change when one of the biggest storms to hit the region in decades came ashore and demolished the sand bars. We were lucky enough to get a few days before the sand was displaced and the wave know as Snapper Rocks disappeared completely only to turn into a mushy close out for months before the sand would regroup. Although this wasn’t classic Snapper, it was the one of the last days it would resemble anything of its normal shape for the months to come. Asher Pacey, Mick Fanning, Dean Morrison and friends took full advantage of the dark barrels before the storm hit and the sand disappeared.

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Waves are created as wind transfers energy to the ocean’s surface. As the wind blows, it pushes the water in front of it. The water gains energy from the wind due to the friction between the wind and water. RPS MetOcean found that the waves around Australia constitute an energy resource of almost 200,000 megawatts, or four times the country’s total currently installed power-generation capacity. We tapped into this energy source with another week of lefts, rights, a frames, crowds, empty line ups and everything in between.

While on the Gold Coast we spent a day at the D’Arcy surfboard factory to check out the process of building a board and to find out how D’Arcy’s shop was named the most environmentally friendly facility in Australia. While there is still a need to develop greener materials used to build a board, D’Arcy shows that we can still take action now to ensure the cleanest outcome for the environment and our future. The factory is outfitted with various extraction fans and other technology to lower the toxic dust and floating fumes emitted in the manufacturing process. The air leaving the building is actually cleaner than the air outside and with just a 3% emission output, the factory is setting high standards for environmental responsibility and awareness.

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The crew over at MESURF took some time to interview us recently, check it out for some insight into CIRCULATE and take a look at the rest of the site for tons of great content. Read the interview here.

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Here is the first of many WAY OF THE OCEAN desktop wallpapers. We will be offering new imagery weekly. Click one of the links below for the correct size.  The file will open in a new window.

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Entry 5: The Gold Coast

We headed back to Coolangatta where Asher lives to meet up with Josh Kerr who had some time off between WCT events. The waves were only small but there was hope on the horizon. We settled for a quick afternoon session and then assessed the situation for the remainder of the week and once again things were looking good in the forecast. stay tuned for video . . .

The gold coast of Australia can be quite a spectacle at times. Modern high rises dwarf the many palm trees and beach goers while surf shop after surf shop line the beach side streets filled with restaurants and shopping malls. One thing is certain, surfing is a major part of daily life on the gold coast and for good reason. The climate is subtropical with 287 days of sunshine annually, an average water temp of 72 degrees and enough world class point breaks and beach breaks to satisfy even the most seasoned traveler.
With a population of 482,566 in 2005, the gold coast is the seventh largest city in Australia and is also the most biologically-diverse city in Australia. Its vegetation ranges from mountain rainforest to coastal wetlands and is home to more than:

* 34 species of amphibians
* 323 birds
* 72 mammals
* 71 reptiles
* 25 species of fish

With so much diversity in such a small stretch of coast we were looking forward to checking out all the gold coast has to offer.

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Every now and again a day rolls around where you find yourself in the right place at the right time. In Asher Pacey’s case these days seem to be more often than not and this day was no exception. The swell had swung just the right direction for a few out of the way places to potentially light up. We took the gamble and it payed off in the form of a near perfect right peeling around a rock ledge with multiple tube sections on offer. These are the days everyone lives for, just you and the ocean and the clarity that comes with solitude.

Australia’s waters contain all five of the world’s ocean temperature zones: polar, sub-polar, temperate, subtropical and tropical. Luckily for us, we found ourselves in a subtropical zone with comfortable water and air temps. Generally Australia is a relatively dry continent, however prior to our arrival they had seen months of torrential rains along the East Coast, particularly in Queensland and Northern NSW. Another generalization is crystal clear blue water. This was not the case after so much rain and flooding. Most of the line ups closely resembled a Mexican beach break rather than the pristine swimming pool colors you so often will see. With the rain came very green landscape, tons of mosquitoes and lots of silty run-off, oh yea and a few sneaky sandbars as well.

Day 5 : The waves were pumping for the first four days and Asher had already locked into many dozens of filthy dark caverns of moving water. Just when we were ready for a rest we happened upon a fickle gem of a left point. It takes a lot for the sand to line up correctly but on this day all the stars aligned and with no rivers or inlets for miles in either direction the water color was an impressive emerald green. Knowing that these days are few and far between, Asher spent nearly seven hours in the water and mostly in the tube hiding from the glaring sun.

WAY OF THE OCEAN: BLOG : AUSTRALIA 2 from WAY OF THE OCEAN on Vimeo.