Rusty

Hello from the other side of the globe! Things have been insane down here the past couple of weeks. We have had solid swell for the past two weeks and all the points have been turning on! I have been surfing Snapper through Kirra almost everyday. Kirra is coming back and doing its thing! There are the heaviest right hand barrels that dredge from Greenmount all the way down to Kirra- where the best barrels have been... Today the waves were pretty big and stormy- too big for the Superbank to be working, but we are cracking it tomorrow morning to get some shacks!

I got some sick barrel video filming with my Go Pro out at Kirra; I made it out of some drainers! Kirra is actually breaking really heavy over shallow sand at the moment! I'll keep you posted...

Cheers From Down Under,
Hunta

Hunter Lysaught, captain of the Point Loma Nazarene Surf Team and major NSSA threat, decided to skip out on the rest of this year's season to venture off to Australia for a semester abroad on the Gold Coast. Although this was a tough decision for Hunter who, at the time of his departure, was currently sitting in 1st place for the College Mens division with a 1st and two 3rds at the first three events, the lure of Australia's perfect point breaks was too strong...

I stopped Hunter while he was grabbing a few boards at the factory the day before his departure. After we argued about the proper spelling of his last name for a few minutes, here is what he had to say:

My brother's used to call me "Huntwah" just to heckle me. I have three brothers and ever since I was growing up and surfing they gave me shit and made me tougher, but I wanted to stand out. So I kept surfing and wanted to get better, it was so addicting I just wanted to do it every day...

I am freaking amped! I leave for Australia tomorrow at 11:50am. I've got a 16 hour flight with free alcohol and five of my buddies from Point Loma Surf Team.

I've got three fresh boards for the trip... two 6'0"s and a 5'10". The 5'10" is my small wave board, it is a GTR; I have been riding that around here a lot, just the beach breaks and stuff, because it has been kind of a weak winter. It works pretty good in small, mushy surf. Then I have a 6'0" Redline, which is my standard shortboard; kind of normal days- chest to head high. Then my 6'0" thumbtail is for bigger, hollower waves- like blacks.

I am ready for South Straddy! Everyone says they don't want to do it because it is so sharky... but if I get eaten by a shark that is kind of a cool way to go! And if not, I get sick barrels on the other side!

I'll be in Australia for four months doing two major business courses and two GE courses at Bond University, but mostly, I am just going to surf.

I am going to keep surfing the NSSA events at home and I am going to try and enter a few of the Pro Juniors in Australia. Oakley is sponsoring a few events - so I will try and do those ones for sure. Some more Pro Juniors when I get home and maybe the U.S. Open this summer. Eventually, I would like to take a crack at the WQS...

Although, Hunter was looking like a sure thing for claiming the NSSA College Mens Championship if he stayed and he would miss the State Championships, he boarded the plane to Australia with no regrets...

Text By: Brody