Whether it’s good or not doesn’t matter I’m put back into my body again. I always feel like that until I get my first wave. By the time I pull up in the top car park it feels like my stomach has been scooped out. It’s a relief to know I’ll be in the water soon. When guys at the break ask me what I do, what they’re really asking is, how is it you can surf mid-morning on a weekday? How are you making it work? That’s the big question in surfing: how do you work less and surf more?Īs I drive past Car Plus all the flags out front are being blown by a northerly, which is good because the break loves anything from the north and gets nasty in a southerly. On weekdays people surf the break in shifts: the dawn service, the mid-morning slackers, the lunch-hour rush, the after-school grommet fest and the just-got-off-work party.

They’re more relaxed about things, not jamming waves in. Instead, I’ll join the old boys, students and shift workers who have rearranged their lives to better suit their surfing. Getting there after nine means I’ll miss the pre-work crew. I’d meant to surf early, but maybe it’s not such a bad thing. I’m heading down to the break, feeling antsy because I slept in. Swell size 1–1.5 metres – Swell direction EĬertainly some surfable waves around today …įriday morning. Thanks also to Bernard Zuel and the Sydney Morning Herald for permission to quote his work on pp. Thanks to Coastalwatch (for permission to use their name and forecasts in this book. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. The moral right of the author has been asserted.Īll rights reserved. Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL, Englandįirst published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2009 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)ġ1 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, IndiaĦ7 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New ZealandĢ4 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)ģ75 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USAĩ0 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Canada ON M4P 2Y3 Kirsty is married with two daughters and lives on Sydney’s northern beaches.Ģ50 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia She travelled around Australia in a four-wheel drive, worked as a cook and personal trainer, and began writing fiction.

After studying economics, she worked on trading desks in Sydney and London before changing careers, wanting a life where she could surf every day. Kirsty Eagar grew up on a cattle property in central Queensland.

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar