The run of big swell has come to an end with a couple of days of cranky two footers all there was to keep Cronulla surfers busy this week.
After another period of perfect offshores, the swell died right back, which may help bring some of the sand sitting out the back into the wave zone and build some new banks.
Yesterday 1-2 ft east swell has swung a bit this morning, giving surfers a few more options at the southern end of the beach, but it's going to sit around the waist-high mark until Thursday when a strong nor-east flow pushes the wave height up for Friday which will see the biggest day of the week-a 3-5ft east-sou-east special before dropping back over the weekend.
There will still be very surfable waves and the winds are also predicted to be kind, so everyone should make the most of it.
A Joan Duru Gold medal has led France to the ISA Team Title and our own Sally Fitzgibbons has made history with her third Gold after the Surf City El Salvador ISA World Surfing Games.
Team France was crowned the Team Gold Medalist of the 2021 Surf City El Salvador ISA World Surfing Games on Sunday at the break of La Bocana-Japan took Silver, Portugal Bronze and Peru Copper.
Lead by an individual Gold Medal from Joan Duru and a Bronze Medal from Jeremy Flores. Team France surpassed the Silver Medal Team Japan in the day's final heat to emerge victorious among the 51-nation field. It is France's first Gold since they won and hosted the 2017 edition in Biarritz, France.
"I am so stoked I can't believe it yet," said Duru. "I did not expect to do this well at all. I've been at home for over a year. I lost sponsors. Then this contest came up, so I just got back into training four weeks ago. I can't believe I won."
Australia's Sally Fitzgibbons made history by becoming the first athlete to ever earn individual Gold three times in the World Surfing Games. Fitzgibbons first accomplished the feat in 2008 before earning her second Gold in 2018. 2021 marks her third Gold, which puts her in a category of her own and gives her a boost of momentum ahead of her Olympic debut.
"This event has been an unreal platform to test our mental strength," said Fitzgibbons. "It's surreal to be wearing the Gold Medal at the end of the week.
"This is a great runway heading into Tokyo 2020. Just competing and seeing all the Olympians get their spots is great. Being on the World Tour, we don't get to surf against many other Olympians. It's good practice to go against them and spend time bonding with the rest of the Aussie team.
"Surfing has finally arrived as a global sport. It's got the recognition now. We are going to the Olympics. It's cool to have that as a milestone in my career. I want to go as long as I can in the sport because I love it."
The Qualification System is now complete - and the 40 surfers now have to prepare for their Olympic debut.
All 40 athletes have qualified through the four qualifying events: 2019 WSL CT, 2021 World Surfing Games, 2019 World Surfing Games, and 2019 Pan American Games.
The 40 total qualifiers hail from 17 different countries, representative of the global reach and appeal of surfing.
Now surfing set its sight on Tokyo 2020, the debut of the sport on the Olympic stage.
A lot closer to home, the North Cronulla Junior Boardriders club held their third contest of the season in small but perfect offshore conditions at the Wall on Sunday.
Everyone was a winner but first past the post on the clean 2 footers went to-
Micro division boys-Bobby Wayne Johnston
Micro girls-Maya Tanko
girls U12 Boys-Andy Greenrod
U12 Girls-Kalani Anderson
U14 Boys-Lucas Correia
U14 Girls-Oceane Coppleson
U16 Boys-Tully Bryant
U16 Girls-Rome Southwell