First event of the Bacardi Surf Tour won by Blake Thornton

The first event of the Bacardi Surf Tour was held in chunky two-metre waves that offered competitors the perfect opportunity to showcase their power game.

Thornton held off a late charge by Connor O'Leary who finished second ahead of Wollongong's Nic Squires and Curl Curl's Matt Bemrose.

Local standout O'Leary threw everything into his last wave but fell short of victory by 1.13 points.

Chasing an 8.24 with ten seconds remaining the talented goofy footer launched a massive frontside straight air which he landed cleanly in the closeout section.

The judges locked in a 7.10 securing O'Leary second place and $500.

"It was an awesome day and the waves were fun" said O'Leary.

"When I saw the heat draw come out there were so many great surfers that anyone could have won it. [It] was not only great to be a part of [it] was awesome to watch as well."

Being the first event of the tour and a mixed bag of experience and youth lining up, the excitement was evident among competitors with the standard of surfing being a real eye opener.

"The standard of surfing was beyond what I thought it was going to be." added O'Leary.

Locals Joe Sear and Kurt Kiggins made the quarters to finish in ninth position with Jordan Widenstrom finishing ahead of Ben Sear, Sorrel Hayes and Dylan Hannah to win the trials final.

Cronulla surfers have had a good week of waves and it looks like a fun week ahead with Swellnet calling small Easterly trade energy broken up by subtle Southerly pulses. Clean conditions each morning before a local seabreeze-2,3 ft all week with a slight pulse on the weekend with a bit of luck.

I took my pics at the Alley this morning from the water swimming in the rip bowl and some yesterday when it was a bit bigger standing on the beach.I also threw in a few from the Sunshine coast where I was working at the 2016 Aussie clubbie titles-there were some good waves to be had up there ,you just had to look..

The 2016 Subway® Surf Series will come to an exciting conclusion at Cronulla this weekend, following a successful schedule of seven World Surf League (WSL) Junior Qualifying Series (JQS) events that covered all corners of Australia.

Surfers from Australia, Brazil and New Zealand will duke it out for a JQS title and runner-up status, with 64 males and 24 females set to participate in the event.

After taking out three Subway® Surf Series Pro Junior events and the NIB Pro Junior at Merewether, Macy Callaghan (Avoca, NSW) is sitting in the box seat to claim the 2016 WSL Australasian JQS title at Cronulla; a goal she set out to achieve at the beginning of the year.

“I couldn’t be happier with how this year has gone,” said Callaghan. “I set the goal to win the Australasian Junior rankings at the start of the year and qualify for the World Junior Titles, so I’m hoping I can cement both of those when the Cronulla event gets underway.”

Macy will be joined in the draw by fellow 2016 Subway® Surf Series standouts Alyssa Lock (Tweed Heads, NSW), Jaleesa Vincent (Coolum, Qld) and Kiara Meredith (Barrack Heights, NSW).

With Ethan Ewing having recently claimed the overall title at Wollongong, Harley Ross-Webster (Curl Curl, NSW) will be trying to claim his second title of the series at Cronulla and hold onto the runner-up position on the WSL JQS rankings, following his victory at Wollongong.

“I was over the moon to win the second last Pro Junior of the year at Wollongong and jump to the runner up spot on the WSL Junior rankings,” said Ross-Webster. “The win has given me a lot of confidence and has made me hungrier to win another event. I can’t wait for Cronulla, so I can attempt to go for back-to-back wins. Hopefully there’s some decent waves on offer and a solid crowd on the beach to cheer everyone on.”

Event entrants joining Ross-Webster in the top ten on the WSL JQS Australasia rankings include: Reef Heazlewood (Moffat Beach, QLD), Quinn Bruce (Coolangatta, Qld), Luke Wrice (Coledale, NSW), Sandon Whittaker (Avoca, NSW), Kael Walsh (Yallingup, WA), Zac Wightman (Lennox Head, NSW), Billy Harrison (Barwon Heads, Vic) and Kai Warner (Narrabeen, NSW).

Local Cronulla competitors include: Jay Brown and Nathan Rohr.

In more comp news,Chris Zaffis has taken out the Mentawai Pro presented by Rip Curl in some of the best waves ever seen in a World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS) 1,000 event at the famed Lances Right. Zaffis took down Balinese surfing legend Dede Suryana in an amazing Final in perfect barrelling four-to-six foot waves.

“I’m so lost for words – I can’t believe I just won a QS in such pumping barrels,” Zaffis said. “I don’t think I’ve ever surfed waves as good as that in my life so to surf like that in a comp is mind boggling - waves don’t get better than that.”

 The world’s best big wave surfers hit the red carpet in Southern California last week for the 2016 World Surf League (WSL) Big Wave Awards. The 16th annual awards gala at the The Grove Theater in Anaheim celebrated the greatest rides of the past year and honored the icons of the big wave community.

Shane Dorian, one of the world’s most decorated Big Wave surfers, secured the Billabong Ride of the Year Award, as well as the Surfline Men’s Overall Performance of the Year Award. Dorian, after a celebrated career on the elite WSL Championship Tour in the 1990s, transitioned into the big wave community and became one of the most celebrated big wave surfers of all time. Last night’s awards further cement Dorian’s place in surfing history.

“Thank you first of all to Surfline and WSL for this,” Dorian said after winning the Surfline Men’s Overall Performance Award. “It is a huge honor as this is probably the hardest award to win and probably the most prestigious because it is not based on one wave or one session. Just to be nominated with these guys is incredible to me. I thought that all nominated had standout seasons. It was just an amazing season, a lot of people had a lot of opportunities, and I’m extremely grateful.”

Other big winners of the night included Aaron Gold, who secured the Best Paddle Award for his ride at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii. Gold’s award winning ride has broken the record for the biggest wave ever paddled into, with a wave height of 63 feet, surpassing the previous record set by Shawn Dollar at Cortes Bank. Yuri Soledade won the TAG Heuer XXL Biggest Wave Award for his ride at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii. Niccolo Porcella earned the TAG Heuer Wipeout of the Year Award for his over-the-falls drop at Teahupoo, Tahiti.

Along with the unforgettable honors awarded during the event, Keala Kennelly continued the trend by winning the Pure Scot Barrel of the Year Award for her massive tube ride at Teahupoo, Tahiti. Kennelly’s win marks an historic moment at the 16th year of the Big Wave Awards, with the first time a woman has won in the category, or in any open-gender category.

“When I was a little girl, I kept getting told I could not do things because I was a girl,” Kennelly said. “I was told that women can’t surf, and I was told this about getting barreled, surfing big waves, surfing Pipeline, paddling in a Jaws, and the list goes on. So who I really really want to thank is everyone who told me you can’t do that because you’re a woman. Because that drove me to dedicate my life to proving you wrong and it’s been so damn fun.”

Yep-she’s got Balls!