Season 4 done! A better season than last as far as quality of waves I caught is concerned. However, the quantity of waves caught was lower than previous seasons due to a recurring trend in North swells and the fact I stayed for about 2 weeks less than i usually do. My house mates, Johnny Showell, Whinny and myself paddled out on the morning of the second day of the competition. The idea was to get some sets to ourselves before the water patrol cleared everyone out. With John leading the way we paddled out in pitch black dark and were the first ones on the peak. John, the Hellman, got a couple before there was even any chance of identifying how big the swell was. As the glow of the morning sun slightly revealed itself we were abel to gage that we had 8-10 foot Pipe and about 15 minutes to get what we could before the crowds came and filtered out all the fun of being there. We got a couple each then watched as the swarm of people flooded down the beach and into the lineup, taking us back to square one and sparking the necessity of a game face and your HASSLEhoff (neither of which I possess). It was the EARLY mornings of the good days that we got our good ones for the trip. For the time i was over there, the only swells that had West in them were the comp days. The rest of the time it was North swells usually with North winds accompanying them. This shocking swell/wind direction saw me sniffing at Rocky Point alot, which was delivering some fun ones. I had a stab out at Off The Wall a handful of times as well - not so good.

Tennis was a popular pass time for everyone this year. There were daily and nightly congregations of the Aussies, Saffas, Yanks and Frenchies for singles and doubles play offs. Brad Hughes was in good form with his brand new racket and shoes until his ligament had a meltdown and he hit the deck like a bag of shit - sidelining him for the tennis season and providing him the opportunity of being labeled as the ‘Slob’ in our house.

The highlight of the season for me was watching the last day of competition, particularly the semis onwards. Winnys surfing in his semi was easily some of the best ive ever seen at backdoor at that size. Rawlins was surfing fucking crazy in his quarter to. By the final everyone was rowdy and beered up. I was sobre as a judge and was laughing so much at how disorderly our large mob would get when either Winny or Hardy were up. On one wave Tamega got sucked over and everyone went nuts cheering…. i kinda felt bad but it was pretty dam funny still. It was such a good atmosphere, especially with 2 Aussies in the final. Seeing Hardy win and how stoked he was, was incredible. I dont think ill ever forget when we all ran down to him and saw how ecstatic he was.

In conclusion! It was better than last season but not as good as my first 2. I think the fact this season went better will be enough convincing for me to be back over there next February.

Nick