Cronulla surfers got their first real waves of the year this week with a clean but straight 4-6 ft sou-east swell-it was south early in the week but swung to the east yesterday leaving low tide a dangerous affair.
The banks on the beach are super straight but as the swell drops and the tide rises we may find some hidden gems-I took todays pics at North Cronulla yesterday when the swell was still up-Rachel Mckendrick was the best surfer in the water for the early picking off a few nice rights.
The forecast sees this swell dropping today to around chest high with 3 ft waves predicted until Saturday when we will be blessed with another good kick from the east nor east peaking on Monday at 6ft.
The trouble is the winds wont be kind after Thursday so we will have to suffer some onshores with the swell-anyway its better than nothing!
The 2020 World Surf League Qualifying Series started at the perfect lefthander of Riyue Bay on the Island of Hainan, China, for the Corona Open China hosted by Wanning.
It was won by Brisa Hennessy (Costa Rica) and Shun Murakami (Japan) who emerged with 5,000 points to start their respective 2020 seasons.
The combined men's and women's QS5,000 event saw over 200 competitors from all around the globe, dueling it out for important qualifying points as they look to secure a place on the elite WSL Championship Tour next year-.we had no locals competing with Connor O'Leary warming up in Queensland for his upcoming year on Tour with the big boys.
The new WSL Challenger Series also takes off at Manly on March 9-14 with the Sydney Surf Pro followed by the Corona Piha Pro which will play as the second event on the newly announced series and will see some of surfing's biggest international stars and New Zealand's most promising talent descend, on Piha shores March 16-22.
Closer to home the 1000 Carve Pro kicks off at Maroubra on January 29.
For the grommets, seven individual champions have been crowned at the Gold Coast leg of the Woolworths Surfer Grom Comps Series, which was held at the Southport Spit in clean 2-3ft waves.
Fingals Dane Henry and Zahlia Short (Austinmer, NSW) took out the blue ribbon under 14 divisions, and have earnt themselves an invite to attend an all-expenses-paid, three-day Woolworths Surf Camp at the Surfing Australia High-Performance Centre (HPC).
Best result for us was a fighting second place finish in the u12 girls by Cronulla Boardriders Grace Gosby-her division was won by Ocea Curtis who scored an 8.33.
Wonder kid Jax Goode from Engadine came fourth in the u10 boys.
Regarded as one of the major stepping stones in the development of young Australian surfers, the 10-event Woolworths Surfer Groms Comps series caters for surfers from Under 8 to Under 14 and will be held in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and South Australia over summer.
Lastly -At 2:15am on Monday 13th January, the Cronulla Christian Surfers trailer was stolen from Kingsway Community Church - 9 Resolution Drive, North Caringbah.
This trailer is used to store everything to run the Christian Surfers Cronulla monthly surf contests. More than that, it is literally a vehicle that helps them connect with families and young people among the surfing community. Without this trailer they cannot run their contests. Everything contained within the trailer has been generously donated over the years by people and businesses within the surfing and broader Shire community.
Any assistance to locate it's whereabouts is hugely appreciated! If seen, or any information becomes available, please call Miranda Police (9541 3899) and Dave Standen (0413 598 282).
