G-Land Bobby's Surf Camp guests were stoked to see a bit of juice running down the Money Trees reef this morning. While it was only 3-4ft, it was the first time in about a week that we've seen some decent swells come down past Kongs! An offshore wind picked up as per usual late morning, and there were some nice waves to be had through the day in the G-Land Surf.
G-Land is the type of wave you can surf with a bigger board due to the fast moving thick swells that roll through, and your regular beach break board may not cut it in these waves! Today I tried out the 7'8 I bought off a guest a few weeks ago. A 'Mitchin' quad fin gun shaped by Mitch Haynie, who was infact the guest who sold it to me. With the large swell hitting this week I wanted to have a good feel for this board. It went really well, and I was catching waves super easy and I got some good tube time on it, and in general had a ball riding a different craft to normal!
Many injuries in G-land happen when the guest straightens out believe it or not. And today Micheal from the Sunshine Coast experienced this. The barrel section grew to far down the line to make (as is the general reason for straightening out) so he turned out into the flats thinking he was fine, and the explosion of the lip caught him and threw him forward, and then one of his fins hit him in the back, gashing it, requiring our Doctor Larry to stitch him up! I remember this same thing happening to me in Hawaii once but I had a spring suit on so it saved my skin, but slashed up the wetsuit. Here typically the explosion will end up driving you into the reef.
So what should you do when you are faced with a closing out barrel? The best thing to do really is to stay in the tube, and then jump off your board at the last second, just as the foamball starts to get under your board. When you go out in front of the wave, the lip or explosion can really cause some damage. Much safer inside the tube.
