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Harry Shields

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This Spring, I'm taking part in the FightMND Challenge 27.

Heyo!

From 1 September – 27 September, we’ll be taking on a huge challenge to raise awareness and funds for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in memory of our incredible dad, Tosh, who sadly passed away in 2022 from MND. We’re determined to honour his legacy by making a difference in the fight against this devastating disease.


To pay tribute to him, I'll be going for 27 Surfs in 27 Days


Before Tosh passed away, he shared a piece of advice that we’ll always carry with us: “No matter what life throws at you, always find time to enjoy a beer in the sun.” This simple reminder to savour the good moments, even when times are tough, is something we think about every day. It’s that same spirit of resilience and joy that we’re bringing into this challenge.

Each of us has chosen a challenge that reflects the strength, determination, and love Tosh showed throughout his life, especially during his battle with MND. Our goal is to raise as much as we can to support research, provide care, and work towards a future without MND.

Your support means the world to us. Every donation, no matter how small, will help us honour Tosh’s memory and bring hope to those affected by MND. Thank you for helping us make a difference, and remembering to enjoy a beer in the sun—just like Tosh would have wanted.

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My Updates

Surf 27 - Fin.

Friday 27th Sep
The final surf had to be in some good waves, so I headed back to URBN Surf wave pool to score perfect waves. I'm so stoked to have completed the challenge I originally set myself and proud of all the donations we received. Looking back on the 27 days, I only surfed one session with my friends in the line up, which is the complete opposite to when I usually go out. This gave me a lot of time to reflect on why I was doing the challenge and gave me time to think more critically about a hobby I enjoy so much. I'm really looking forward to working on all aspects of my surfing and improving my technique step by step after a deserved rest. Challenge27 has been a great success all around!! Yiewwwwwwww!

Surf 26

Friday 27th Sep
This session was all about shories - waves that break in the shallow water along the shore. It's a good opportunity to practice popping up quickly, and having as much fun in average conditions. Lots of Groms in the water just sending it straight onto sand and having a laugh. As the conditions continue to deteriorate and poor weather is forecasted, I'm planning to finish the challenge on a high note...

Surf 25

Friday 27th Sep
The conditions were a playful waist-high - the forecast led me to believe more powerful waves were on the way, due to the 17 second swell period that had arrived the day before. Pictured is what I take with me on every surf: a surfboard, surf bucket for wet things (wetsuit, surf changing towel/poncho, surf cap/hat/hood) and my tackle box filled with wax, zinc, sunscreen, fin key and ding repair kit

Surf 24

Tuesday 24th Sep
Finally got to take out one of the most fun boards in my collection, the foamy. This soft board is only 5'6 but packs a lot of volume and is great when you just want to send it on average waves. I waited for the 17second long swell period to arrive to get the best of the average waves today. The foamy was the perfect choice for the kind of surf that was on offer - some small waves mixed in with some big bomb sets. If you're on the foamy it's an almost guaranteed fun time!

Surf 23

Tuesday 24th Sep
The swell dropped off a bit overnight and so did the crowd! Even though not all the usual banks (deposits of sand where the wave breaks) were working, because there were less people there were still empty breaks where you could get waves to yourself. Took out a lot of volume to have a cruisy morning session. I also did some long awaiting board repairs when I got home using some UV solar cure poly resin - this is a resin that you can fill cracks/dings on the board with which hardens within 5minutes of being put in the sun

Surf 22

Tuesday 24th Sep
The waves were shoulder high walls that stayed up long enough to get multiple turns in when caught. I'm really trying to focus in on improving my technique for all aspects of surfing, specifically: stance/posture, hand and arm positioning, bottom turns, top turns and weight distribution during turns. I reviewed some footage of myself surfing and while eye-opening, has sparked a desire to get better. Lots of fun!

Surf 21 - A Pleasant Surprise

Tuesday 24th Sep
I wasn't expecting much out of the surf (or from myself after a late night celebrating the Swans), but, I was treated to some chest-high waves that had a bit of run in them. There wasn't much of a crowd either so I was able to get plenty of waves and was pretty stoked overall! The run of weather has been incredible during this challenge and I'm trying my best to stay on top of my sun safety

Surf 20 - Inaccurate forecast

Tuesday 24th Sep
Surprisingly, the waves were pretty average even though the forecast had the right set of conditions. This meant that the usual crowd was bunched up into only a few breaks that were semi-consistently working, but at least there were still some waves around! And...THE SYDNEY SWANS ARE IN THE GRAND FINAL

Surf 19 - A Run of Good Swell

Thursday 19th Sep
I was treated to shoulder-high, clean waves today during this run of ideal conditions. The water felt the warmest it has in a long time, must be around 19C. A dark shadow swam underneath me while I was sitting on my board waiting for the next set...the guy next to me freaked out when he saw it and then all of a sudden, a dolphin jumped out of the water about 4m from us. A pod had snuck up into the waves and were playing around us, but at first glance I thought it was something a little more dangerous! Tomorrow's conditions look excellent, can't wait to get out there!

Surf 18 - Ideal Conditions

Wednesday 18th Sep
Today had my favourite set of conditions to surf. It was around 1.8m swell and light offshore winds - this equated to around shoulder high, clean walls of water that held its shape down the line (across the wave). I took out my higher volume shortboard but switched out the fins to a traditional thruster (3 fin) set up to add control and stability through turns. Caught my best wave of the month so far - wish I could have stayed out there all day. Frothing hard!

Surf 17 - Big Waves

Wednesday 18th Sep
The swell stayed solid overnight and ended up at around 3.0m in the morning. Took out my step-up / good wave board to handle the waves that were over head-high the whole morning. Loving the variation of conditions from small to large during the Challenge27, it means I can take out different boards for different scenarios, and challenge myself in all types of surf

Surf 16 - Big Swell arrives

Monday 16th Sep
A 6m swell arrived late last night, that cooled down to a 2.7m swell by the time I was out there around 6.30am. Waves were in the overhead range for the majority of the session, and then under head high as the tide dropped. I stuck around for the morning, which saw the waves pick back up to the larger size. Tomorrow's forecast looks about the same, yiew!

Surf 15 - URBN Surf Wave Pool!!

Monday 16th Sep
FINALLY got to go to the URBN Surf Wave pool in Sydney. Pictured is me on my everyday shortboard (6ft), surfing a man-made wave at Olympic Park. The wave pool has a left and right breaking wave, divided by the payload that pushes water against the opposite wall and generates the perfect wave of your choosing: small waves, medium, large, barrels...whatever! Can't wait to go back there. The water was 17.9C, but I was too excited to notice

Surf 14

Monday 16th Sep
The waves were around chest high and the wind a light offshore. This made for perfect conditions to get some turns in on the wave faces, using my standard shortboard. A little bit bigger and these would be my favourite kind of waves. It feels like the water is getting warmer too

Surf 13 - The Waves Are Here

Friday 13th Sep
The swell has stuck around and the wind dropped off a touch, but was still around to affect the waves. Waves were overhead for most of the morning, with the bomb sets (a set of waves that are above the average size for that day) well over head-high. The early wind was keeping the waves from breaking at the start of the session - but as the wind started to drop, the waves started to shape up and break. Got some good ones on my 6'4 Step Up, which is a performance board that has a bit of extra length to get you in to large waves earlier and avoid getting thrown over in a critical section. Tomorrow should be a bit smaller with a lot less wind, looks good!

Surf 12

Thursday 12th Sep
Some more swell has arrived, but so has a lot of wind. Board selection can be a bit tricky when you're interpreting a forecast like this, because you could turn up to some massive surf or just a lot of chop. Today was about stomach to chest-high on most waves, with a fair bit of chop on the water surface created by the early high crosswinds. I took out a high volume (more foam) shortboard to combat the chop, which worked well today. Keeping my eye on the forecast tomorrow: lower wind with the same swell - should be a good one!

Surf 11

Wednesday 11th Sep
It felt a bit like Groundhog Day this morning - I parked in the same spot, rode the same board and surfed almost identical conditions to yesterday. But, today there was an added bonus of Dolphins playing just beyond the breaks. There's some big big swell on its way this weekend!

Surf 10

Tuesday 10th Sep
Another beautiful morning to be out surfing. Waves were in the range of knee to stomach high, and clean. I took out this 6'4 midlength board called The Wombat. The Wombat has a wide nose and plenty of volume (foam) throughout its body. The round nose means more water is engaged at the front of the board compared to a traditional shortboard, allowing the board to plane along the water - this translates to easier paddling and a very fun time in these kind of waves. This was one of my first surfboards in my quiver and it still brings me so much joy!

Surf 9

Monday 9th Sep
It almost feels like summer out there, beautiful day and small waves. <1m swell saw knee high waves for the majority of the day - luckily the wind was offshore (ideal) and I got in between tides (most of the time it's best to avoid the low tide or high tide for a lot of breaks). The water is still pretty cold but at least I can switch from the neoprene hood to the wide brimmed surf hat! Very glad I've brought the log back up to Sydney because I'm not sure I would have caught any waves without it today. Still fun!

Surf 8

Sunday 8th Sep
Swell period is back up to 11seconds and swell height around 1m, giving consistently clean waist high waves. Brought the log back to Sydney and caught some real nice, long waves. Water temperature was also up and the air temperature was nice with that cloud cover hanging around. Great surf after a great Swannies win!

Surf 7

Saturday 7th Sep
The conditions deteriorated a little bit more overnight. A 5 second swell period (how frequently the waves break at a given spot) and small swell meant very weak and messy waves this morning. Usually, you'd be hoping for a swell period over 10 seconds+ so the waves have time to build energy and have breaks in between sets. Nevertheless, I still got waves! Go swans!

Surf 6

Friday 6th Sep
The swell continues to drop, waves were in the knee-high to waist-high range this morning. I rode the Log again and was still catching long rides, so another fun session. The wind was so hot this morning I was steaming up in my neoprene hood, might need to switch to the surf cap if this heat continues! The water was less cold than the last few days, but still need the 3/2mm wetsuit to stay warm. Forecast is saying smaller waves for the next few days so looks like I'll be doing some more Longboarding, yiew!

Surf 5 - Lilac Longboarding

Thursday 5th Sep
The swell dropped off overnight into waist-high waves, with the odd set a little bigger. The waves were smooth and glassy and I got to take out my favourite board in my quiver! This custom 9ft3 log was gifted to me by Alex as a 30th birthday present and hand-shaped by jbshapes in the Northern Beaches. Riding this board makes you feel like you're gliding on a magic carpet over the water. Great session!!

Surf 4 - Surfing Solo

Wednesday 4th Sep
I had the waves all to myself this morning (well, I shared them with a pod of dolphins). Waves were in the overhead-high range and pretty rough. I took out one of my 6ft shortboards that has extra foam right under the chest area for better paddling, and the fin set up (two large fins and one smaller middle fin) equates to more speed. Got a couple of pearlers, but also copped a lot of set waves on the head trying to duck dive them. Good fun!

Surf 3 - Surf's Up!

Tuesday 3rd Sep
It was a chilly one this morning - I had to bring out the neoprene hood to keep the wind off the dome and out of my ears. 2.6m swell overnight produced around head-high waves, but the early strong winds added a bit of chop to the water to make it interesting. Using my good-wave board (6ft4) to handle the bigger swell - got some fun ones, yiew!

Surf 2

Monday 2nd Sep
Conditions are improving - another beautiful day to be out in the water. Tomorrow's swell looks promising as well!

It begins! - Day 1 Surf 1

Sunday 1st Sep
Small conditions to start off the challenge. Shoutout to Sean.K for letting me borrow his Longboard while mine is down the coast!

Thank you to my Sponsors

$105.50

James Campisi

Shakas brother! Cracking cause, shred it up.

$105.50

Kate Grant

🤙

$105.50

Han Xxx

Go Harry! Let me know when I’m invited for a post surf butterboy visit!

$105.50

Ruth Ferrington

Good luck Harry

$105.50

Mal Partridge

Good on you Harry. A real Demon at heart!

$84.40

Michael Lumley

Good on you, Harry. I'd agree 100% with your Dad's philosophy! Go the Swannies.

$58.02

Harry Shields

$58.02

Bern And Des

$58.02

Dale

$58.02

Neal & Malki

$58.02

Maddy

Surf hard. Watch out for arrows. Feed the beast.

$58.02

Andrew Kirk

Didn’t know, happy to help. Go you good thing!

$52.75

Shayne Mohring

Well done, mate. Cheers

$52.75

Nick And Ceara

From Nick and Ceara, shred bro 🤙🤙🤙

$52.75

Ben Kluck

$50

John Convery

Good Luck Buddy!

$28.49

Milverton Family

$28.49

Janene Theol

Good luck darling. Wiggle that lovely bum of yours as you trot around Glebe Point Park. 💋💋

$28.49

Chris Uttley

$20

Wendy Nguyen

To a great cause, keep it up Har!

Our Team