Some good clean waves ahead

This has picked up the swell and yesterday afternoon onshore sets were rolling through and peaking around the 5 ft mark closing out on the outside banks.

Today the waves were still pretty good and around shoulder/head height with a brief window of clean winds for the early session-although the water is still very dirty from all the runoff from the Hacking and Georges River.

The tides are very extreme with the full moon and the banks we do have really need an incoming tide to show the best of it.

The forecast shows that this south swell will slowly swing to the Sou-east and drop to a low of 2 ft on Saturday with the winds going offshore from Friday all weekend.

The World Surf League 2021 Championship Tour will head to the Rip Curl Newcastle presented by Corona for the first stop of the Australian leg. The event window opens tomorrow and will host the world's best surfers through to April 11.

For the first time in over two decades, surfers will be competing for World Title points in New South Wales, and for the first time in almost 30 years, they'll be doing so in Newcastle, a city steeped in professional surfing history. The Rip Curl Newcastle Cup pres. by Corona will see the WSL Championship Tour descend on Merewether Beach with exciting match-ups expected from the opening Rounds.

Heat 4 of Women's Round 1 will see seven-time WSL Champion Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) take on Johanne Defay (FRA) and Bronte Macaulay (AUS), with all three competitors having won events at Merewether in the past.

The men's draw is filled with possible favorites as five of the last seven Qualifying Series winners at Merewether will compete in this year's CT competition. Injury replacements Mikey Wright (AUS) and Matt Banting (AUS) will come into the draw to replace Kelly Slater (USA) and Kolohe Andino (USA), respectively, as the American duo recover from foot and ankle injuries.

Connor surfs in heat seven against Ace Buchan and Jeremy Flores.

Surfing NSW and Mambo have come together in a partnership that will see the iconic Australian surf wear brand support a range of events and programs over the year.

The new partnership links in with Mambo's added support of junior surfers in the state,including Cronulla's April Davey and Jaya Wardana with Cooper Puttergill and Holly Wishart.

The team was carefully selected by Mambo's official sponsored athlete and former professional WSL Championship Tour surfer Blake Thornton, who will mentor the team throughout the season.

Surfing NSW CEO Luke Madden said Mambo is a quintessential Australian brand that has deep roots in the surf lifestyle.

Mambo CEO Paul Cannon, echoed Madden's sentiments, "We're so excited to see this partnership with Surfing NSW come together and to support the next generation of Surfing athletes. We're particularly proud of our Mambo Junior Surf Team and look forward to seeing them shine throughout all the events with guidance from Blake Thornton," said Cannon.

The alliance will see Mambo become a support partner of all 2021 Junior Regional Titles, the 2021 Australian Open of Surf series, Surfing NSW's Junior High-Performance Program and also activate at events in Port Macquarie and on Sydney's Northern Beaches.