Due to a rapidly increasing and potentially dangerous swell, Surfing NSW was forced to cancel the Wahu Surfer Groms comp at North Cronulla Beach on Sunday.
In lieu of running the finals, the four finalists were decided off respective division leaderboards and heat tallies.
Cronulla’s Jarvis Earle placed second in the under-14s boys after winning his heats but was beaten by a higher wave score by Bateau Bay’s Joel Vaughan.
The under-12s boys was taken out by Joel’s little brother, Hughie Vaughan, with local Cronulla surfer Sam Cornock finishing in fourth spot.
Meanwhile, for the first time ever the South African Bodyboarding Association (SABA) and the Australian Bodyboarding Association (ABA) have joined forces to put together the Aussie Buccaneers South Africa Tour 2016.
Local drop knee exponent Aaron “Azza” Glossop is one of the nine Australian Bodyboarders chosen to compete in the November event where the Aussie team will go into battle against the might of the South African national team in two gladiatorial themed “test matches.”
Glossop, who works as a chef at Pilgrims Cafe at Cronulla and represented Australia in 2011, said he was stoked to get the chance to rub shoulders with his surfing peers again and thanked his bosses for being so understanding.
The Groms weren’t the only ones upset when a big southerly swell lined up into the Bate Bay beaches this week with clean offshore winds on Tuesday after Mondays big blow .
The waves were too much for the open beaches but Cronulla Point and all reef locations in the south had great waves-some saying as good as it gets.
South facing beaches were seeing solid 8ft-10ft surf with moderate SE winds creating a few bumps on the Monday with Tuesday morning still pumping when I took these pics.
Conditions are predicted to settle down over the next few days with Swellnet predicting”Surf size will abate a little more rapidly on Wednesday but winds will veer NW and freshen so we should see very clean conditions across the open beaches. South facing beaches may see early 3ft+ sets but it’ll get smaller into the afternoon, ahead of a low point overnight or early Thursday with sets around 1.5ft”.
Friday is average with the weekend also looking poor with a chance for a kick on Sunday with building NE swells from 3-4ft+ but with strong bad winds.
John John Florence (HAW), 22 has clinched the 2016 World Surf League Title in dramatic fashion with a victory at the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal in Peniche, marking the first time a Hawaiian has held the world surfing crown since the late Andy Irons (HAW)in 2004.
“I honestly can’t believe it right now, it’s obviously not sunk in just yet,” Florence said. "I know my mom and family are watching online right now and I really wish they were here with me. I’m so stoked. I’ve worked my whole life towards this and I have so many people to thank for this.”
The newly crowned WSL Champion took on rookie Conner Coffin (USA), 23, in an exciting Final where the two surfers adopted different strategies for the final bout of the European leg. Florence took things to the air with numerous massive rotations while Coffin kept chasing the tubes, successfully navigating a deep one for an excellent 8.60. Florence’s flair peaked in the Final with a huge alley-oop for a 9.50 and the win. Coffin secured a career-high runner-up spot on the Championship Tour and rocketed to No. 19 on the Jeep Leaderboard.
Closer to home and after four events and four separate winners the Bacardi Surf Tour Champion will be decided at the fifth and final event this Sunday at Sydney’s Curl Curl Beach.
The Hemingway’s Manly Pro will see the top five surfers on the Ratings take on another mixed bag of competitors, with previous results on the Tour suggesting anything is possible on the day.
Blake Thornton, Cronulla’s Shane Campbell, Dayyan Neve and Nic Squiers have all had wins on the Tour with Squiers going into the final event with a 280-point lead ahead of Neve after each surfers best three results.
Finally Surf Retrospect is continuing with the Triple Bull King of the Beach this Sunday and the historic photographic and surfboard display on at Cronulla surf club all weekend,come down on Saturday and watch the Toothpick re-enactment and plaque unveiling on Cronulla Point -see you there.
.