PHOTOS | Wild weather and big waves

The 8ft plus sou-east swell we have had came with its own howling sou -easterly wind almost rendering it unsurfable and chewing up the beach once again-especially at North Cronulla.

A few brave souls were picking off a few waves at Cronulla Point yesterday, but even that was just blowing through into the channel and giving us nothing to write home about.

This morning there is a small window of an offshore that we saw cleaning up the still solid 6ft swell-it will only be brief before another onshore onslaught blows until Friday morning when the surf God align's with the wind mistress giving us a few hours of good conditions and 3-4ft waves.

This morning on the high tide Shark Island was bearing its teeth for Lids on Surge and standups on the peak-conditions were good and as the tide drops the Point and all other Reefs that hold swell should be good-just get in before the wind.

It turns bad again Saturday blowing easterly all day until Sunday dawns with some nicer conditions-all in all its a mixed bag, look out the window and if it is offshore go surfing!

There is also an increased risk of storms this coming summer in the east and north of Australia as the La Nia makes its presence felt.

With the La Nia comes an added risk of tropical cyclones and the outlook suggests a 66 per cent chance of more cyclones than average for the Australian region this season - and they are expected to form earlier than normal-so at least we have something to look forward to.

Professional surfers from all over Queensland will get the opportunity to stoke their competitive flame this weekend at the second leg of the 2020 Australian Open of Surfing series, the Gold Coast Pro, which kicks off this Saturday and will run over two days.

This is the series that will head to Cronulla ( 8th-9th November) in two weeks and will provide professional and aspiring surfers with the opportunity to win part of $5,000 in prize money and gain momentum going into 2021. The long-range surf forecast shows 1.5 meter easterly swell pushing through the Gold Coast for the event with northerly winds.

Top female seed and winner of the first leg of the Australian Open of Surfing series (the Sunshine Coast Pro),Sophie McCulloch, will be one to watch this weekend. As well as winning the Sunshine Coast Pro, McCulloch also took second place at the recent WSL Boost Mobile Pro on South Stradbroke Island in pumping waves.

Covid hasn't affected the size of the surf and film producer TIM BONYTHON hasn't missed anything historic when it comes to the big surf.

He hasn't been able to travel for the last six months, but he has spent a lot of hours in the edit suite being super busy and creating the 14th Australian Surf Movie Festival.

In the last four years since his previous movie, the Big Wave Project, Mother Nature has delivered some amazing swells.

The films are about the most significant, historic swell events Tim has documented over that time. You will be transported to Nazare Portugal where the biggest wave surfed was recorded, to Mullaghmore Ireland, a crazy big left-hand wave in freezing conditions. The Right in Western Australia to see some of the most amazing waves ever surfed there, Teahupoo Tahiti, as perfect as it can be and one of the most historic swells he has ever documented at Cloudbreak Fiji.

Not to be left out Cronulla's Super Slab Solander also gets a run as does the South Coast's special left bommie.

The tour starts on Tuesday, November 10, at the Cremorne Orpheum in Sydney and gets to Cronulla Hoyts Cinema for the big opening on Wednesday, November 25 at 6.30pm.