Surfers have been left sitting on their hands this week with small flukey waves not leaving much to the imagination.There has been waves but two foot screamers can't sustain your attention very long unless you’re riding the Queen Mary.
The small east swell we had kicking in has been turned by the sou-easter that picked up Tuesday. Swellnet predicts “A small new S/SE swell on the cards, originating from the remnants of an intense Southern Ocean low that hit off Tasmania late last week.”
South facing beaches should pick up occasional three foot sets through Wednesday and early Thursday, possibly a few bigger bombs across reliable swell magnets. The problem will be the winds, with an unrelated local trough expected to form off the Sydney/Hunter region that could very well drive gusty S/SE winds across the coastal margin.
They got this right – three foot onshore rubbish – only two or three desperates in the water on the whole beach. Fishkiller, Fletch, myself and Cripps at the Alley, Jughead at Elouera and Rick at the Point – that was it.
The weekend doesn’t really deviate from this average size swell with light variable winds.
In Tahiti, King Kelly once again ruled the waves – the “Chopes” comp final has just finished as I write this (Slater and John John). It continued yesterday in four-to-six foot surf at Teahupo’o. The day saw top scores and exciting match ups as the world’s best surfers battled through rounds three and four to avoid elimination and earn a direct advance to the quarter-finals.
They motored through the heats with a pretty average forecast for the waiting period, so they didn’t mess around – I watched for 30 minutes yesterday and nobody caught a wave,10 minutes in the backend of Mellings heat and 20 minutse of Jordy’s before a restart. You have to catch a wave to win – Wilko went out catching one wave!
It is good to watch heat tactics though – it’s actually all about getting priority when you need it and not blowing under pressure. I am on John John and he looks pretty good for the rankings lead.
Eleven time World Surf League champion Kelly Slater (USA) posted a PERFECT 20 heat total in his round five match up with Hawaiian Keanu Asing (HAW).This is only the ninth time a perfect heat has been achieved in 40 years of professional surfing.
“The first 10 of that heat was a more difficult ride definitely, but the second one was a bigger, more perfect, classic tube,” said Slater after winning round five – and finally winning another contest after a two-year dry spell.
In Europe things are also looking good for the Cronulla boys on the 2016 European Qualifying Series with twelve events taking some of the best up-and-coming surfers across Israel, Spain, the Caribbean, Portugal, France, England, Morocco and the Azores. After Shane Campbell’s British victory Jared Hickel backed it up with a fifth place in the Medec Ocean Lacanau Pro – a 1500 point comp won by Frances Joan Duru which leaves Campbell in 148th place and Hickel on 163rd with 630 points for his result.
Both surfers are seeded into the third round for the Pro Anglet (1,500) warming up for the comps that count – the 6000 and 10,000 pointers. All points are good points!
Keep your eyes on the WSL and follow their progress.
Finally, the International Surfing Association (ISA) announced that the 2016 Stance ISA World Adaptive Surfing Championship will return to La Jolla, California, for the second consecutive year. The confirmation of the second edition of the event highlights the ISA's commitment to the development of Adaptive Surfing worldwide.
From December 8-11, the world's best adaptive surfers will flock to the stunning beach break of La Jolla Shores to represent their countries and compete for individual and team medals.
The inaugural 2015 ISA World Adaptive Surfing Championship marked a historic moment for the global growth and development of the sport as 69 surfers from 18 countries with physical challenges ranging from vision impairment to spinal cord injuries gathered for the largest international Adaptive Surfing World Championship to date. The four gold medalists, Mark 'Mono' Stewart (AUS), Bruno Hansen (DEN), Fellipe Lima (BRA) and Jesse Billauer (USA), all hailed from different continents, displaying the growing international appeal of the sport across the globe.
It’s one medal Australia did win.