Cronulla surfers haven't had much to celebrate over Christmas and the New Year with the small Nor East swell almost bypassing the Bate Bay beaches.
This week doesn't get any better with a near stationary weather system sitting just off the coast that will deliver only subtle changes in surf conditions this week.
The small waves have been focussed on the southern ends of the beach and reefs with crowds to match- smart surfers have been making trips a little further south down the coast and making the most of the north swell magnets.
This morning a light sou-easter is blowing and the 1-2ft dribble is hardly even worth looking at even at the secret spots-the water has also dropped to 18 degree’s so that will wake you up.
I took todays pics anywhere I could find a surfer and a little swell-good luck getting anything of value this week with early mornings the best time for clean winds and a high tide.
There isn't much national or International surf news but in a real good initiative the International Surfing Association(ISA) has announced that 40 Scholarships - worth a total of USD $20,000 - have been awarded to young surfers in need through the 2018 ISA Scholarship Program.
The ISA has now awarded USD $308,500 to more than 300 U18 surfers around the globe since the program's inception in 2007.
Notably, seven 2018 ISA Scholarship ambassadors represented their nation at the 2018 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship in Huntington Beach. Nicaraguan teammates and sisters, Candelaria and Valentina Resano, Colombia's Marcelo Nakogui Barro, Peru's Amaru Rodriguez, Samoa's Pulieta Martin, Uruguay's Nicole Leiva, and Venezuela's Luna Marcano competed among the world's best U-18 surfers.
Among this year's class of ISA Scholarship Ambassadors are surfers from five nations that have never received a scholarship before, including Iran, Sri Lanka, Samoa, Ivory Coast, and the Philippines. The addition of new Scholarship Ambassadors from non-traditional surfing nations demonstrates the ISA's strategy to promote the growth of the sport in all corners of the globe.
In total, 20 countries across four continents are represented in the 2018 class of ISA Scholarship Ambassadors.
The SEAT Pro Netanya returns from January 10-19,2019 to officially launch the 2019 Qualifying Series of the World Surf League-no locals are making the trip to Israel this year with the CARVE Pro at Maroubra in late january the first contest for Shane Campbell,Jared Hickel and Jay Brown .
I don't know when former WCT surfer Connor O’Leary will enter the competitive fray-maybe the 3000 point Volcom Pipe contest or the 6000 point Hang Loose Pro in Brazil.
