Today was forecast as the best day of the week for swell and wind (mostly wind, there's been plenty of swell). We checked Yallingup early (finally remembered to take a photo!) and decided to do a bit of driving to find somewhere less crowded. Ended up checking a bunch of spots (as far as Northpoint) for 2 hours and finding ourselves back at Yallingup as nowhere was really working properly! We did see a whole load of whales though including one fully breaching out of the water.
Ended up having a great surf although quite busy with lots of dickhead longboarders and SUP (stand up paddleboard) riders around. Not such an issue normally if there are enough waves to go around but it seems people don't really worry too much about bailing their boards in front of you here (rather than holding on to them and duckdiving when a waves breaks further out). So instead of having to contend with duckdiving a 3m wall of foam yourself, you have to also avoid 9 feet of fibreglass hurtling towards your head! It was a classic surf day however and we both got some great waves. The water was super clear so you could see the reef and all the fish, the waves were overhead and winding off down the reef and the sun was out with just a very light wind.
After lunch we headed to a spot called Boneyards (just up from The Farm) hoping that a bit of swell was getting around the corner and we might have some uncrowded albeit smaller waves. the plan sort of worked but the wind, although offshore there, was just too strong and it really was just a bone-crunching 3 foot closeout barrel over shallow sand. We got a few that pe but spent most of the time with spray whipping our faces. At the same time, it was the most beautiful water colour I've ever surfed in and I was loving delaying my duck dives to look down the perfect cylindrical barrels (just before they detonated). Intense turquoise colours that would change as the sandbank got shallower. Even better when you were on a wave! Um, no photo though, sorry.
Surf: Yallingup, WA, 4-5 foot, 2.0hr (95.5 total); Boneyards, WA, 4 foot, 1.0hr (96.5 total)
