pelican

for such big birds they sure are graceful

this surfing life

I am a lucky man. I know this.

A good cloud cover and a stiff northerly this morning, though not cold.

Car parks filling up - with limited peaks along 13th, and already those 'owner-occupier' dudes on their pointy boards were making the most of what was on offer.

Flippers give you a freedom to chose that other surf equipment doesnt. So a walk down the beach proved fruitful.

a significant death

This morning i learned that a close friend, an inspiration and the reason i feel the way i do about harm reduction - died.

His loss will be felt by more people that he would ever imagine. There are people alive today, having children of their won, thanks to his vision, compassion, immeasrable bravery and bottomless capacity to care.

Insofar as my career, he is the single most important i have had the pleasure of working alongside.

Goodbye Pat.

davin hanna

Davin getting a little one, on the inside - looks like raffs, its actually grove, thats telephoto for you.

new boards

Here is belinda, maybe a month back, having a go at possos. She was hanging about the inside, catching the ones that others were leaving behind, and as a reuslt got some nice ones.

Shes riding a new board, a bing lightweight, and finding a feet on it.

We were talking about how hard it can be sometimes to get acquainted with new boards. Some just click, or so i hear, i had that with a short little stumpy thing i shaped, but that has been the only time i've ever had one of those experiences. The joy that comes from riding new equipment is the patience that is required to learn its ins and outs, its quirks.

glassing

murf

leaves

clip

aqua

body ripping

i cant remember the last time i surfed on a surfboard, it wasnt long that long ago, a week, maybe two, but ive been in the ocean more than ever body surfing, pushing myself, getting sick rides, in the words of the bastard clown... Im loving it

sunrise

it was quite the morning...
still in a funk from mum leaving for blighty...
a swim tomorrow should straighten things out a touch...

backyarding

loving the shapes that come from backyarders

barwon

up close

Wilson

My boy came into the world yesterday. At 10.23am, Wilson Flynn Harvey arrived, and changed things completely. I was under-prepared and overwhelmed at what his arrival would mean for me, and the feelings it would invoke. Ive had 31 hours and 2 minutes to let this sink in.
Every thing i see, every taste i experience, new or old, every song i hear, every shift in the weather, every wave I watch break, i imagine sharing with him.

My wife, Laura, always was the single most important thing i my life, now she shares that space, holding my boy on pedestal where i put them, above all other things.

sunrising

pretty awesome sunrises this week

this surfing life has brought me closer to many things and people. I owe it a great deal. I have alot ot be thankful for.

jordan

black and white

im really enjoying black and white at the moment - ive dug out all my old neg sheets from the nineties. some fun stuff in there on my favorite camera - my Nikon FG - more from these when i get them printed up.

check out the latest at 

seafetch

new images at seafetch.com

                   

 seafetch.com

seafetch.com

finally got myself organised - created my website.

For finer quality prints, and to see more of work, bookmark www.seafetch.com

murf

ben cons

always great to watch.

humble pie makes other pies taste better

i got humbled this morning. Its good every now and then, to push yourself a little further - try a little harder, suck it up.
Winki is a quick wave, quicker than most of the reefs ive surfed, quicker than the majority of sandbars, steeper.

I stayed out until i'd looked in the face, bared it down, a ridden two, then I got the lip on the back of my head, and thrown out, clear of the wave. My neck is stiff.

So i run back round to possos, understanding its other moniker "chicken reef" - and got a few of a more comforting size.

posso craziness

 there was all sorts of fun going on at poss yesterday - sasha, finding fun waves, staying attached to her board through all kinds of craziness, so much fun to watch

and this awesome dude, doing his own thing, finless multi channeled bottom number - picking some good ones off and gliding all the way to the inside.

I surfed twice yesterday, so was glad to sit one out, grab some good shots, and enjoy the scene.

elkwind - mick and zac

some nice dark shots of Elkwind - practicing.

In other news...excellent surf at poss this morning, super fun, great crowd...great waves

turbo

turbo/crazy dean - whatever you call him, tried repeatedly to take my head off.
I love being in the water when he's there, crowd or no crowd, he finds his waves, laughs and hoots. Like a kid in a bathtub, we need more crazy deans.

I tried taking a few pics with the water cam, but focusing for some reason was impossible today.

Still, here is crazy dean...

air

Lorne - last year

steely dark bells

andy

silhouettes

in some ways ive been lazy, i havent posted much recently, havent taken the photographs off my memory card since bells, havent felt much like posting, thinking, editing.

In other ways, super busy, fixed the dings in my surfboard, been running most nights of the week, logging 25k's a week in training for my race in september.

Ive been homesick, however thats had benefit, forcing me to look over images of my home town, listen to music "grown" there. appreciating where i come from, despite not being there right now.

And I HAVE been taking photographs, lots of them, ive been using instagram alot, just because of the convieience, but i miss the opportunities the blog gives me to explain how and why I arrive at taking the photographs i do, the thoughts that have been boucing around my head for a few days, that inspire me to go out with the camera.

One morning, a few weeks ago, the sun was low, burning the sand orange a red, and silhouettes were everywhere.

I liked these four.

my van

sadly, my van has got to go...

Its an awesome machine, and i'll be sad to say goodbye, but the growing family requires a more sensible vehicle. If anyone knows anyone who might be interested, give me a buzz 0450921804.

I'll be good with price for fellow surfers! (and throw in a handplane and a set of roofbars)!

Once upon a time

I used to surf this with 2-3 others max. Today, I shared it with 10 that number. 20 people + 2-3 wave sets. Took a while to find your wave. But worth it, they had speed, a face, and a long wall. Like possos but with deeper water and bigger cliffs. A mix in the crowd of agitated short boarders, a couple f longboarders riding them like short boards, and me. On a heavy.

I got my waves. I go home happy. But pixies has seen its day when it was a quiet escape I think.

grove

takes my breath away some mornings.

too easy

lee, surfing possos, making it all look easy, one of the signs of a great surfer.

matt shay

rivermouth

Yesterday

Yesterday's entry was unnecessarily dark - the human paradox is thus - the paradox that a species that has by far the fewest contacts with direct sources of pain… through language is able to suffer with a degree of intensity, constancy and pervasiveness that is literally unimaginable in the nonhuman world. Because of [bi-directionality], we can judge ourselves and find ourselves to be wanting; we can imagine ideals and find the present to be unacceptable by comparison; we can reconstruct the past; we can worry about imagined futures; we can suffer with the knowledge that we will die.

The most fitting image, bland - empty and given colour, meaning emotion by our own perception...

Swimming

Nowadays, body surfing us on my mind. I'm stuck, dichotomous, perplexed and sometimes irritable at some poorly formed paradox in my head, I know what "I" enjoy...it's not the norm, it's not what people think surfing "is". I'd like to think I'm on with that, but a little bit of me isn't. I'm glad, because its a reminder that I'm human, that I'm victim to styles and cultures, but am committed to going my own way regardless.

Still, tomorrow I might try stand up surfing again...

sam

following beachcomber's pic, heres another snap of Sam, always stylin

a dark few days

its been a tough few days, my buddy ed left these shores, a few surf sessions tucked under his belt and many a frozen memory locked away in my mind. Good times and great waves.

It leaves me bereaved again, a strong work, but the only adjective that accurately captures the bleakness of having your longest, truest friend spend that kind of intense time with you, to be ripped asunder. He leaves a void that never gets properly filled.

To make do, I shaped myself a new board...B13, to commemorate some good times. I listened to moseley shoals, and old blues records, and the thievery corperation whilst I shaped and glassed. Its not the neatest of works, but im happy with it, its rough around the edges glassing wise, which is kind of how i felt whilst i made it. I reckon it'll go good.

not again

beautiful sunrises, every day...

earlies

they are always worth it

boyd

dave dropping a knee

STOLEN

THIEVES Are at it again...

Jon Willards stick has been stolen from possos...

Heres the pic, if you see it about, drop me a line at craigharvey74@gmail.com

Jons email is cunjimusic@gmail.com
keep em peeled people

eddie did come

Ed arrived and we surfed a few little ones at my favorite place away from the maddening crowd yesterday...small but fun, and clean to boot.
The sun is shining and the winds are good for now at least.

This morning didnt yield too much, but keen for the coastal run this morning, see what we can see.

handplaning

havent had much chance to head out for a good bodysurf recently. Last summer it seems like it got our with the flippers so much more.
Still, the summer is far from over....

nick...planing

another surfing life

I surfed in the UK for a long time, a weekend warrior, my skills neer really impriving despite what I told myself and others - but I had a nice quiver, i wish i still had those boards. recent digging through old boxes, i came across a snap of my old quiver...

I remeber each board well, from left to right:
a beachbeat - chops lacelles (chops himself) mini mal, 8ft something, quite thin, but with enough float to get me onto waves, i loved it, it was the board that made a difference.

Next up - a second skin minimal, eds stick - was manufactured under the second skin brand, more famous for custom wetsuits in the UK, the chap that runs this outfit, Andy Schollik wears a tape around his neck like a true tailor, ive had a few of his suits, Yakamoto rubber, excellent suits, too damn hot for these aussie waters but they served me well. The board was un-distinctive, and I never rode it much, but ed always flew on it! (second skin)

The log - a Gulf Stream 9'2" - 60/40 rails, pinched, a long concave, 2+1 fin set up - I never rode the nose on this, but I enjoyed surfing it, it wasnt a log, more a semi performance longboard. Gulf Stream make wonderful surfboards, and their glassing is second to none. They used to encourage you to touch their boards, not so much anymore. I was always a big fan of their stuff. Last time I was in the UK I called in, and the atmosphere seemed to have changed, maybe not, maybe my perspective has, I'm used to surf shops now, used to them being friendly to the point of intrusiveness, used to pulling up a stool and taking waves with friends and strangers alike, sharing opinion and advice and conjecture on surfboards...Gulfstream felt like a museum, austere. I tried conversation about "Saunton tail" I'm intrigued by the design, a Nuuhiva looking wide tail, but noone seems to want to chat, shame that, still, they are still doing lovely boards. (gulf stream) TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL????

And finally, the first board I owned, the worst thing I could ever have owned at time - a "mango" shortboard, 6'10" from memory. i remember buying it, well, ed bought it for me at the time I think...froma shop that now sells carpet in Braunton, at the top of the hill on the right hand side...the guy sold it to us, a pair of them, to learn on! - they seemed to have disappeared now. I couldnt comment on its function as I never caught a wave of any merit on it. They two of them blew off the roof one day as we were driving down the motorway, and we took up climbing and stopped surfing for years...one weekend, years later, we were down the coast once again, to climb maybe, maybe just to drink, and wandered into second skin, him if wetusit tailor fame, and got properly advised, bought two minimals and two suits and never turned back...
Many years later, Ed, to return the favor of my lavish spending, suggested a trip to Portugal, and it was then I met my wife, have since emigrated to Australia, taken to surfing with a studious love and passion, learnt to shape my own boards etc... so maybe the 6'10" shortboard was the best thing I ever bought....look at what it has given me?