If you think it’s “getting hot in here” you’re right, with last Friday night the warmest January night the city has ever recorded. Records for the city station go back to 1858 so all you climate sceptics – what the?
There has been some small waves so all is not lost with most south-facing beaches in Sydney seeing 3 foot sets if you got in early before the winds.
The south swell we saw yesterday has eased overnight but there are still some waves at the exposed northern end of the bay, with surfable conditions. I am in Adelaide so I am writing this report blind with a little help from Swellnet and Macca’s photos.
Swellnet says fading southerly swells and small NE wind swells will continue through Wednesday with early light offshores ahead of a gusty south change in the afternoon.
Thursday will see a decent SW fetch extending from Tasmania which should kick up plenty of southerly swell in the 4 foot-plus range at south facing beaches. Head to Wanda where the banks are pretty good.
The weekend is looking at windy, building surf into the 3 to 5 foot range at south-facing beaches with light variable winds and sea breezes with steadily easing swells are then expected through Sunday.
Macca took a few pics for me on Tuesday with Jay Brown’s old man Mark smashing a couple and it also looks like the Goat boats have taken over – better that than paddle boards I guess. The kneeboard guys are still warming their flippers!
Its all about the groms in competition news with the Rip Curl GromSearch presented by Flight Centre national final seeing a day of tricky conditions and massive upsets as competitors fought to cement a position into tomorrow’s final rounds.
Hot off a recent victory in the 2016 Surf, Dive ‘N’ Ski Australian Junior Titles at Phillip Island, Xavier Huxtable was unable to find the same form and fell victim to the deadly forehand attack of Queensland’s Noah Stocca. Huxtable was unable to find more than one scoring wave and as a result was knocked out of the competition by Stocca who posted a decent 12.50 heat score.
Local event wildcard Sophia Chapman (Narrabeen, NSW) caused one of the biggest upsets of the event, eliminating top seed Kirra-Belle Olsson (Avoca, NSW) in the 16-and-under quarter-finals.
In Victoria, India Robinson (Jan Juc, VIC) and Mikey McDonagh (Lennox Head, NSW) have started their 2017 World Surf League Australia / Oceania Junior Qualifying Series campaign with a bang by taking the first Subway Surf Series Event at Bells Beach.
Competitors were greeted by nice 4 foot waves at Bells Beach with the level of surfing impressing everyone on the beach.
“I’m stoked. This is only the second time I have surfed at Bells competitively and to be able to get waves in the Bowl was a dream,” McDonagh said. “The event had some really good surfers in the draw so I’m over the moon to be able to come out on top.”
Finally the Telstra Stores Tweed Coast Pro will once again land on the northern tip of NSW when the World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series 1000 rated event kicks off in February at Cabarita.
The elite five-day competition – which will form the second of four stops on the Vissla NSW Pro Surf Series – will take place from February 1 to 5.
More than 200 of Australia’s and the world’s most promising male and female surfers will compete in the event, which will see over 20 different countries represented across both divisions.
Surfing NSW CEO and Cronulla Boardriders member Luke Madden attributed the growth of the Telstra Stores Tweed Coast Pro to the blossoming relationship between Destination Tweed and Surfing NSW saying “We’re really excited to come back and continue to showcase the deep talent pool in the North Coast region as well as soak up a lot of its natural beauty.”
Next stop for the Pros is the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast on Mar 14 - 25 – buy a plane ticket now!
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