Busy Times

Hey Guys,

Sorry again for another late post. It has been a while but I have been busy and have been waiting on photos to update you guys with a decent story of my adventures with Jamie Mitchell. So, it started on the Honolua Single Fin Contest weekend the 9th and 10th of January. Two days earlier Jamie called me and said there was looking like a big swell was going to hit Hawaii, there had been two giant swells prior to that for the El Nino season. I didn't want to miss a third chance at surfing Jaws (Pe'ahi)!! It has always been a spot I have wanted to surf since I was 13 years old watching Endless Summer 2 with Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama. 

So when the Single Fin Contest came around I was frantically preparing, double checking and organising all my equipment for the trip to Hawaii. In between this madness I was competing in the contest as well as shooting photos for the new Honolua catalogue!! I made the final of the Single Fin Contest, however I had to give my spot up in order to make the flight to Sydney on the Sunday afternoon. 

So we arrived on the North Shore dropped some of our gear off, took the essentials and headed to Maui with videographer Tim Bonython. The next morning the 11th January we were up at the crack of dawn, rigged all the skis and headed out. As we approached the line up there were some really thick swells pulsing through. We pulled up in the channel and within 5 mins there was a three wave 25ft  set coming in!! My jaw just dropped and I looked at Jamie and said 'This is the heaviest wave in the world!' You don't really know until you see it first hand. Within minutes we saw two guys get pounded, one took a two wave hold down and came up close to the rocks, and the other straightened out and got crunched blowing his knee out. So we sat in the line up for an hour and just watched the wave break to get an idea of where to sit. Finally Jamie said 'You're up, because if you watch it for too long you won't want to do it!' 

Jamie whipped me into 6 medium rights and he got me 4 lefts, one left being my biggest wave of the session. 

We swapped after 2 hours and I drove Jamie, it was really hard work, a lot of jet skis going for the same wave and we got burnt 8 times in a row before I was able to get him a wave. I ended up getting him 3 rights- 2 solid bombs, 1 of which was a wipe out and the other a nice medium wave. 

After the Jaws session we chased the same swell to California. We booked a red eye flight from Maui to Utah then Utah to San Jose. Utah was freezing, it was 0 degrees with snow on the runway at Salt Lake City, I only had a jumper, jeans and a pair of thongs!! 

Once we arrived in San Jose we got picked up by Jamie's sponsor Surf Tech who lent us a van, from there we drove to Santa Cruz where Jamie keeps his ski and guns at Peter Mel's place. Pete hooked us up and gave us a room to stay in. The next day the 13th of January we drove to Mavericks. The forecast looked really good but when we arrived mother nature had the last say and this particular session was lumpy in the morning 12-15ft; by lunch time it cleaned up a little with a few 18-20ft sets. It was still a great day, the conditions weren't optimum, but we got to tow for 8 hours with only 3 skis in the line up. The next day  we ran errands in Santa Cruz, Jamie got his tow board fixed after going on the rocks the previous day and I went to the Stretch factory and bought a second hand 9'8 gun. 3:30pm that afternoon we paddled out at Mav's, it was still 12-15ft. The first wave I got, the 9'8 felt unreal, it was pretty fun. Jamie and I got about 6 waves each for the evening. 

On the 15th we headed back to Oahu and set up camp on the North Shore. On the Sunday the 17th we walked straight into another solid swell. We surfed Waimea Bay all day at 15-18ft. Clean, pristine conditions. 

The past couple of weeks we have been hanging out, getting our stuff organised for the rest of the season. We got both of our tow boards weighted up with an extra 4kg of weight per board and we made an extravagant purchase with two new additions to the family, one's named honda and the other named kawasaki, both four stroke ski's coming with a special carriage double trailer.  We are both pretty stoked with the little bad boys!!! 

This afternoon the swell came up and we got another session at the Bay. It was 15-18ft and I copped a few floggings, but sometimes you have to pay your dues. 

I am hanging on the North Shore for the next few weeks and I have some stand up contests coming up. I will keep you guys posted.

Cheers,

Billy

Solomons

Hey guys,

Sorry I have been off air for nearly 3 weeks now, I was in the Solomon Islands for 2 weeks at the start of December and have been waiting on the photos.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and looking forward to a prosperous New Year!!

Here are a few SUP shots from the trip and I will post more when I can get a hold of them.

The Solomon Islands is a great place. We were up at the northern chain of the islands which cops the left over north swell which filters down from Hawaii. We scored 3-6 foot waves for most of the time we were there and there are a couple of breaks that are world class. I think if the swells form off Japan and come further south-west they could have the potential to maybe break bigger than 6 feet, never the less it was a good fun trip and fairly consistent for this time of the year. The island we were staying on is called Papatura and it is a 5 minute boat ride from the main northern island Isabella. It is a really remote and scenic place with thick dense rain forest style jungle and beautiful coral atolls. The locals are lovely people and its well worth a look, even if you don't surf it is really nice place just to hang out and snorkel, dive and relax.

The next event on the program is possibly a trip to Hawaii and maybe back to the Pacific to the Caroline Islands.

Cheers,

Billy

Week 2: Scotty Wildin aka Wild One

Hey guys,

This my good friend Scotty Wildin, he is the lifeguard down at Greenmount. I took him surfing earlier this year to a reef off the east coast. The weather and swell looked pretty good for the day and we both happened to have the day off work. We scored some epic waves and this is one of Scotty's bombs for the day.

News Flash: We're Engaged!!

Hey Guys,
It has definitely been an exciting weekend for me. I proposed to my girlfriend Bianca Lee on Friday morning! We took my jet ski out for a drive down the coast and I took her into the beach at Nobby's Surf Club, where we met, and popped the question. Thankfully she said yes!!

Our celebrations were cut short for the weekend as I competed in the Roar Industries Ultimate SUP Championships on Saturday at the Seaway Spit. The championships consist of a surfing component and a paddling component, and it requires you to use the same board for each component. It makes it difficult to pick the right board to use as shorter SUP's are better for surfing as you can pull off more monouvers, however, they are slower for the paddle race. Longer SUP's are harder to monouver when surfing but are faster in the flat water paddling.

The conditions were testing with a 15-18 north easterly wind and 2 ft waves. I managed to make it through the rounds to the final and score a 7 and 8.3 riding waves. Keiran Taylor pulled out an amazing 9 point ride and a back up wave of 7 to take out the event, I finished 2nd and Jamie Willems was 3rd and Paul Jackson was 4th. Shakira Westdorp showed the girls are getting up there in SUP surfing by making it to the semi-finals and just slightly missed out on making the final.

With the surfing component completed we headed over to the broadwater to race in the flat water paddling component of the championships. The original course was set to paddle from the beach around the rock wall and into the Seaway. However, due to the windy conditions and safety hazards the race was set in the flat Broadwater. Mick DiBetta a renound paddle boarder lead most of the paddle on his 10'6" SUP, only to be tipped by Troy Pease at the finish. I was able to finish 5th on my 8'11" SUP.

Overall Keiran won the event, I finished 2nd, Jamie Willems finished third and Troy Pease was fourth.

I head off in less than a week and half to the Solomon Islands for a 10 day surfing and SUP trip. Stay posted this week as I post some pictures and background on my mate Scotty Wildin. Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Billy

Early Thursday Morning

Surfing Broadbeach Thursday morning, a nice little water shot from Andrew Shields.

Week 1: Nick Heath aka Stench Pit

Hey guys,

This is my good mate Nick Heath and he is a surfing chef. I actually did my chef's apprenticeship under Nick when I was 17, soon after ditching it when I was 21 to start a career in lifeguarding. Nick is a gnarly traveling surf gypsy who has done reconnaissance missions throughout Indonesia for the last 20 or so years. Nick runs the kitchen at the Burleigh Heads Hotel- Ambience Restaurant and annually does a surf trip for a couple of months to Indo. Here's a couple of his pics from this years season up there.

The gorilla in the mist at Bingin

Stenchy at his beloved Supersuck

Chocolate arms throwing his weight around on the end section at Race Track, Ullu's

Stenchy teaching me the ropes

10:35 reo at Burleigh, would have been 11:00 if he was on a Garrett

Locking up again at Bingin

Just Another Lazy Sunday

Hey Guys,

Most Sunday's are reserved for rest and relaxation, but for me this Sunday was a anything but relaxing. I started the day at the Greenline SUP Paddle Race from Currumbin Surf Club to Kirra Surf Club as a part of the Kirra Surf Stock Festival. The 7.5km paddle was into a direct head wind, which was no fun for anyone. I ended up paddling 95% on my right side for most of the race and was lucky to crack a small wave at the finish to beat outrigger paddler Travis Grant who finshed second and Troy Pease who finished third. A big thanks to Shakira Westdorp for letting me use her new Lahui Kai Shakira Westdorp Signature Model 12'6"SUP Race Board.

After the race and presentations I shot up to Burleigh to my local Burleigh Boardriders clubs last surfing contest for the year. I got there just in time for my heat and surfed twice to make the final. I ended up 2nd to Thomas Wood a new grommet to the club. Tomas gave myself and all the boys a good touch up. The Young bloke is only 16 and surfs with the maturity well beyond his years. Check him out in the future.

To finish the day off I was happy to go to a relaxing birthday party for my niece Harlow, who just turned 1.

Each week I will be posting a mini spiel on my close surfing mates. First up this week will be Nick Heath the surfing chef.

Also in the pipeline is the Solomon Islands trip which I mentioned earlier, and it is looking like it will go ahead in early December. Keep you guys updated shortly.

Cheers, Billy