Don’t get too excited with today’s report because I am making most of it up!
I do have some of the oldest cadet photographers in the world sending me pictures so I do know that there are waves!
I am in Adelaide doing my best but my spies (and Swellnet) tell me that we do have some swell and 3-4 footers on offer. I am not so sure about the banks but there may be a left suck forming, but the pics from Tuesday look like we might have dodged a bullet and they might get some joy from the continual Nor Easter’s that are blowing from the tropical storm pattern brewing in the North!
The forecast shows the 3 ft waves should push into the weekend and hopefully some banks will miraculously form so we don’t look STUPID!
The circus is almost in town so get down to the Alley and help us start the 100 years of surfing celebration with the Boardriders battle starting on Saturday.
Australia’s best surfers are poised to put friendships aside and club loyalties at the forefront at the National Final of the Original Source Australian Boardriders Battle at Cronulla on January 24-25.
Defending champion Snapper Rocks Surfriders lead a strong line-up of Australian boardriders clubs including North Narrabeen Boardriders, Kirra Surfriders, Merewether Surfboard Club, Le-Ba Boardriders and Avoca Boardriders.
The clubs are stacked with the country’s finest surfing talent including World Surf League (WSL) stars and world champions Stephanie Gilmore and Joel Parkinson for Snapper Rocks plus Laura Enever (North Narrabeen), Adam Melling (Le-Ba), Bede Durbidge (Point Lookout) and Adrian Buchan and Matt Wilkinson (both from Avoca Boardriders).
The Original Source Australian Boardriders Battle is the country's biggest grassroots, boardriders event series with $120,000 in prize money. It involved Australia's best boardriders clubs in eight State qualifying rounds starting last October and culminates in next week’s National Final at Cronulla in Sydney.
The event will be telecast live on Fox Sports 2 (January 24) and Fox Sports 5 (January 25) plus streamed on www.australianboardridersbattle.com.
The final consists of 20 clubs from the eight State qualifying rounds, including four wildcard clubs selected by Surfing Australia and host club Cronulla Sharks Boardriders. The four clubs to win the wildcard spots are Point Lookout Boardriders, Avoca Beach Boardriders, Coffs Harbour Boardriders and Scarborough Boardriders.
In the rest of the surfing world-W4stage10- Mahina Maeda (HAW) has taken out the first women’s Qualifying Series (QS) event of 2015, the Samsung Galaxy Hainan Pro presented by Wanning over Paige Hareb (NZL). The surf continued to pump out the goods as the event ran through the Quarterfinals, Semis and Final with competitors holding nothing back in the fight for all-important QS6000 ranking’s points. At only 16-years-old Maeda has sent a warning shot to the rest of the world’s best surfers.
Nearer to the source at Maroubra-An action-packed finals day at the 2015 Carve Pro Junior saw Ethan Ewing (Point Lookout, Qld/AUS) claim his first World Surf League Junior Qualifying Series event in front of hundreds of onlookers at Maroubra Beach.
Ewing backed up his solid overall event performance, claiming the 2015 Carve Pro Junior title and pocketing $4000.00 and 1000 valuable WSL JQS points as a result. Perceived as one of the standout surfers of the entire event, Ewing made light work of the tricky conditions in the final, locking in a near perfect 9.5 wave score (out of a possible ten points) for a barrage of giant backhand snaps. The 2015 Carve Pro Junior is the first WSL JQS event for Ewing and his first time visiting Sydney.
Jared Hickel (Cronulla, NSW/AUS) proceeded to meet up with Kalani Ball again in the quarterfinals. However, unfortunately for Hickel, today’s situation was reversed and Ball managed to take the win as Hickel was unable to muster up a solid 9.57 wave score.
“Every heat I have with Kalani is always close,” said Hickel. “It’s always good to share a heat with him. We share the same coach so we know each other’s styles pretty well. I know he prefers to go for an air, while I prefer to surf on the face of the wave. It’s just a pity I lost that one.”
The World Surf League Big Wave Tour is greenlighting the Pe’ahi Challenge in Maui, Hawaii for an 8am start (local time) this Thursday, January 22, 2015. Watch the world’s best big wave surfers riding giant waves live at WorldSurfLeague.com as a projected 30-to-40-foot swell descends upon the region. (*The website also has a tribute to surfer Ricardo Dos Santos who died after being shot in Brazil this week.)
“Pe’ahi is a very special place and conditions are lining up for Thursday so we’re pulling the trigger," said Peter Mel, WSL Big Wave Commissioner. “We’ve greenlit the Pe’ahi Challenge for an 8am start on Thursday. The call is to go, but we'll ultimately assess conditions on Thursday morning to ensure they're up to standard for the world's best big wave surfers.”
Finally we had a bit of surf media royalty in Cronulla last week. Dick Hoole called into the Watergrill last week to see Steve Core. They had a meal together and took in our grand ocean views.
Dick was here to pick up the last of Steves” In Natural Flow” DVDs and said he could do with another 100.
A few of the 'more senior' local Cronulla Point boys were in and they were stoked to Dick Hoole sitting in our Cronulla restaurant.
So tune into Surfretrospect.com.au and check out more nostalgia like this-till next week (when I will be in Cronulla)
