Wed 10th Dec 2008 Today was a good day!
Wednesday 10th Dec 2008, so now I have a room and a moped, I have just dropped my surfboard into a local surfshop to get repaired, basically it has got about 7 dings and holes in it from the journey through the aircraft baggage handlers across 3 flights. If I surf it then it will fill up with water, so this has been dropped in and I hired a board for the afternoon.
Kuta Beach,
Ok this is now my local beach and I have learnt that is not going to pick up much swell during the next three months as it is on the east coast of Bali and the wind will predominantly be coming from the west for the monsoon season, so all the waves will be getting blown into stormy mush during this period until March. This is not a real problem for surfing in Bali as the way the Island is set up means that if the wind is blowing from the west you just surf the beaches on the East Coast and Visa versa. This is one of the reasons why it is such a surf hotspot. Its geography and location means it has been perfectly set up for surfing if you want clean glassy waves..
A brief explaination for my friends who do not surf and would like to understand what certain terms mean.
Surf Lingo:
SWELL; is the movement of water creating the waves approaching the beaches, reefs or headlands. It is measured in;
-.Height
the difference between the peaks and troughs measured by various buoys placed by the Met office in the ocean.
-.Direction
simple enough, it is where the wind or swell is coming from and heading to
-Frequency
how far apart the waves are (also called Hertz) eg every 10 seconds or every 15 secs etc. In reality as a surfer this would in theory be the time between missing one wave and catching the next or how many seconds you have to catch your breath before getting pounded by the next one if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Waves however in reality come in sets so you may have lulls between wave sets. You may just find that you are sitting bobbing up and down enjoying the rainbows, ocean and the skyline
Wind
ONSHORE Wind- the wind is blowing towards the coast, this breaks up the waves and makes the sea very choppy and rough
OFFSHORE Wind- the wind is blowing from the Land out towards the sea and creates flat sea with glassy smooth clean waves that peels off slowly along the part of the wave facing the beach. (The Face is the bit you ride)
NB; LIGHT OFFSHORE WIND is ideal surfing conditions for smooth predictable clean fun waves.
OK so Kuta Beach today has a small but regular swell off about 3 ft high and the wind has stopped blowing which is almost as good as perfect for learning to surf. Kuta is also a beach so the waves are breaking over sand so if you do fall and hit the bottom this is less likely to hurt.
Today was a great day Sunshine small Surf on a great beach up and beyond sunset for about 3 hrs total. In fact I am not much of a surfer but I managed to stand up on about 10-15 waves, not for very long but I was standing, and I did not get hurt. I actually stayed in the sea for about an hour after dark as the waves were slightly lit by the large neon Mc Donalds and other shop lights from the road nearby.
NB; WATER TEMPERATURE; Please let me just mention I was only wearing lightweight shorts and the water was approx 28 degrees (about the same as a warmish bath…..) In the UK one minute in December without a 5mm wetsuit would be enough to make a grown man squeal like a little child..
Surfed until dark first night, slept in my new room, Today was a good day!