It might have been the coldest morning of the year (5 degrees) but the surf gods still shone on the Shire as the winter goodness continued.
After yesterday’s ABB launch at the Alley where Parko and friends let loose I thought this morning’s conditions may have been below par, but if you headed a bit further North it was still happy surfing days.
The Kurnell reefs copped a Parko assault yesterday afternoon as well and as I didn’t see the usual surfing hierarchy this morning I assumed it was on again today!
Swellnet also has some good news with their prediction saying the swell will be bigger tomorrow and settle in all week with offshore winds(SWest) and a peak of six foot on Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning.
I took today's pics at Wanda and a couple at the Alley where the bank is finally collapsing and moving up the beach a bit. Hopefully all the school kids will move with it, peaking with 32 surfers in the water at 6.50 am on Tuesday!
It was almost as crowded as Huntington where Johanne Defay (FRA) and Hiroto Ohhara (JPN) reigned supreme on the final day of the Vans US Open of Surfing in front of a capacity crowd. Defay has been crowned champion of the Women’s event, stop No. 6 on the Samsung Galaxy World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), while Ohhara has won the Men’s Qualifying Series (QS) 10,000 event.
Johanne Defay (FRA-Reunion) claimed her first elite CT victory, taking out our Sally Fitzgibbons in a tense Final at Huntington Beach Pier. The win sees her earn 10,000 points and move up five places to sixth on the Jeep Leaderboard.
Ohhara became the first Japanese surfer to make the Final at the Vans US Open of Surfing after defeating local favorite Kanoa Igarashi (USA) in the opening Semifinal. Taking eight waves to Igarashi’s three, Ohhara edged the win and sent the Huntington Beach local home in third place.
Defending event winner and CT standout Filipe Toledo (BRA) blew up when he dipped in the semi,he may have been a bit unlucky!
Joey Sear wasn't unlucky when he was crowned the open BCU Australian Surf champion on Sunday. “I’ve been wanting to win an Aussie Title for so long now,” said Sear. “I trained really hard for this event and stayed off the alcohol in preparation for it, so to take it out is the best win of my life. I got to the final in 2012 and finished third to Russ Maloney, so to go two positions further feels incredible. The whole vibe of the final was awesome, everyone was calm and just took turns catching waves. It really adds to the good feeling when it’s like that.”
His Elouera team mate Glenn Pringle is surfing right now in the semis of the over 45’s-More than 500 surfers from around Australia will contest the surfing showpiece from July 31- August 17 with National titles to be decided in Open Surfmasters, Longboard, Logger and Bodyboard divisions.
In local news, Red Bull Cape Fear is one of the world’s most unique sporting events, it pits slab surfing specialists in one-on-one battles and combines both paddle and tow in surfing at one of the world’s most dangerous waves. The event waiting period began on 5 May and after a fairly dormant winter swell period, the waiting period has been extended until August 31.
One of the heat matchups is Mark Mathews and Makua Rothman - as far as match-ups go at Red Bull Cape Fear, it doesn’t get any better than this. One is responsible for bringing slab surfing to the world stage and the other, the current big wave world champion. While their nationalities set them apart, what brings them together is the quest to continue pushing big wave surfing to the absolute limit and the ultimate goal of Red Bull Cape Fear champion.
Speaking of heat, this isn't new, but the video of US pro surfer Jamie O'Brien ridingTeahupoʻo, one of the world's most dangerous and thickest waves, with his wetsuit ablaze is worth a look (even if you're already seen it).
And don't forget Robbie Maddison riding his motorbike through the surf in Tahiti.
Anyway – it won’t be on this week but good surfing conditions for us mere mortals will. So get wet!
