Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Oct 31, 2011, 12:48 am
Lately I've found myself reflecting on what it was like to be 16, using 1970 as my yard stick with the combination of innocence, fear, and wonder that went with it. The Vietnam War was in full swing, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin had just been there and done that, big time, being o...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Oct 24, 2011, 1:43 am
A nip down on a sunny day, trying to outwit the crowds and get the light onshore after the glassy morning as an odd surprise new swell drifted into nooks and crannies across Vicco. Sadly up there for thinking was too smart for its own good and what I got on arrival at the beach was a fair handful of...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Oct 17, 2011, 2:55 am
Once more with feeling perhaps as it seems as though the show might again be on the road. Those that follow this meander know the story of Musica Surfica. Changed my life, turning it both into a joy and a train wreck depending on what side of the bed I get up in the morning.  The sometime surf fil...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Oct 7, 2011, 8:12 pm
When I made (with a fair bit of help) Musica Surfica back in 2007 I reconnected with Maurice Cole, relatively fresh back to Victoria after years of wild success and some adventure in France and Western Australia. I'd known him pretty well since about 1972 but we've now become great friends and to wa...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Oct 7, 2011, 2:39 am
Parenthood, whatever your age, is not an easy gig. Being a teenager, and sixteen at that, can be a much darker place, when what it should be is full of hope and discovery. Scribbled after a drive back from wherever, being tired brings things out as you sit and watch miles fly by. Good, bad or indiff...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Oct 6, 2011, 3:05 am
Over the last couple of days a mate from north of the border has been on a bit of a road trip to Mexico (as the New South Welshmen like to call Victoria) and although he chose to pick a less than optimum time for swell he did choose to go to the best possible spot when it comes to picking any up and...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Sep 24, 2011, 9:31 am
I was a bad boy today. Needed to get out of town and have a surf after a week chained to a monitor.. I hate it sometimes. Anyway I had a spot in mind with the wind the way it was and a swell that was big enough this place is one of the few that can manage a near devil breeze and seem vaguely offshor...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Sep 21, 2011, 2:39 am
Checking my email yesterday, and blow me down if another Ed turns up and asks me if this is me.  Attached was a shot from another angle of that wave from a few weeks back, and he had a sequence. I have to admit to being a little stoked as there was a shot in there of the wave as it started to throw...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Sep 17, 2011, 10:02 pm
For some reason I feel a little embarrassed about that last post. It was a lucky shot. Mind you I was stoked, so perhaps it's not so bad. Yesterday a fun little surf at a wedgy peak I like to go to, that is often inhabited by a tight pack of regulars who play the block the old guy game. For the firs...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Sep 15, 2011, 5:06 am
A  little while back now this wonderful coast was blessed a cracker swell, one of the best in years, massive period and pretty solid. A glorious day in a wild and woolly way, and, as luck would have it, the last in a long window where photographer Ed Sloane could get a snap of me on a wave where I...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Sep 6, 2011, 1:07 am
Things have been decidedly dodgy on the surf front recently, so with a rising workload I took the opportunity to do some photography for a design job I'm doing. The subject of the work is a company owned by a born and raised boy from our Mornington Peninsula, a wave haven sometimes called the Hoax...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Sep 2, 2011, 1:24 am
Film is becoming a rare beast these days, so when Tim Ryan contacted me (God know why) to display his wares, I was intrigued. This little piece gives gentle drama to the modern process of surfboard creation. Man and machine, perhaps a little at odds with the old school, but definitely serving t...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Aug 29, 2011, 2:46 am
The coast was smiling yesterday. A groomed 4-6ft plus swell, consistent, warm, offshore. If I was french I'd be going ooh la la. On days like this though you can sometimes end up a bit frustrated. So many waves, which to choose, where to go out? On top of that the lucky boys of the Torquay...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Aug 25, 2011, 4:01 am
We finally saw my dear old Dad off this week. A cracker funeral, if such a word really should apply, plenty of tears, a fair few laughs, and to paraphrase Led Zeppelin, a whole lotta love. As the new family elder (yikes), the eulogy fell to me, I made it, falteringly at times, through the ...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Aug 15, 2011, 9:43 am
Sometimes the sands align, and parts of our coast just love it when the winds dawdle and the swells fluke about, sneaking in from the rare east, nudging and tweaking in a delightful dance with rock and rip. When that happens and the swell swings back to the south west, but doesn't get too big, ...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Aug 8, 2011, 9:47 am
After a big, very emotional week and the prospect of an empty house all weekend, what with my little family scattered to the winds, Sue still away on a long deserved chance to catch up with friends overseas, Tom in LA causing mayhem I hope (not) and Joey up the snow after saving all year, well... Ol...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Aug 1, 2011, 1:11 am
At the beginning of the year I was up in Queensland, a Christmas spent as an extended bedside vigil as my Dear Old Dad clung to life, his beady eye occasionally fixed on we, the gathered family, as if to say, "I'm not going anywhere just yet." This morning that anywhere was where he went, as we fina...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Jul 18, 2011, 11:57 pm
Last week Melbourne held its rarer than the Olympics Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. Some of the best classical musicians from around the world in ten odd days of high end arts that was punctuated by a day of film and discussion at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne. Bringing up the...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Jul 11, 2011, 1:10 am
All sorts of action in my world this weekend... A huge weather system has sent the south and east coasts into overdrive, generating some pretty unusual media hype and a lot of spectator attendance at the better known surfspots. Swell hitting 50ft or more in exposed locations, with unknown bombies br...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Jul 7, 2011, 3:31 am
There is a fair amount of swell action on the eastern and southern coasts of Australia at the moment. Conveniently a couple of meetings on the coast allowed a belt at Winki yesterday. I say belt guardedly, as, when you combine age, board length, crowd (more than pictured by orders of magnitude) and ...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Jul 4, 2011, 12:53 am
I do a lot of sitting waiting for things to happen. Send emails out to space waiting for something to come back. Sometimes an idea might pop into the head and I run with it, or watch a render bar snail its way across a screen, the tap of finger on desk beating a rhythm out, frustration music you mig...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Jun 28, 2011, 4:00 am
A late update on the weekend past, sporadically wave filled and otherwise a recovery from a fair bit of travel. Using a work related visit to near the waves I managed to slyly slide into a few blue walls on Friday, and repeated the same on Saturday as the empty house beckoned me to abandon it to win...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Jun 17, 2011, 2:40 am
I sometimes regret saying what a week that was. Having dropped young Tom off at the airport not expecting to see him for weeks, I get a call last Wednesday week from Richard Tognetti, over in California at the Ojai Music Festival. Get over here Mick, it's bigger than Ben Hur and you should be here t...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Jun 6, 2011, 3:42 am
What a weekend. If you've ever read this blog before you'll be aware of my depilatory (as in I lose hair over him) younger son, Hell Boy, The Devil Incarnate, Skate Demon, my darling Tommy. Over the past weeks we've been debating an offer we've had and this Saturday he flew off to LA to spend a coup...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - May 30, 2011, 2:07 am
A fair amount of swell this weekend. Not unusual around now, but swell without any wind is a rare beast and on both Saturday and Sunday you'd be hard pressed to blow out a birthday cake on the headlands of Victoria. Lucky me had a leave pass both days, as the ratbags had 'commitments' and the ador...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - May 23, 2011, 4:11 am
A pretty magic kind of afternoon yesterday. I managed a window of a few hours, the swell finally picking up a little and so a later run down to offshores and the yen to give the amended finless another run. This time around with very nice 3 foot waves and an atmospheric afternoon the board and more ...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - May 17, 2011, 3:54 am
I'm not in a philosophising mood so I'll keep it brief. Yesterday I had was one of those once every couple of months visits from my Musical Pals from Sydney. It is always a great chance for a catch up, we have a project to work on, and the surfing is generally alternative. Luck being on our side thi...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - May 9, 2011, 3:45 am
Dim prospects can sometimes delight. Or from poor circumstances gems come flying into our laps. With Mother's Day coming there was no way I was going to absent myself from home on Sunday, though my weather eye did notice it was going to be pretty average anyway unless a dawn session was possible. (F...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - May 6, 2011, 2:37 am
Now I know you know my errant son gives me great cause for grief, and we wonder what will become of him, much as we love the little wretch. He gets his major jollies from skating, board and blade, with the blades usually getting the nod, though as I've said time and again, I wish he'd come surfing m...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - May 4, 2011, 12:53 am
Surfing being what it is, bad can follow good and frustration is often the bedfellow of delight. Last Sunday, with a swell report of a rise in the afternoon, I lazy day'd it, relaxed, had a coffee and chat, then made a run with an anxious eye on a distant but dark horizon. The rain started on the ro...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Apr 25, 2011, 10:12 pm
Zigging when you'd expect to be zagging sometimes pay off. Over the four or so days of this Easter break, venturing to the odd spot instead of the most popular spot paid off with high quality waves with virtually no one in the water three times out of five go outs. Last Thursday, after getting all t...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Apr 15, 2011, 8:19 am
Almost Easter and almost a quarter of the way through what is already an incredible year albeit for mostly the wrong reasons. Those of an apocalyptic bent will find rich seams to mine or mind bend as they ponder the fateful portents of the past few months, while the rest of us might at best wonder a...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Apr 5, 2011, 10:33 pm
A very mixed couple of weeks, with little time or inclination to do much writing. The Clean Ocean Festival came and went, numbers were more than a little down because of an unfortunate but unavoidable clash with The Melbourne Grand Prix, and the opening game of the Footy (Australian Rules Football) ...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Mar 23, 2011, 3:10 am
Sometimes you have to take a deep breath, a step aside, a moment to collect yourself. My little board building exercise filled the spot last week, and this past weekend as my own little Demon wreaked a little more havoc on life I was forced to drag out the wooden board and set about refining some li...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Mar 17, 2011, 3:03 am
With all the tragedy happening around us, I reserved posting on a very fun weekend of taking a break from reality to join a wooden board building workshop run by Rich Blundell from Tree to Sea, at the home of local wooden board builder and host Rob Ivers. Two long days and a very steep learning curv...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Mar 15, 2011, 2:51 am
I'm due for a blog post but in truth, like many, I've been in shock over the recent events in Japan. Being exposed to the End of Days images saturating the media, the disaster flick retina burning intensity is something all of us may have sought out at the movies at one time or another without ever ...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Mar 1, 2011, 11:02 pm
It was my birthday yesterday. As a present, but entirely unintentional in the birthday department, I received a little parcel in the mail the day before. Late last week I'd had an extended conversation with Andrew Kidman about a project I'm doing (no, not a film...yet). We digressed to surfing, as i...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Feb 28, 2011, 12:31 am
Saturday, with a small pause in the ongoing bedlam I did manage a few moments in the sun of a pretty glorious late summer day. A semi glassy 2-3 foot swell pulsed quietly, the odd long wall giving me what I needed to play with the hull and glide some worries away for those moments at least. The crow...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Feb 24, 2011, 11:59 pm
Fatherhood is a mixed blessing. Teetering on the edge of sanity, with the word 'well I didn't ask to be born' ringing in my ears like bad tinnitus, I'm forced to resort to a ride report on the hull, 'cos anything else will have me necking myself. Last Sunday the green sled got a run. In cleanish 3ft...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Feb 18, 2011, 1:48 am
Nearly two weeks is a long time between drinks on my little window, but to be quite frank I've had some distractions. A few ructions in the family that have been achingly draining, work busy (good), surf crap (bad) and general distraction has kept me away. And, as a site citing life, art and sur...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Jan 28, 2011, 11:31 pm
As I continue to write of my Dear Old Dad's progress and his Lazarus like revivals I've had the odd contact come through from fellow travelers in life, the sea and the ether, just to say hi, I hear you, I've been there or are there myself. Patch dropped by the other day, and just last week a new voi...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Jan 16, 2011, 10:52 pm
Back in Melbourne. Finally and with great difficulty, both emotional and physical, I left Brisbane on Saturday morning for the big drive south. All roads out of the city were blocked for days, but a window appeared and I had to take it as I needed to return for work. There were amazing sights as I p...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Jan 13, 2011, 10:06 pm
Someone recently described the situation here in Queensland as 'Biblical'. Though not a religious type I'd have to say "amen' to that. An area way bigger than Texas is under flood and having seen yesterday the Brisbane River at its peak the concept of a tsunami hitting the towns in the city hinter...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Jan 6, 2011, 6:05 pm
I read somewhere that simply to be alive is like winning the biggest lottery in the universe. Of course if the math is done the likelihood of life out there seems to be quite high, but still, with the scale of all about us, to have your particular little packet of atoms come into being, and for a ha...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Dec 31, 2010, 4:15 am
Now at the end of 2010 and for my family near the end of one of our live's great chapters. Those that follow this blog will know my Dear Old Dad is struggling, so much so that about three days ago we were all summoned to the bedside. A darker mirror of just a couple of days before, we filed into a t...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Dec 25, 2010, 7:34 pm
What a couple of weeks it's been. As with 'most everybody, the Holiday season is both a time of joy and stress, demands of family, friends and work making it a roller coaster of love and life. For our 'mob'... a particularly special year, as we all headed north to Brisbane to celebrate both a Christ...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Dec 12, 2010, 11:42 pm
Two posts in a day. This can only mean I stumbled on something worth sharing. Via a variety of sources I encountered this, what you might call a snuff movie, from Tasmanian hell man Marti Paradisis, who's quite well known for his Shipstern Bluff exploits. This bit of lunacy puts paid to earlier yout...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Dec 12, 2010, 8:21 pm
After lurching into politics over the last week or so in an attempt to bog up the blog, it comes as a very pleasant change to be able to report a surf. Saturday finally had a lately rare combination of swell and offshore that coincided with a shoulder that threatened to hold together. I decided to m...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Dec 7, 2010, 9:57 pm
The other day, the bad day, I let loose on my nostalgia for a simpler life. While I don't resile from that, I do need to step back on what may have come across as a bagging of Wikileaks. Of course we could know less, in a head in the sand sort of way, but the right of freedom of the press is what ma...
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Mick S. posted an article on Safe to Sea - Dec 4, 2010, 4:54 pm
After building an alaia late last year I entered the water with much hope that a new dawn was about to break for me. Unfortunately the choice of five foot Bells as a first go out meant that the only thing that broke was a Bell's lip, on the back of my head. More than once to be quite honest. They ar...
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