SDL
Monday 29th of April
Location: Dobson Wave
Participants: Angus, Daymo, Ruby, Corina, Mitchel, Sam, Josh, Jacob, Zeb, Jasper, Mitch.B, Ed,
Weather: A mighty fine evening
Duration: 4pm - 6pm
River Flow 1500- 1200 cumecs
First day back at Tech after our 2 week break, and boy was it a good one.
The previous 2 days had rained non stop, so by Monday afternoon the Grey river had risen to 1500 cumecs, this means the Dobson wave would be pumping!
Class finished at 3 so we quickly signed out kayak gear and loaded the cars, we got to the river by 4 o'clock and got stuck in. When we arrived the river was huge! There was about 5 or 6 surfable waves in a row that towered over you when you were sitting in a kayak. This definetly made it quite intimidating however after my first attempt i realised it was quite manageable. By the time it got dark and everyone hopped out, the river had dropped to about 1200 cumecs, all the waves had shrunk, the main wave was still there however the waves afterwards had diminished to rolling waves that were no longer breaking. The conditions were hard however this was great for my rolling technique because in meant i had to use proper techniques in the waves to get up succesfully. After a few attempts I got the hang of it and I felt like I was really shredding, carving up and down the face of the wave, hitting the white wash and then gliding forward back to the green.
I really suprised myself actually, I didnt expect to be able to surf so well, I geuss those sessions trying to surf the Hawea wave paid off. All in all, this was honestly one of the coolest things i've ever done!
*Click on the arrows to scroll through photos
*The photos taken here are all of when the river had dropped to about 1200 - 1300 cumecs.
*Im the one in the orange boat with yellow helmet