Christmas came early for Cronulla surfers this week when the 4-6 ft east swell finally cleaned up and pumped away yesterday from dawn to dusk under a light west wind.
There is only one or two banks on the beach and all day the North Cronulla stretch copped a hammering from the crowd and the swell as the sand also lined up giving us the best right hander there since 2008.
It started to come good under the onshore winds last week and the rip yesterday was running right through the bowl leaving punters working hard for their rewards.
The forecast showed it was still good conditions for the early today except it did drop a lot and its sitting around the 2-3ft mark- a southerly is due to blow through around 9am and the swell has already started to swing which might spread the crowds a bit.
Thursday we may see some light offshores early before Christmas Day dawns with a 3-4 ft south swell with sou-east on shore winds -so enjoy the week and Ho Ho Ho.
In a historic day for surfing, Aussie Tyler Wright won the Maui Pro presented by ROXY, the first women's World Surf League Championship Tour competition to ever take place at the legendary Banzai Pipeline on Oahu's North Shore.
John John Florence (HAW) fulfilled his lifelong dream of winning the Billabong Pipe Masters presented by Hydro Flask at his home break in the esteemed competition's 50th edition.
Two-time WSL Champion Wright made history alongside four-time WSL Champion Carissa Moore (HAW), Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA), Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), and Sage Erickson (USA) after competing in the first-ever women's CT Finals Day at the world-renowned Banzai Pipeline.
In the men's Final, two-time WSL Champion Florence went head-to-head with fellow two-time Brazilian WSL Champion Gabriel Medina , beating him out by 0.67 points with a combined score of 11.77 (out of a possible 20).
"I feel really good, especially just after the last couple of years and everything I've gone through with injuries and everything," said Florence. "To be here at the first event of the year, winning in my home break, I can't picture it going any better. It's an amazing way to end 2020 and start the new year as well."
Florence's victory marks his first win at the Billabong Pipe Masters presented by Hydro Flask. He was the runner-up in 2017 and 2013, and did not compete in 2018 due to an injury that kept him out for much of the CT.
NSW will host four World Surf League Qualifying Series events that will form the brand new Vissla NSW Pro Surf Series in the early stages of 2021.
Surfing NSW has joined forces with the NSW Government, through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW, Vissla and World Surf League to bring four QS events back to Boomerang Beach, Port Stephens, Maroubra and Avoca.
The four-event series will see two QS1000 rated events (Maroubra and Great Lakes), one men's and women's QS3000 (Central Coast) and one women's QS3000 (Port Stephens).
There is a new format for 2021, with distinct seasons between the QS, the Challenger Series (the global Championship Tour qualification) and the Championship Tour
. The new tour structure will provide an affordable career pathway for WSL athletes by allowing up-and-coming surfers to develop closer to home without financially overleveraging themselves.
The QS will run from January through to July 2021 and determine who has qualified for the CS, which will run from August through to December 2021- each region will have an allocation of surfers that can qualify for the CS through their regional tour- Australia/Oceania will receive an allocation of ten men's and eight women's spots onto the Challenger Series.