yup, bears is great. such a classy setup - fun peaks when it's small and big bowls when it's solid
will probably surf around there or the sandy bays north of there this weekend - its a good time of year for banks up there. they don't happen very often, but when they do it's on!

May surf of late has been non existent!
Sunday was good but I was too busy with Halloween prep and finishing my unfinished assignment.
Hopefully i'll get wet on the weekend.. if not, it might be a pre Xmas surf in some heavy Sth Oz surf.

Its Kugenuma Beach in Fujisawa. Sometimes there is bugger all but a million guys sitting on their boards, but when a Typhoon drives past the waves pick up.

That's what it's all about Spook. Good solid clean waves, a few mates, beers and bakery on the way home. Brilliant.
When you say up north, how far you talking? Jakes would be too far for a day trip wouldn't it?
You blokes are spoilt for choice over there. Indo in Oz.

we went to lancelin mantas. the place is real fickle, but if keep punting on trips up there you'll get it good eventually. at the start of this year everytime we went up we scored. then for the past 6-8 times we've been up we've been skunked. this just makes the good days more memorable!
the SW is epic, and there's great wave up north, but perth just sucks. i've never seen so many crowds, in such consistently terrible surf in my life.
heading south this weekend. i'm amping

Most of you may have already seen this, but I thought I'd spread the word. British Airways have decided to stop carrying surfboards on planes. They will however still carry golf clubs and ski equipment. Basically it's a woeful decision that defies common sense.

There's more info here:
http://www.surfersvillage.com/surfing/31192/news.htm

Sign an online petition here http://www.gopetition.com/online/14891.html or lodge a complaint with BA directly.

Yeah, maybe you don't fly BA that regularly, but if you take a say a QANTAS flight to Europe, and they transfer you to a QANTAS/BA codeshare flight for the Singapore leg, BA can refuse to take your boards, even though you've booked with QANTAS. QANTAS has said there'd be nothing they could do.

More worrying would be if the other major airlines decided to adopt a similar stance. or all of the oneworld network. Lugging boards onto planes is already enough of a pain, but now it looks like getting worse.
Take 2 minutes out of your day to fill in the petition and spread the word to those on your email lists....

omg, how much does BA suck?
I have had a few surfs at lancelin. not a bad reef that..

I went for a surf yesterday at merewether and mark richards was out. lol.
Even he couldnt make the one foot onshore slop look good.

Thats a wank eh Spook.
Initially I thought not too bad as i'd never fly those pricks anyway but the code share with Qantasis a worry..
Golfclubs OK, ski gear ok but surfboards not. Where's the logic?

i know, it's baffling. it basically means you can't book oneworld flights with any confidence that your boards will be accepted if BA happen to be flying one leg of the trip
so far theres been about 5000 people sign the petition and about 8000 people signed up to a facebook group about this. it really is a bafflig decision. i could understand if they said no boards over 9 foot or something like that, but a standard boardbag isn't that much more cumbersome than a snowboard or skis

MR is not too spritely these days. Still he'd surf better than me I'd bet.

I'm flying Qan/BA next year to London.I'll be dragging my 174 board bag chock full of stuff with me. Go figure

Spook- hows the Mentawai thing looking?

yeah, still on the cards for sure! i've just got to get through the next few months of work and saving some cash, then i'm looking forward to not wearing a suit, tie and leather shoes for a while.
my mate paul just spent a few weeks there sorting more things out and got great waves everyday

soubs had a great quote a while back, something along the lines of "the prison door is open, you've just got to walk out". i'm reasonably happy doing what i'm doing at the moment (for the short term at least) and making a big lifestyle change isn't easy (or possible) for everyone, but i'm hoping this will be the start of something fantastic

mantas - i remember reading that if you have booked with BA prior to November this year, they should still carry your gear. but i'd call em and get something in writing to confirm, otherwise you'd be up the proverbial creek

Anyone surfed NZ? Grew up surfing the East/West coast of Northland, NZ (including the epic Shipwrecks Bay). Was amped to move to the SI for university and surf the Otago peninsula but pussied out pretty quickly because of the cold.

Seems like a solid surfing fraternity in Aichi and Kochii. Anyone know the Mitchell bros who were living there? Good surfers and I hear they competed in the local competitions here.

Never surfed NZ bro. It's still on the list. i was in in Fiji a couple of years ago with some boys from Phukatani,? Phukawani? Phuka something. Good bunch of lads they were

i went there about 8 years ago with my dad and one of his mates who was part of the early surfing scene (a shaper called warren thompson). it was pretty funny - we went into a few surf shops and they had some of warren's boards from the 70s (in mint condition) hanging on the walls.
got fun waves at piha, a black sand beach a few hours north of there, mt manganui, wangamata (sp? - a left rivermouth that has recently been the site f a possible marina development [when will local councils learn?! grrrrr]).
also got to surf raglan and an epic right on great barrier. shipwrecks was unfortunately flat, but man... talk about potential!

NZ is on the list for an extended sojourn. great place

Not the bar in Sigatoka by any chance? Was travelling through Fiji a few years back and came across people who raved about it (plus easy access).

Whangamata I guess is the home place of NZ's surfing royal family--the Kennings. Mt Maunganui now has an artifical reef. Piha is the best option close to Auckland and works under various conditions. The whole west coast is pretty rugged, except for the gems of Raglan and Shippies.

However, it must be said that SI surfing is amazing. The Kaikoura coast, Otago and the Catlins are legendary. The east coast southerly swells are much more consistent than in the NI. Don't know too much about the west, but think it's usually too wild and messy. More ofen than not, you'll be surfing it alone. Dunedin would have to be a surfer's paradise, but you've got to be hardy. Ice-cream headaches are the order of the day. I'd say it'd be hard for an Aussie surfer to adjust to those conditions. Mind you, I guess Vic and Tassie can be cold.

yeah, i was there in feb and surfed in bardies on the north island. not the best time of year probably, but we got fun waves everyday.
brrrr, i am a pussy when it comes to the cold

Only been to Fiji twice. We surfed Frigates and a few mainland spots. Sigatoka was no good when I went there.
What's the crowd factor like in NZ. I've heard localism can be heavy in spots, especially around the Bay of plenty?

Raglan can be pretty intense from what I hear. They don't tolerate kooks there. BOP is also pretty heavy with the locals. Gisbourne would be the worst and there's been a few court trials over violence. It can get pretty crowded in Mount Maunganui but you would think the artifical reef would provide waves for all. I remember one dickhead at Piha who had a heavy reputation. Much mellower in the SI but Dunedin had a surfer gang mentality when I studied down there. The locals would go to the student pubs for a fight. Actually, I knew a rugbyhead/surfer student who whacked a few of them.

Aussie would probably have a greater problem though, just because the surf culture is so big. Of course, the Bra Boys stand out but I think that's a bit overblown. Most of them are shit-hot, hardcore surfers so they deserve a bit of respect. The Nat Young beating stands out, but I hear that he's not the most respectful guy in the water. I wouldn't step out of line in a place like Cronulla either.