A Look at the Pipe

A few angles of the pipe at St Kilda, constructed to guide the new sewage pipes out to sea.

Peeeelllllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiinnng

Driving home from work today, always take the route past my local, even though its cheaper on gas to go over the motorway... my jaw dropped to see a massive set roll through..
The freaky East swells the last few weeks have been driving a hard chisel through this break, realigning the boulders along the base of the headland, and seriously slapping around the banks. Although fat at takeoff, the peeling sections walled up steeper than Baldwin Street, making for some extremely workable faces.

drop in - bust out part 2

The light started to fail so I moved around front on to the break.. and progressively bumped up the ISO, which of course in turn makes the images heaps grainier.

Stacks more cold probably do a few more posts with the pics, but I think I'll lay it to rest and see what comes up this week.

drop in - bust out .. part 1

This is going to be a 2 part post, with another one in a day or so.
Today, working with ever changing light over 3 hours at one break walking around to get different angles, playing with my camera settings to get the best possible out of what was there. Filled my whole 2GB card with shots, which is about 250 raw images!
First up.. starting in the sun working with the sun at right angles to the camera and subjects. This meant that the black wetties were often in full shadow which affected the light meter, so shooting in full manual worked best.

Drop in city .. what happens when 20 are fighting for one peak? so many drop in shots today, but most are not pretty, so just a few.




So standing for the most part in the sun snapping those catching the rights.
Above Danny Carse left and Kim, right. The rest, not sure who eh.




Above two, seconds apart, should have made it a gif, but was lazy.. too many photos to process!

Its not too late

Dear Surfbreak members and supporters,

It is not too late! Submissions on the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement end May 7 2008 at 5pm (tomorrow). Policy 20 of the Proposed New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement aims to protect surf breaks of national significance.If you haven’t already done so, you can still send a submission by email in support of Policy 20. Below is a suggested draft. It’s easy; all you have to do is cut and paste, add your name and address and send to:

submissions.nzcps@doc.govt.nz

Pass this onto your friends too
--------------------------------------------

Submission on THE PROPOSED NEW ZEALAND COASTAL POLICY STATEMENT 2008

sectionS 49 AND 57 RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACT 1991

My name

My name is …

My address is …

My submission is that I strongly support the notified version of Policy 20 insofar as it marks a significant step towards improving policy guidance to decision-makers on the sustainable management of rare, finite and threatened geographical features.

I seek that the Board of Inquiry decides to approve and include:

(a) The amended version of Policy 20 as set out in the Surfbreak Protection Society’s submission under the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2008;

(b) The new Policy XXX as set out in the Surfbreak Protection Society’s submission that would require regional councils to identify and protect surf breaks of regional significance; and

(c) The amendments set out in the Surfbreak Protection Society’s submission in respect of Policy 30, Policy 36 and the definition of “natural character”.

Congrats to the Otago Scholastics Team

The Otago Scholastics team was placed 9th out of 12 teams competing from around new zealand over the weekend at at Opunake, Taranaki.

Leroy Rust placed First in the Longboard event.
Geordi Dearns was placed first in the Kneeboard event.
Ben Bennett 2nd in the Under 16 Boys

Congrats to all competitors.

(words below taken from surf.co)

Otago surfer Ben Bennett created the biggest upset on the final day surfing his way to a highly credible runner up placing. Bennett was the only surfer to challenge Dive for the lead after posting a 7.0 point ride and then another 7.50 point ride mid way through the final.

Otago picked up their second title of the event when Leroy Rust won the under 18 longnboard division. Rust showed some quality turns on his nine foot board as well as a bit of slick footwork in the tricky conditions that were bumping them all over the show. Rust scored 13.27 in the final to beat Sam Guthrie from Bay of Plenty who finished second with an 11.13 heat total.

Rainbows all the way

An early surf was planned today, although hesitant about leaving home during a hail storm this morning me and Caity headed off anyway. Met up for a car share, damn petrol is getting expensive. Shot at left, Caity and Hayley squished in the back seat with pre-surf hot chocolates.
Arrived at sunrise, clean offshore, and cold.

Tossed up whether to take photos or surf first, getting wet won as the sun was still struggling to climb over the clouds which threatened to dump, not good for pics, first surf with a hood today.



Above five pics, struggling for some decent light, clouds and squalls uncovered some subdued shots. Then in a magical display the sun came out between some very dark storm clouds, which made for some stunning light on these empties -


On the drive home rainbows were shifting, appearing and reforming all the way.
Felt very grateful for the day, and my life, surrounded by such beauty.

The Pilgrimage - to Protecting our Surf breaks

Wouldn't you know it, our beloved St Clair.. out of all the worlds' classic breaks us locals get to fulfill a dream that so many surfers in the world are unable to.
I don't do reviews on this blog, google adds or product plugs (although I have received many emails and offers of products to do so).. but I am putting this one up, because its my photo that features in the article about St Clair, so I'm stoked about my first 'book published' photo.
With respect to the author I fuzzed the words, so you'll have to buy the book to check out what they say.

Title:	The Pilgrimage: 50 Places To Surf Before You Die
Author:	Sean Doherty
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	240
Publisher:	Viking Australia

Description
Surfing is an obsession, and many a surfer has thrown away life-as-he-once-knew-it for a single wave.In The Pilgrimage some of the world's top surf writers pay tribute to 50 of the world's best waves - the breaks which have become so much part of surfing folklore that they've developed a life force of their own. This book is sure to become a classic.
You can buy online here
or at Whitcoulls in town

And here is my extra plug too.. previously on this blog here I asked for local support for a submission for the NZ coastal Policy statement
Policy 20- protection of surf breaks of National significance.
With St Clair given the above book mention, and the recent worldwide interest in many of our other Otago/Southland breaks, I really think we have something to protect.
Seems there is no support from readers.. maybe this tool from the Surfbreak Protection Society may get some local interest flowing:

Surfbreak Assesment tool
Download Now
If you think the local break might be at risk, plug in to our SPS Issue Assessment tool. This is a questionnaire that provides a reliable way of assessing whether or not your favourite spot is threatened.

From the Surfbreak Website: "Download it from our website and get a group together to work through it - it will both provide an objective evaluation of the risk - plus, through the discussions along the way, bring together the core of your local action group should it be needed. Another way of SPS providing national support for local action."

We have 5 days to get a submission in.. if you want to help please let me now and we can set up a meeting this weekend. ( phoam.arts (at) gmail dot com)

April 2008 - the month that was

Sunday Morning

Sunday Morning a sticky fog hung over the southern hill suburbs down to the sea. The sun is becoming very low in the sky, the days are getting shorter, Autumn is truly upon us. I fully felt the promise of the winter chill today as I tucked myself under a cliff in the shade for these photos. Hands back in the pockets after each set came through to warm them up again, as the surfers basked in the sun. 40 mins was my max and I left with a vow to dig out my thermals in preparation for the next 4 months of shooting in bone chilling freeze.

Great to see Jimmy out on the water again, a few feature shots here as he was the only one working the rights.