Quality vs Quantity

Good question. It's worth considering how many weekends are spent driving fruitlessly around Victor looking for somewhere decent to surf. Assuming you can sly a few surfs in the Gulf in and around this arrangement, I reckon the Yorkes option is the better of the two.

I'll take alternating months, Mad Dog. First month surf average waves everyday, second month one good road trip, then keep rotating each month.

Your question was far too difficult to answer...

Great question on so many levels. I've never been a wave counter but I remember individual waves and surfs going back to the beginning. Quality every time. Its better for your surfing and better for your soul.

Option 2 sounds better but what are the chances you will actually score? Plenty of times theres no waves at yorkes and it sounds like it has to align on a weekend, and your missus will plan your weekends well in advance of when you can accurately predict the conditions. Go for option 1 and then if its gonna be on over there just do a sneaky!
If its for taking the young kids surfing then I think every weekend in average waves will see much more improvement than once a month in quality.

If my Mrs gave me those choices, my marriage would be in question.

fitzroy, im with you......if my mrs gave me those choices !!!! did you surf before you married your dragon ? yes you did.. you fucking softcock....kids are supposed to fit in with your lifestyle....grow some balls.

Tricky situation. I'd try and go the monthly trip to Yorkes, but I think that long away from surfing will affect your fitness greatly and it will take a session or so to get back into it.

So maybe surf every weekend at the local and when a window west looks good hit that up.

The flexibility for a surfer is the one thing that helps in scoring perfect and empty waves. Sometimes the planets align and weekend after weekend sees perfect surf for the warriors but when it doesn't, it pays to be flexible.

Don't discount the day trip to Yorkes when its on,leave the mid at 3.30 am, arrive at Salmon hole on first light and snake all the tossers asleep in their cars and get a 3 hour session before breakfast,pig out with a pie and iced coffee then hit Chinamans for the midday surf,mixed grill and rest up for the late glass off session at Pondi.Drive home tired but happy feeling like you've been away for three weeks.Used to work for me.

Great plan old-dog, love the hit and run missions!!

I can safely say I would rather surf good waves everyday, than surf perfect waves 2 days a month. At the moment I am living in Indonesia, and due to all the ridiculous amount of nonsense that goes on with my life here, I only manage to get away to the surf one weekend a month. Most of the time the waves are pumping, the waves I surf are not too crowded, and the water is warm. On average, I say I get barreled on every 3rd or 4th wave, and get at least 40 waves over each weekend. It is postcard kind of stuff. And I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to going back to living across the road from my local beach, putting on my wetsuit, surfing some ordinary beachies, occasional reefs, and rare points. At this stage in my life (26), I am pretty happy to take quantity over quality.

Most of my liding takes place on surfing holidays -- the combination of work and the low wave per hour factor in SE QLD doesn't help this. I suppose this is a more extreme version of what you have there, however I'm not sure the weekend warrior thing was really an option here, beyond what I already do.

This must be the perfect surfer's kōan.

To choose between those two? Ever been on a surf trip where the waves were so good you just didn't feel like surfing the local slop when you got back?

Happened to me once so I think I'd go for the one weekend a month option and hope the stoke from perfect waves would get me through the month.

Ever since the missus started spewing every morning and the pregnancy test kit got a big pink line on it, Option 2 become the only genuine posibility. If I was lucky enough to score a couple of free hours every now and then I hit the nearest break and surf pretty much whatever it had to offer. It worked out good for me. I started getting boards that suited the conditions and built up a nice Quiver.

It doesn't last forever. My sons are growing up and my eldest has just this year progressed to a shortboard and his brother is making it out the back on a lid.
Bonding with your kids through surfing is the most awesome thing. Right now I'm surfing more days a week than I ever have and option 1 is now fully back on the agenda.

Not quite the same scenario, but after many years as the everyday local kind of guy, I recently found myself living an hour inland, albeit with a more flexible work routine and access to a better variety of waves.

While I miss being on it everyday, and probably miss plenty of good days, I still manage to score good waves most weekends, with the odd mid-week mission thrown in.

The surf fitness suffered initially (and I had to start training to keep fit while out of the water). However I no longer seem to get those creaky knees and popping shoulders that I now put down to overuse - surfing too much.

I also find that I'm much more amped when I get into the water and more mindful of whats going on. I reckon its been good for my surfing.

Still can't wait to move back to the coast though!

Option1 Maddog. I tried it and it worked better for me. My last posting was WA and I didn't bother with the Perth beachies for a few years, instead waiting to get down south. I then knocked the Mrs up and decided to hit the 2ft Perth crowded slop every weekend before rug rat no.1 delivery. The thing is most times I'd walk away pretty unsatisfied, but I kept saying at least I got wet and was outside and every now and then I got a pleasant surprise. It also kept my surf fitness up so when I did hit the south west and a Bali jaunt twice a year, I was on top of (or at least in) my/the game.

Now, I have the same gig as dandandan. I live in land locked Jakarta (the Indo dream, yeah right). I hit the Ment's 3 months after the transfer and it took a few sessions to get back into it. I got slammed on a 8fter as a reminder to where I was, deserved BTW. It rattled me (and washed me down the reef after copping the whole fucking set on the head). It took me a few days to come right and towards the end of the trip I was out of juice.

I now have two kids under 20 months, it's a 4 hour drive to west Java (only 140km's) and a half day to Bali (allowing for Jakarta traffic & flight time). The last trip to West Java I pigged out and had a 5 hr session and could barely move the next day. I was in Bali 2 weeks ago and was sluggish in the water, surfed 2.5 hour sessions but struggled to keep up with the hassling. I train 4-5 times a week including weights, swimming and treadmill. It doesn't match actual surfing fitness - yes I know now and I will put the board in the pool to mix it up and I might have to get an instructor.

Point is, your mate might take option 2 and find he's not as good as he could be in comparison to the conditions (I know nothing about the breaks you mention). Something to think about Maddog. Must dash, the young fella has just moved onto solids and when he craps all hell breaks loose .... literally ....

i'd take quality over quantity every time. Up until my early 20's i used to go out whenever there was a chance of half-decent waves (and would still usually paddle out even if it was sheite), until finishing uni at 23 i would still rearrange commitments to check any potentially great day however during the last seven years having only the choice of crowded weekend surf, or getting up very early for a pre-work surf over late spring/summer/early autumn (knowing that i'm going to feel farked all day if there's no waves) these factors have seen bodyboarding plummet way down the priority list. 2 or 3 months between surfs is now normal for me, between each of these sessions there would be 1 or 2 surf checks where it isn't worth going out. As much as i would like to just leave my bodyboarding gear on the street free to good home and stop all the wasted sleep ins and petrol $ , there always seems to be one or two times a year where i somehow manage to get some empty barrells to myself, and this reluctantly sees the wetsuit washed and filed away for next time.