From: cnquinn@spectrum.cs.unsw.oz.au (Clark Quinn)
Subject: Surf Report: Maroubra (as promised)
Reply-To: cnquinn@spectrum.cs.unsw.oz.au (Clark Quinn)
Organization: none
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 03:58:13 GMT

Well, my head was stuffed up enough to give me a headache, but the day
was sunny, the wind was offshore, and the swell was up!  So, I went out.
Ha, ha, and glad I am that I did!  The swell was about 3-4 feet (backs,
for Nig), overhead faces.  Remembering a) the recent discussions about
going for the new spot b) Nig's recent adventure at Virgin's with Jim
and c) a bloke's (the architect who did our house plan) recommendation
for SOUTH Maroubra, and the fact that North Maroubra looked a) big b)
junky c) crowded d) mostly closed out, I decided to venture to South
Maroubra.  

As the architect had said, it had a more country feel to it since it's
bounded by an undeveloped point on the south end (there's a shooting
range out there to discourage many forms of exploration/exploitation)
and a small park surrounding the South Maroubra Life-saving Club.

There were 3 or 4 spongers and 3 or 4 boarders out with me at any one
time, so it wasn't at all crowded.  The water didn't feel too bad
either, it's colder than it'd been last time, but with my still new
wettie and booties on, I wasn't a bit chilled (certainly no colder than
our !@#$%^& house).  

As I paddled out, I saw some nice rights blowing through, but my arms
felt like lead, probably from several weeks of no exercise.  However,
once I got out, I managed okay.  The sets consisted of some makeable
shoulders and some closeouts, even an occasional left (my
fastest & longest ride was a left), but more often rights (my biggest 
and last wave was a right).  There were occasional lulls, but with the
shifty nature of the takeoff spot and minimal crowd, it was easy to find
a place of your own and catch plenty of waves.  I must have been
catching enough that looked good because near the end some new guy out
in the water was dogging me for awhile, sitting near me and paddling for
the same waves.  Fortunately he caught on to the nature of the day
and moved to his own location.  There was plenty of grunt in the waves,
though it didn't sound anyways near as grinding as Virgins, and on
several of my kickouts I was catching major air, once to the end of my
rope.  There's a smile on my face today!  -- Clark

PS On snowboards: I've surfed and skiied probably 20 years each, and
just recently took up snowboarding.  I've only been a few times, but it
was major fun while I languished in Pittsburgh, a perfect way to add
some humbleness to your life as you suddenly become a rank beginner
again.  Fortunately, as you get rid of the negative transfer from surf
turns and capitalize on the positive transfer from skate-boarding,
surfing, & skiing, you can pick it up quite quick.  I wrote it up once
after my first time, and I can post that if anyone's interested.  I'm
planning on heading up to the Snowies with my wife (she still hasn't
seen me on the silly thing, so this'll be a first, but she's going to
stick to skiing) sometime in mid-September for a weekend trip, so I
hope to have a report on that as well.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 _--_|\    Clark N. Quinn
/      \   School of Computer Science and Engineering	    +61-2-697-4034
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      v    PO Box 1                                  cnquinn@cs.unsw.oz.au
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           AUSTRALIA 2033                                      

           "A California Yankee in the Land of Oz"