Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Bondi 9am – knee high dribbly bits, nice day!
Hello.. Welcome back to another year of the bumps! To kick the year off we’re blessed with sensational sunny weather, and light offshore winds. Swell direction has swung from south east to north east. The only missing ingredients – swell size + power. So dribbly knee high bits are breaking on two distinct banks at Bondi – large crew out enjoying the sunshine. Great day for beginners. Microscopic tomorrow again, before a decent increase on Friday/Saturday.

Deepest sympathies go out to all the people affected by the lethal tsunamis in South-East Asia. Horrific loss of life from a freak of nature. The oceans off Sumatra have been so kind to us surfers for so long, providing us tube after tube. Disasters like this demonstrate how vulnerable we are to Mother Nature, and how she commands our respect. I urge you to donate to one of the many relief funds. I’ve donated to the SURFAID relief (www.surfaidinternational.org), as they are focusing on helping people in the more remote areas of Indonesia affected by the disaster, like Nias and Mentawais Islands�(where we all surf).

Most of the focus as been on Aceh in Indonesia, and they haven’t got to helping the people in the more remote areas yet. So if you’re like me, and surf Indo every year, your help is needed now. I’ve heard reports that the Mentawai charter boats are ok, being off season they were mostly moored in Padang port or up in Thailand. There is a plan to put together a fleet of boats to supply relief to people in the areas only accessible by boats. More info

Click here if you want to donate to other aid groups. (complete list on SMH)

Other stuff…Billabong World Junior Championships�are currently running up at North Narrabeen January 1st – 8th 2005. There is $45,000 up for grabs amongst the 48 surfers. Previous winners include Andy Irons (the current world champion) and Joel Parkinson. Today was called off due to lack of swell, but Friday and Saturday should be great to watch when the swell picks up. www.billabongpro.com

Thank you for the hundreds of email filled with encouragement. Have a great day...

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