Saturday brought gales above 40 knots, a swell of 4-6 metres, spindrift from the top of waves, and repeated rain squalls pushing through. Over the past few weeks we have seen not just inches, but feet of rain, with protracted stormy weather.

The white caps in stormy seas are often likened to whites horses, or depicted as a battle in which waves pound land and erode shorelines. At Bass Point, waves move in three directions in a big swell, and from this confusion the surf seems to dance with the wind, rising in a pirouette, advancing like a chorus line, or leaping upwards in solo flight, in this ballet of the elements.

Dancing

Pirouette

Flight

Chorus lines

Pas de mare

Taken using Toyo-View 45CF with Nikkor-W 180mm and Tiffen Y12 filter, on Kodak TMax 400 (first photo only) and Fomopan 100, and developed in a mix of Xtol(1:2)+Adonal(1:200).