CHARTER SIXTEEN // 6 DECEMBER - 17 DECEMBER // 2007
Passengers:
Stephen Blakey, Serena Blakey, Annaye Blakey, Caleb Blakey, Liam Blakey, Joel Blakey
A FAMILY TRIP ON THE BARRENJOEY·
For a trip in the off season we had an awesome time!
We were the first family with kids to go on the boat and the little guys, two 7 year olds (Joel and Liam), an 8 year old (Caleb), and cousin Fynn Mcgroder (3yrs old) had as much fun as anyone! The groms wanted to surf just as much as anyone, so they got to surf at a new surf spot for beginner groms called 'Fin chops', which was soft and perfect for them, and even scored a couple of well claimed head dips, and all bragged that the surf out 'Fin Chops' was the best surf they had ever had! Caleb also got to surf out Lances rights with the local nudie indo kids, to surf with the locals the 8yr old started to become interested in how the locals lived compared to how he lived!
We did some snorkelling in crystal clear ocean, tried wakeboarding behind the jet ski, jumping off the top deck of the boat, and swam all day everyday. Not one of them stopped smiling the whole time until it was 'goodbye!'
The grommets also wanted to catch a Spanish mackerel . They achieved that goal, with catching all up about 8 Spanish mackerels! And scored a couple of surprise Dogtooth tunas for sushi which made the trip extra special for them!
The Barrenjoey experience for a 14 year old girl surfer (me) was as good as it gets! Captain John made sure I got Perfect waves, a couple of barrels, and on going waves that feel like your riding them forever! I got the opportunity to surf Lances Rights, Maccas, Bells, Burger World, and I had awesome surf at every single one of them! And scored a couple of mentawai tattoos (scars) along the way! As it was the off-season we only had to share the waves with one other boat at 'Maccas' and only for one day! And the best thing of all captain john stayed up all night just to make sure we got a last surf in before we had to go home, and that day I probably got the best barrel I'd ever experienced and it will be my screensaver for life!
We had an awesome chef 'Furi' (one of the indo crew), couldn't complain once even if I tried! And Udy made sure the boys caught heaps of fish! Barrenjoey crew were all so happy, cheerful and helpful they were all just absolute legends!
There's more on the barrenjoey than just surfing, which makes it an awesome experience for everyone including girls and groms!
Thanks heaps Captain John, Aunty Bin and Fynn for making sure we had the best time of our lives!
Annaye Blakey
CHARTER FIFTEEN // 1 NOVEMBER - 13 NOVEMBER // 2007
Passengers:
William Ralston, Randall Ishihara, Keith Hanzawa, Russell Dang, Glenn Kuwamura, John Pregil Jr., Kilikopa Sueda, Kaipo Kauka, Neil Croft
'This is how we roll Captain', stated Butch non chalantly as Johnny strummed out his version of ACDC's 'Whole Lotta Rosie' and the Barrenjoey steamed along a very quiet crossing to the islands. And so began 12 days of the most relaxing easiest group of blokes that have ever graced the decks of the BJ. The Honolulu fireman. Butch, Randy, Johnny, Russ, and Glen. They had brought their mate, Keith from the Big Island and two grommets, Kaipo and Kili. The token Aussie being Neil.
These Hawaiians have being coming to the islands for years on various vessels. Their cruisey nature and politeness have made them legends amongst the fleet. It was Barrenjoey's turn to be graced with their presence.
It was a fishing fest, as we knew it would be. Keith and Glen could not be persuaded to leave the Bynda Laut except to pop along the various beaches of the archipelago. Randy, Butch, and Russ would go on their daily spearfishing jaunts. Randy enjoyed showing Firy the intricacies of Hawaiian Style BBQ fish, dried fish, spiced fish. All delicious! Johnny swam, surfed, fished, drank beer, did the whole bloody lot.
The surf ranged from fun to small to fun again. Uncrowded the whole time. Kaipo and Kili were introduced to the pleasures of tow surfing. A new team in the making.
Considering the surf that was on offer, couldn't have been a better trip.
CHARTER FOURTEEN // 18 OCTOBER - 27 OCTOBER // 2007
Passengers:
Drew Metcalfe, Roger Wong, Sean Dean, Tom Schutzinger, Nick Bobycomb, Adam McLean, Ben May, Matthew Cullen
After 40 hearty renditions of "Happy Birthday to Nick", with gusto, the boys carried on and went for a crocodile infested moonlit surf. They had the epic solo day by themselves. Bodies were burnt out. It was about day 6 but who was counting. Sean was a brave soldier due to an untimely ankle incident. But for Roger, Nick, Matt, Tom, Drew, and Adam. They needed the rest. The weather changed. The rain came down and they ventured elsewhere. On the way in a whale lay on its back and all left with miles of smiles.
CHARTER THIRTEEN // 3 OCTOBER - 14 OCTOBER // 2007
Passengers:
Steve Kay, Nicol Wylie, Mick Ray, James Beckwith, Brak Sheehy, Adam Leslie, Jason Kuriata, Adam Sharp
Mick caught the last large wave of the charter from way up the reef. He had already had a few from up there; tubes and searing backhand off-the-tops. Now, he turned mid faced to avoid the other surfer and wore the brunt of the thick lip that compressed his ankle into his board. Swollen, probably broken. The swell dropped after that. The boys had been surfing hard and welcomed the rest.
Adam's tube time would see him grinning for a long time. Steve had just come in from a tow session and was stoked on that, his own tubes and the amount of fish they were nailing. Sharpy was content and fascinated with the dynamics of the plate tectonics. "the most volatile hotspot for potential earthquakes on the planet is right here. We are standing on it." Kerry Sieh told us whilst measuring the tidal difference at Rags Island. That particular island had risen about 45cm. As yet, the swell and wind have not been right for anyone to test Rags Right. Down South, the reefs had risen up to a meter and a half. We are noting, after 3 trips of surfing the area, there has been change in the way some of the waves are breaking, Better? Worse? Book a trip. Come find out for yourself. It is a whole new adventure up here now!
Nichol tried dam hard to get his 6 hours of surf in each day. Unfortunately, the swell really died on the last few days. So he literally wrapped himself in fish. Brak was a maestro on the ski; ripping myself and others into a few beauties. James played with whatever waves he could while Jason bounced and ripped all apart.
As the tide turned, and we all knew when, we set sail after a relaxing, fun trip.
CHARTER TWELVE // 19 SEPTEMBER - 30 SEPTEMBER // 2007
Passengers:
Jeff Ugarte, Nicholas Ugarte, Mark Fitzgibbons, Gary Fitzgibbons, Mark Sydes, Paul Deurse, Stuart Wishart, Ben Biggs, Tim Ayliffe, Paul Pratt
We were on a bit of a mission this trip to take a tonne of rice and a heap of matches out to the villages that had not seen any aid since the earthquakes. Everyone was happy to do their bit. It meant going South into the Southerlies. The trick was to combine a surf charter with a some real aid work.
The surf was pumping and we did score some extra large lefts. One set worth mentioning took out the Captain, who scored a board up the bum and had to put 5 stitches in as no-one was that keen on helping. The same set took out Fitzy, who at first thought he had a strained muscle, but ended up fracturing his femur. Young Nick was charging well beyond his 14 years and the West Aussie were surfing true to form in the big waves.
We eventually did get down the bottom end and did our rice drop. Amazing to see how much the reefs had risen. The locals were scared and were camping in the hills each night for fear of tsunamis. The aftershocks were continuing and their reefs were very different to what they had known. Every right to be scared. No-one was injured, and we assured them to get back on with their lives. Via the email, we reported back to Surfaid, who were sending vessels to the area that were better equipped to deal with the villages in need.
The Capt fixed a GPS at one of the villages. This would show how much the reefs had moved during the two big earthquakes. The scientists were very appreciative.
Even though the wind was still strong, we kept a wary eye on new potential. Some we found, others will have to wait till the wind swings and the swells change. There is definitely some improvement in some of the more popular spots.
The Fitzy brothers ended up, with Tim, taking the record for biggest Dogtooth Tunas.
All in all a bloody amazing trip. The Capt catching up with his old mate, Jeff. 24 years ago they had run the Uluwatu track on their first trip to Indonesia. Hmmm, time, tide and tectonics wait for no-one.
CHARTER ELEVEN // 5 SEPTEMBER - 18 SEPTEMBER // 2007
Passengers:
Andrew Read, Tim McGuigan, Steve Blackmore, Rob Couriel, Anthony McGillivray, Maurice Glynn, Rob Hicks, Dave Rushton, Andrew Maughan.
According to Kerry Sikh, the leading expert on Earthquakes in this region, we have entered a new phase in plate tectonics for this area. We all witnessed the mindblowing forces of the Sept 12 and 13th earthquakes that shook the South Pagai region. We were at Maccas, Ready had just caught 2 Mangrove Jacks when the whole jungle began to shake. The following day, Ready, Maurice and Andrew were out in the water and were shook up by the next quake. Now besides getting some great waves to ourselves, we realized as the tide kept dropping and dropping, that the reefs had risen! We were the first to witness this. Ready's photos went a long way towards the earthquake guys amping on the rise they had predicted. It changed the vibe of our whole trip. Shook us up somewhat. One none of us will forget for a long time!!!
CHARTER TEN // 21 AUGUST - 3 SEPT // 2007
Passengers:
Tony Powell, Jeffery Sormus, John Guinery, Gary Salvesen, Chris Bingham, Ian Howcroft, Ernest Atkins, Jamie Fenton
Jamie was the first to surf it as far as I know. He named it "Emilies" after his daughter. And he surfed the shit out of this left, and every other one for that matter. The Southerlies were well and truly in and the lefts were all firing. The goofyfooters were in heaven. Bingo swallowed his ears from smiling so much. His solos the only thing breaking the solitude. Salvo still scored the best tube on his first wave at that other little left. The Firies were literally 'on fire'! Gecko would not go right, but we did not hold it against him as there was hardly any rights anyway. Ian threw those big boards around the long lefts, copped his floggings and came up smiling everytime. Sormo , the quiet achiever scored more than his fare share. But the Capt, Ernie, Tony, and Sormo were very happy individuals later coming across a whale early one morning on their way to a secret secret right that they surfed by themselves. It must have been the good karma for letting the turtle go, because as they say in the Department·"It doesn't get any better than this"
CHARTER NINE // 7 AUGUST - 18 AUGUST // 2007
Passengers:
Shannan McLuckie, Justin Haines, David Nott, Simon Warren Jeremy Favot, Michael Sheard, Peter Button, Darren Speight
After boarding the Barrenjoey and downing a couple of quiet ones the boys and the BJ set sail with some big expectations of things to come. They weren't disappointed after the crossing with some glassy waves to greet them on arrival.
Shannan opened his account with some fun waves and looked like he was right at home. Jezza was fishing for the future however he was surfing everyday like it was his last with some epic left barrels. Not to be outdone Pete also got some fine tubes when the rights started firing. Darren showed he had been here before with some great waves also. Simon, Mike and Justin were determined to get some fish and after many waves each day they managed to also reel in some good fish over a few arvo bintangs. David had some funny stories on the lizard lounge and at the end of the day we were all happy he didn't need any medical attention that required anything more than a bit of lime.
As the weather closed in on the final day we headed for home with the storm chasing but unable to catch us. Another great trip with some great aussie blokes.
Nutty
CHARTER EIGHT // 25 JULY - 5 AUGUST // 2007
Passengers:
Luke Gifford, Lindsay Mowday, Shannon Mowday, Ryan Waine, Tim Bell, Miles Hogood, Robert Alexander, Patrice Geraghty, James 'Jimmy' Patheyjohns
Bloody Central Coast lads! It was always going to have the swell·and something extra. This year we had a few blow-ins in the form of Texas who stopped at nothing, and I mean nothing. Jimmy who loved the left tubes and Patrice.
After the first day at the Office, everything paled into insignificance·well almost.
But day one had the tubes, absolutely no crowds, the wipe-outs that turned the back deck of the BJ into a MASH Unit, the fear factor. Welcome! There was some ski fun early. Warming up for a swell that became too raw in most places.
By the time the swell started, myself and Ryan were standing on the reef watching the jet ski scrape itself along the coral as the waves pushed it further from our grasp. Our new toy was officially second hand. Lesson learnt. Jet skis are fun and useful, but catastrophe can strike within seconds.
By the middle of the trip, everyone was burnt out, sore and recovering from scrapes and bangs. Meaning, they all were having a go. It was a wild ride. It was the Central Coast boys again!!!
CHARTER SEVEN // 10 JULY - 21 JULY // 2007
Passengers:
Damien Oliver, John Powell, James Winks, Carl Spry, Old Bernie Spilsbury, Young Bernie Spilsbury, F.S.
Giddy up boys (and one girl).
Olly and JP had brought back a couple more Jockeys to buck the system. Winksy and Sprysy were the two to do it. Mind you, the captain could have thrown them into something a little less death defying than that first left that had all but Olly and Old Bernie scattering under hoof. Sprysy was a classic going over the falls on a 6ft pitching left hidden away from the crowd. He came up laughing. But when you are getting thrown of horses at 70 mph and receiving some of these guys injuries·well, it is only water, and reef.
The boys enjoyed their fishing, and started the ball rolling this year by filling the freezers to the brim. FS enjoyed the whole escape, even the Bynda ride across heaving seas in search of secret waves. Young Bernie found his feet near the end while his dad surfed his bloody heart out. Olly and JP loved it all. And yes, I was the only one to see Olly get spat out of that barrel on that day!!!!
