King Waka's Korner: Surfing Smoke & Water

We had just knocked off work for the year and I was looking forward to the 3 weeks leave to go surfing and just hang out at home, the norm for this time of year is to get in early have a quick surf and head back home before all the holiday makers would wake up and invade the water. So Thursday being my first day of holidays I was down at Cuddy and enjoyed some fun clean little waves on the reef riding my mat with just a couple of the local crew to share. It was around 9 am and as I was getting changed out of my gear the phone rang and it was my boss from work asking where I was? ' standing in the carpark ' was my reply ! ' Get your arse home now mate, a fire has started over the back from you and is heading towards the coast with a hot NW wind behind it, they are talking closing Sussex Road ' ! Well there went my plans of having another surf so in the van quick smart! Great start to the holidays , just read my previous blog concerning the bushfires!

smoke & water - Thursday from adam williams on Vimeo.

The water was just full of ash and burnt leaves

The surf was only small most of the time and with the fires still active you just never knew when it would spark up bad again and the fear of not been able to get home was always on your mind!

NYE 2019 from adam williams on Vimeo.

Spooky Monday

By now everyone was on edge, you didn't want to travel far but was going mad being cooped up at home, so with a predicted large south swell I really wanted to test out my Edge Board in some serious juice! By now the smoke haze was a daily thing so driving down the hwy with Paul following in his car was a freak out and driving down Bendy Road I had not 1 but 2 Lyre Birds run across the road which was a bit of a omen to what was going to occur in just another weeks time, anyways we arrived in the smoke fill carpark walked up the track and could barely see the Island but sure could hear the ocean

I was stoked as I was going to get this board in some bigger surf whilst Paul only had his mat with him , so walking up the beach you can see how bad the water and sand was , littered with burnt leaves and ash with the water the same! The waves weren't giant but powerful, a long period swell direction you needed plenty of length and flotation to catch them which this board has, I dropped a 9" GG fin in and pushed it forward in the box so still had release in the tail but was so stable with no wobble and it bit into the wall when needed on crucial takeoffs allowing me to project out onto the wall to a nice smooth roundhouse, I got some bombs so was pretty happy with the board. Well Paul went okay as well , there was another mat rider out there as well so they enjoyed themselves till Paul got smacked my a large set and had his Go Pro camera clean ripped off his head never to be seen again!

After we got out it was time for a feed and another surf check!

Edge Board

Smokey Monday Gilliagans from adam williams on Vimeo.

Soft Board Fun

and the water is still disgusting with some much ash!

Had some fun riding my mat and this little 5'2" soft board from Ocean & Earth

ASH & WATER from adam williams on Vimeo.

Driving Down Bendy Road

Bendy had got scorched....BIG TIME!

It was a few days later after the fire had gone thru and they still didn't have any power for the 5th day , so I was surprised when the guy on the roadblock at the entrance of Bendy Road actually let me pass and it was just so sad to drive down , seeing all the fallen power lines and burnt out trees & bush ! As I was driving thru Cunjie I spotted Grubbo and Halley and asked how they were, with Grub aka the Gate Keeper/ RFS/Forestry/National Parks gave me a run down on how they saved the local community from the fire.I finally pulled into the car parked at the Island and bugger all cars, just a handful of locals out and I soon joined them but it was weird and didnt feel right ! The water was just trashed with ash and leaves and all we spoke about was everyone account and how the survived the bushfires, I just caught a couple and went in, I just couldn't stay out there and take waves from the boys, it just didnt ' feel right '! I called around to another friend to see how he and his wife was going, he broke down in tears telling me how he was away fighting the fires with his strike team and his wife was left to look after everything back home , including evacuating 80 tourist from the local caravan park.

kneedge from adam williams on Vimeo.

A few weeks later and back to work, the air is slowly clearing so we ventured down the coast to Bawley on the Saturday with the SCUMM crew and then again on Sunday by myself with the soft board.The air is finally smoke free again with us enjoying blue sky's and a ash free ocean! Its going to take a few years for the local flora & fauna to recover, we need good rain and the regrowth will happen as it has always!
Just no more fires please!!