Point Impossible

We arrived at the Surfcoast, Victoria at 12:30PM and promptly went to Torquay Beach to see what the surf was doing but unfortunately it wasn't doing much, as the tide was at its highest and any swell around was pretty small. A quick trip to Bells Beach confirmed that nothing much was happening there either and that the day's heats had been called off until the morrow. So, to fill in the remaining part of the day we headed in an easterly direction towards Ocean Grove to pick up a long awaited for, surf sticker "The Green Room". Along the way we had a quick look a few spots that might be working for an early dawn patrol the next morning and one spot in particular showed a lot of promise and that was Point Impossible.

We arrived there about 30 minutes before the sun was up to find it near perfect with 4 guys out there already scratching around in the dark. Incidentally, the last time I surfed there was in 1970 and those blokes wouldn't have been out there in the dark if it was anywhere near the size it was then

When Point Impossible is small it's a perfect long board wave with a beautiful peak that rises over a shelf type reef (no hidden jaggardies) and runs right for about 100 metres or so (depending on the tide). At the end of this 100 metre ride another peak pops up in front of you and sometimes you can make it through when the swell is a foot or so bigger making it 150 metre ride or even longer. Given that extra height in the swell, with a low tide this would be an ideal short board wave as well, unfortunately I believe that this spot could get extremely crowded.

Over to the right of this break and a further 300 metres out is another reef break that is also a right. I considered paddling out to but was glad I didn't as one of the blokes I talked to who did said it was far too windy out there and it wasn't worth it. Strange as it looked so good from the shore and slightly bigger. The water was surprisingly warm and the only need for the wetsuit was to keep the chilly offshores out of the bones. I'm sorry to say that the girl didn't have a real good session but to my surprise came out of the water in a reasonable mood and I daresay she learnt something from surfing a different break.

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Photographs by Ron & Sibylle Martens