This is my picture of my local break. Nanarup. I have had a long relationship with it. When I was a child my original family, which was a sort of family then, used to go there for picnics. I remember my mother mentioning Nanarup, and I would get excited because I thought we were going to 'ring Nanna up'. There is a natural lagoon at the end of the point almost completely enclosed by granite and limestone (to the right of this cliff). It is a safe swimming pool in any storm and is where we would picnic.
The advertising hype only gives the break a 2 out of 5 rating, says it is 'in far south Australia' and describes it thus: 'an exposed beach break...waves that break both left and right....can get quite busy when the surf is up....watch out for dangerous rips'. Although it should be a point break, it is rarely surfed, and then only when it is big - which rules me out.
I learnt to surf at Nanarup. After 8 years I know its moods well. I almost trust it, but have seen its dark side and always remain wary. This is where I had to stay leashed to my board and go back in the water (after bailing myself on worsening conditions) on a really savage day, to haul Robin onto the reef. The rip had become insane along the reef and he was stuck in a hole and couldn't get in. If he and I had been pulled out alongside the reef I don't know how we would have got back in. The waves had become so big and would have smashed us into the sand. I had never seen an undertow like this. This was in the early days, we weren't too fit and shouldn't have been in anyway, but were just naive.
Yesterday I was there again (not this pic but this is where we surf), in the clear green water, sun shining. The waves weren't great, a lot of sand in close creating some shallow banks and the usual head high close-outs, but in between, a couple of nice ones on the inside on Robin's fish.
Every time I go there lately, I am aware that soon it won't be my local break because we are moving to Denmark. It has given me a new appreciation of Nanarup. I am so sad that when we move 50 km west, it will be a 75 km hike east to my favourite break, which means I will probably never get there.
Ode to Nanarup: My Local Break
