DECEMBER 2010 PHOTO ARCHIVE

Below is our archive of daily wave report photos from December 2010.

December continued the run of good surf and offshore winds that started in Autumn, the water was still warm and it wasn't until right at the end that it was necessary to get into boots in central Chiba and while North Chiba and Ibaraki were colder it still was warm compared to normal. Some guys reckon the HOT HOT summer delayed everything and the Kuroshio current just stayed off shore keeping the water warm. Good sized storms dumped snow on Hokkaido and then kinda stalled off the coast of Hokkaido sending long NE swells down the coast to Ibaraki and Chiba, Sorry Shonan skunked for another month.

Memorable trips: December was the month to charge Ibaraki, all the most memerable sessions were up there.

1. Hazaki at the bottom of Ibaraki, real size and a long distance swell with strong offshores. Lots of duck diving and wave selection was critical to get in and out and not get too pounded inside - beautiful only a couple of others in the water - anywhere else in the world would have been packed. After noon session drove to a more popular spot and after 30 minutes being polite and watching put the head down and paddled into every set wave - EPIC session double overhead and long exciting faces (no Barrels) -----

2. Toyama, Fukushima, A long way but wort the drive - surprised to have a Japanese guy paddle up and say "the waves are better down there" - in other words you're not welcome - Oh Yea game on, beautiful waves all session. Found out later the beach is famous for aggressive locals - (for Japan, nothing compared to Oz or Cal or Hawaii) so surf well and don’t drop in and no problems.

3. Kujigawa (red bridge) (Kusoshita) Central Ibaraki - going off beautiful barrels

4. Todai - Central Ibaraki - big right handers and nice lefts

Biggest Wave Ridden: 3 x overhead, offshore right hander at Todai.....