The change of seasons is upon us with this morning’s temperatures dropping. A predicted northwesterly wind blowing 15 to 20 kmph turning westerly 25 to 35 kmph should then increase to 35 to 50 kmph in the middle of the day.
As a bonus, large and powerful surf conditions will develop to be hazardous for coastal activities such as rock fishing and swimming but hopefully good for surfing. This will finally shake the week of small waves we’ve had and change our banks.
Swellnet says conditions today should be very good at first under a moderate westerly but as the front crosses the coast mid-afternoon, we’ll see the offshore wind increase to 30 kts plus, so aim for a morning surf. Expect inconsistent 3 foot sets at dawn, easing throughout the day.
A low pressure system is developing across the southern Tasman Sea which will drive gale force southerly winds through overnight Wednesday and in turn will generate a very large swell for Thursday, maybe 6 to 8 foot at south facing beaches. Early winds could be SW but will shift S/SW through mid morning and then south.
I took today’s pics this morning at the Wall where a super high tide finally killed the 3 foot clean east swell. It’s better than predicted so get out there before the wind.
South African Jordy Smith, who lives in California, has won the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach after electric performances in pumping six-to-eight foot conditions at the iconic venue in Victoria. Smith bested fellow finalist Brazil’s Caio Ibelli in a classic Bells Beach showdown to close out the Australian leg.
The third stop of the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, is the longest-running professional surf event in the world. This year's 56th iteration saw a competitive field of elite surfers throw down their best performances with Smith earning the right to ‘ring the bell' for the first time in his career.
Smith secured his sixth CT win following a series of heated match-ups against Ibelli, 2017 CT rookie Ezekiel Lau and 2015 WSL champion Adriano de Souza. The win marks Smith’s best result at Bells following his runner-up finish in 2016 and moves him up to world No.2 on the Jeep leaderboard.
We have no local surfers in it but, day two of the Komune Bali Pro presented by The Mad Hueys woke up to thumping six-foot barrels at the world-famous right-hander. The surf was firing and the competitors were fired up to hit the lineup and test themselves in the epic conditions on offer. Check out some pics in the gallery.
Finally, in a scary thought for world surfing, on April 9, the Russian Surfing Federation, with the support of EBR Company and the Innovation Center of Russian Olympic Committee, organized the first-ever ISA surf judging course in Russia.
Twenty-one new Russian judges took part in the ISA judging course and will now be accredited as ISA Level 1 trainee judges. The ISA judging course was presented by Alessandro Dini, a long-time ISA course presenter from Italy. Alessandro has travelled previously to Russia to work with the Russian Surfing Federation on surf development and help establish the ISA coaching and instructing program.
This is what the Olympics will do for surfing – every country will have to have a team – so heaps more surfers in the world!