So Ya Think U CAN BodySurf

Yea I Thought I COULD Spin along a wave with a fair bit of style and grace, and wouldn't ya know it just when I started thinking I was pretty good these pictures popped up.

A POD of ORCA dropped in on a group of local surfers and took over the break - Northland -New Zealand - Spring 2010

Typhoon Chaba #15 2010 Report

Picture is small but this wave is double over head (at least) - Wakayama (Nanki) got very nice typhoon swell from Chaba.

Tokyo Bay (Shonan) and Chiba did not get any swell from this event. 99% of Tokyo surfers that ventured out to hunt surf went to Shonan as the typhoon hit on Saturday & were totally skunked, waves were waist to chest high. For those that stayed around 30 minutes before dark they popped up overhead.
Surfline and Buoy Weather predicted the swell to come from 217º + - 10º. Which was pretty accurate as the map shows the swell was heading NE at 230º. At this angle Tokyo Bay is completely shadowed by IZU and Mera / Heisaura are 100% shadowed by Ogasawara island.  Sean Collins the head forecaster at Surfline says that swells of medium period (10 - 14 seconds) have little propensity to bend around islands and underwater bathymetry.

As shown by the surf in Wakayama there were plenty of waves around for those exposed reefs and beaches.

Points:
1. Chaba started losing strength from Thursday 28th in the morning and sped up.
2. Chaba's winds were only driving swell at an angle to get into Tokyo for 18 hours on the 27th all the rest of it was angled to hit Izu and or ogasawara  island.

Summary: For a big typhoon this turned into a non-event for Tokyo area surfers. Southern Japan seems to have gotten it good and Ibaraki will get nice back kicked swell as it passes.

Typhoon Warning from NHK Surfing Japan

高い海面水温　台風に警戒

暴風や大雨をもたらす台風。熱帯地方で発生する低気圧の中で、最大風速が毎秒１７．２メートル以上になったものを台風と言います。台風のエネルギーは熱い海からの水蒸気。記録的な猛暑となったこの夏、８月の日本周辺の海面水温も過去２５年間で最も高くなっていたことがわかりました。海面水温が平年よりも高い状態はしばらく続く見込みで、気象庁は「台風が接近した場合は勢力が衰えにくい」と話しています。台風への警戒は怠らずに。

Google translation is an interesting read - - - - -  -

High sea surface temperature typhoon alert

Storms and typhoons bring heavy rain. In tropical cyclones occur per second is called a typhoon wind speed of 17.2 meters was something. Typhoon energy hot water vapor from the sea. Record heat wave this summer and found that it had been the highest in the past 25 years, sea surface temperatures around Japan in August. Higher than the state average sea surface temperature is expected to continue for some time, the weather bureau, "it is difficult if the typhoon influence wane," we said. Carefully to the typhoon warning.


translation:
Typhoons are storms with winds above 17.2 meters / second 
There was a record Hot summer this year and the seas around Japan are super heated. 
Typhoons draw the energy from hot seas
be warned the storms are expected to be bigger than normal this year.

Surfing, Summer, Tokyo, Japan, ladies

The girls have been out in force around the Tokyo region this summer riding every type of craft imaginable and loving it and competing for waves - Oh Yea, bring it on girl power!!!!!

Japan Surf, Ibaraki Surfing, 2010 Pictures Video Link

http://s86.photobucket.com/albums/k91/macaholic_2001/?action=view&current=Ibaz_no_web.flv

A interesting clip of Surf in Ibaraki  - April 2009

Hazaki Beach Mid Summer 2010

Kawajiri in Ibaraki, winter 2010

Hurricane Earl, South Carolina, Surfing Pictures, Beach Break Barrels

Ron sent me these pictures of his sessions with Mr Earl - and damm they look good - he has a blog which is a good read, an eclectic mix of surf and trips and kids and trivia. http://wtofadreamer.tumblr.com The Wandering Thoughts of a Day Dreamer.




We spent a few years chasing typhoons up and down the East Coast of Japan and now he's switched to chasing Hurricanes

Summer Blues, Surf, Autum, Typhoons, Storms, Japan

This is the East coast of America , about to get slammed by Hurricane Earl - Oh Yea 

The Summer of 2010 will be remembered as a season when the hot got hotter, 100 year record for the hottest year - - Ahhhhhh!! 


And I reckon a record for the Lack of swells hitting the land of the rising sun. Blame El Nino, Blame global warming  --- what ever !! the patterns are all over the place. 

At least we don't have tar balls in Panhandle lineups.                                                                      

 So now our attention turns to Autum  and   if an epic autumn arrives at the cost of a less salubrious summer, it's a fair trade. And a fair wait.

Pic ripped from Surfline

Surf to hit Chiba Tuesday 7th Sept

Sept 9th Follow - up

The swell did hit on Tuesday into Shonan and at the bottom of Chiba, wind wasnt perfect but 1000's got out and enjoyed more size than has been around for most of summer - 

wish I hadn't been at the office.........

Typhoon Kompasu

Typhoon Kompasu was located about 245 miles southeast of Okinawa early Tuesday morning with winds topping out at 75-90 knots. The system has slowed down a little and was moving towards the northwest at about 7 knots early Tuesday and the typhoon is expected to gain some more strength throughout Tuesday and is modeled to put a direct hit on the Okinawa region late Tuesday and into Wednesday with maximum winds of over 100 knots around the eye. Double to triple overhead plus storm surf will be expected with storm surf possibly double those sizes. The S/SE facing breaks up along the Kagoshima region will start to pick up later Tuesday morning and into the afternoon/evening with some head high plus surf and much larger overhead SE swell will develop late Tuesday and into Wednesday and then much smaller but still ridable short period SE swell should settle in for that area for early Thursday. Not much size is expected for later in the week for Southern Japan and the East coast will continue to see very weak conditions for the entire week with a weak fetch expected towards the east but it does not appear to be a significant wave maker. 

Mera, Reef Break, Chiba, Japan, Surf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T57oUQlaAe8&feature=related

Check this video out - one of Japans very Fickle Reef Breaks, Its a Left hander that breaks over sharp reef and into a sea wall. When its big the paddle out is from inside the nearby fishing port.
Holds big surf in the 3 x overhead range.

Needs a SSW swell and north winds, only breaks a couple of times a year.

Typhoons 6 & 7, Surfing Japan summer swells coming



Monday 30th August

Typhoon # 6 is now heading directly over  Taiwan, here's hoping that the windward side of it is going to drive swell straight up towards the Chiba region. Yesterday I asked Hughy for some help and it seems to have worked as the typhoon has changed direction from yesterday mornings track - If we're even more lucky it will swing further out and track up the eastern side of the island and if it does start planning those sick day. 

---

Comment:
Tyohoon #7 has just formed south of Kyushu - at this stage it looks like it will head towards Okinawa and the South China Sea so I'll start talking to Hughy again and see if he can combine it with #6 and send it out on a NE heading over the Pacific.

Remember go to your favorite breaks page to check out the Live webcam or photos we are always finding new ones.

Typhoons on the way (surf IN Japan

Typhoon # 6 has formed just south of Taiwan, it looks like it will track up the inside of the island and the swell fromit will be blocked from most of Japan - But fingers crossed - If we're lucky it will change direction and track up the eastern side of the island and if it does start planning those sick day. 

---

Comment: Well the low that formed off the top of the Philippines did head north over Okinawa and up the Western side of Kyushu. They are getting decent swell now and the breaks on the Western side of the island are all well over head high. 

I was tempted to Jump in the car and take advantage of the ¥1,000 weekend toll rates to chase a surf down there over the weekend.

Instead I'm at the family home watching from afar and talking to surfers down there as they get out of the water and call to gloat. Oh well the weather pattern looks to be changing favorably and I'm hoping for some decent surf action in the near future. 

Surfinginjapan.com is a source of information for your trips to the coast - if it is not on the attached pages it will be in process, keep checking back to see new stuff being added daily. and if you have a particular question email me and I'll try and hook you up or sort you out.

Aloha

Body Surf sandy beach Chiba Japan

4th Element bodysurfing hand ski visits the Ginza Apple store

Aug 21 & 22 Saturday and Sunday at Katagai (just north of Ichinomiya) in Chiba on the pacific coast of Japan.
The Easterly swell had dropped so all of the office worker ant surfers were out of luck. Well not really the average Japanese surfer is little bigger than a feather weight boxer and can stand on a surfboard in waves even only knee height.
I stand out, not only because of my blue eyes but because I'm at least a head taller than most. Good and bad points for sure and todays bad points were surfing a short board was sure to be a game of frustration and I didn't have a long board.

Dust off the swim fins and the home made hand ski for body boarding and suddenly my perspective on the world and small wave surfing gets turned on its head, and dumped into the sand bars.
The combination generated speed to catch the waves and speed along the face of the waves, soo much fun !!!
I think I'll body surf every time the waves are small, a massive advantage over everyone in terms of catching the waves and pulling into barrels is just as much fun as on a board and the thrill of getting out of the barrels is the same.
A fantastic option to have.

Hand ski in a Japanese Surf magazine

Summer Doldrums

Every year surfers in Japan pray and hope for a early start to the typhoon season - read May - that carries through the summer months into Autumn.
This year has been bleak, very few swells and no significant typhoons - good beach BBQ and pool hang out time.
Sounds like the California coast has been the same, while NZ has been hammered by storm after storm and its been too big to surf a lot of the time.
Indo is the place to be, as always at this time of year, better go book my tickets....

wednesday August 18th 2010

Surfing In Japan

Make sure you come and visit the main site at www.surfinginjapan.com. See you there.