Swellnet rated today as 10 out of 10. I've never seen the rating so high so I thought I'd go out to the top secret spot in Portsea with Lisa to have a romantic walk with her and some lunch. She walked and I surfed. After her walk she was bored and took some snaps and then we had a terrific lunch in Sorrento. I think it's been three months since I've had Pizza. Autumn has been so so kind to us Victorians.

It was a work day for me, when I woke up I felt a flu coming on and wrote a note. Then I clicked on the swellnet site and thought to myself no more churn and burn, I'm only going to live once on this planet and the strangest thing happened - just like magic I felt much better and struck upon a fantastic idea.

Yeah, that's me, Lisa snapped them from the car park. I took the DC 9'4 out again and while I'm not a big fan of it, I want to get to know it better before I write her off. Honestly, I don't really understand all the 'who ha' about going shorter. Yeah sure it's easier to carry up them stairs at the end of the session, but I'm so much more comfortable on my 10'6 Stonker and reckon I get a better ride off that babe. I really enjoy being able to chase down the wave and get in early on it.

The 9'4 is so much more of a learning curve - I guess that's the appeal and the challenge for me at the moment. And the fact that my Stonker is out of action due to a damaged leash plug.

Your a legend Ollie

Hey Oliver

You might want to knock a couple of inches off your paddle. I feel more stable and powerful going for waves in a quite low surf stance. On a big board you can use long power strokes and momentum to catch waves. On a short board it's better to have a few powerful strokes at the right time and getting down and digging in feels better to me.