After a cold, inconsistent October and a virtually flat, hot November, Spring 2009 went out with a bang on the fickle Mid Coast. An 8 week flat spell came to an abrupt end last Saturday, as gale force Westerly winds whipped up the normally lazy waters of St. Vincent’s gulf. The day started out a good size, but with onshore gusts over 30 knots even the kite crew were conspicuous in their absence. As the day wore on the stormy conditions just got bigger and bigger, and Adelaide’s worst kept secret spot, Myponga, was predictably chokkers most of the day. The heavy conditions and razor sharp jump off claimed its fair share of casualties, bruising plenty of bodies and battering even more boards.

The big swell and storm surge managed to push a fair way up the gulf, delivering rare head-high surf to metro beaches from Brighton to Grange, and 10,000 fresh coconuts to Henley. Glen Duncan, semi-retired Nasty surfboards proprietor was out among the handful of keen locals bobbing around off the end of the Henley jetty, and photog Robert Rath managed to snap off his last wave of the session. Robert is an accomplished underwater photographer with impressive portfolio spanning several years, largely shot in South Australian waters. By his own admission he’s not a surf photographer, but reckons it was “fun to try something different” on a day when diving was out of the question. We think you’d agree - the water based images give a rarely seen perspective of an Adelaide Metro beach stormy.

Check out more of Robert’s fantastic underwater gallery at http://robertrath.com

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