Dawn Patrol

Rise and shine, it's groundswell time

Sunday 5th of May 4:00am, my alarm clock goes off and its almost the only time im excited to here it at such an hour because it means only one thing – Dawn Patrol up the coast!!

I chuck my gear in the back of my wagon and head to one of the boys house where the rest of the crew is meeting up. We load up all the gear into the ‘Surfari’ van and hit the road.

Two hours later around 6.30am and we are up the coast at our destination, a left hand sand bar 20kms out of Whangarei. Unfortunately it wasn’t completely firing - surfable 2ft but nowhere near what we came for (have surfed this bar at 4ft and that’s when it’s good). Sooooo… we head 15mins up the road to our reliable backup beachie, BAM she is 3-4ft+ and glassy with a beautiful sunrise behind it.

After a 2hour session at Sandy Bay we jump back in the van and head back down to the local food stop and empty their pie and sausage roll rack. After an epic feast we decided to give the sand bar one more look over in case the incoming tide helped it pick up. It did look a little better but still not worth the big paddle. Binoculars tend to be very handy.

By now its about noon and all still keen for one more session on the way home. We eye up a spot in the surf bible thats happy to get NW winds and still exposed to the easing swell. Extra effort to access this right hand river mouth ensured us it would be empty. We get to the peak and its an empty lineup with leftover 2-3ft. Epic way to end the day.

Real Concern over Potential Loss of Southern Surfbreaks

"POL wishes to deposit up to 50,000 cu meters per year in the swell corridors of the Aramoana Surfbreak, and up to 350,000 cu meters per year At Heywards Point in the path of Karitane and murderers (Whareakeake) surfbreaks."

 

Murderer's Bay

The Council Hearing runs from the 6th of May until the 9th of May at the Scenic Hotel Southern Cross in Dunedin.

Check out the full story here Real Concern over Potential Loss of Southern Surfbreaks

Source: surf.co.nz & surfbreak.org.nz



Councils continue to ignore impacts of marina on the Whangamata Bar

Councils continue to ignore impacts of marina on the Whangamata Bar – News – Surf.co.nz



Wave Science


Go to http://www.onebigvoice.com/petition/save-the-whangamata-bar to sign the petition, you can sign using your facebook account.

Cut the crap WRC!!

DIY Campervan bed setup

Howsit everyone,

Going on a road trip? Well one of the boys is taking on New Zealand's South Island, check out what we setup in the back of his L300 for the 4 week trip.

We constructed a snugg frame for the bed with legs to be able to store things underneath. We used 4x2 and 50mm screws and counter-sunk them all.

We then cut plywood (10mm min thickness) to the dimensions of the bed frame and screwed it to the top of the frame to add strength and act as a base for the mattress.

The base was made to suit a standard queen mattress in a long wheel base L300 van.

A couple of hours and around $80 later you can get your road trip on and search for that spot!

Send me an email, heilynbell@live.com if you'd like the plan with measurements we built this one to.

Subscribe to us for more on DIY camper setups.

Photo shoot

Check out the latest products from Shrieking Peanut. T-shirts, Hoodies, Surfboard racks...

A big thanks to Aaron at Franziki Photography. They did a really good job and enjoyable to work with. Check out their Facebook page for the latest projects they are working on. Highly recommended.