The forecast swell never seemed to have arrived, mainly due to the southerly direction. It did hit over three metres at Naturaliste yesterday but the Cape is keeping it from us.
At the moment it is to small to surf and the tide is a bit low anyway.
My other predictions were for the Quikie Pro. They weren't much better. Josh Kerr went out early and Taj in the quarters. Both Mick and Parko are still kicking. The finals need to be run today as it is the end of the waiting period. Marges starts this weekend but the tour surfers don't need to be here for a few days.
Don't know what the beach is like and probably won't get there until late this arvo. My guess is that its the same as it would have been yesterday. Its offshore and there is a little swell. There are a few banks around but they are pretty fat.
Plenty of swell around and off shores this morning. I didn't want to torture myself by checking it on the way to work but I suspect it was pretty messy with the wonky swell and small wave banks. I could have been wrong but it kept my sanity at work.
I wandered around my office and cruelly told one of the blokes, who is a bit of a big wave hell man, that Coastalwatch had Marges as 10 foot. He couldn't jump on the swell cams fast enough but we both felt a little better as it was a decent size but a bit drunk looking. We did see one guy get fully pitted at the little bank south of Smith reef but it was crowded and fluky.
Swell is still up around the 0.7 mark and holding steady. The forecast if for it to slowly ease over the next couple of days but with south west winds. First thing Saturday might be ok or the trip down south for a sheltered spot or two (hopefully the crowd will be surfed out).
Taj has lost his first heat in his last four contests at Snapper. On the positive side it was the final and he was beaten by Slater in terrible waves. With a forecast of howling onshores and bad weather for the limited time that remained in the waiting period the organisers were stuck running it today and hoping the lower tide made for decent waves. Still the best two surfers all event made the final and now sit one and two leading into Bells.
The TV News is reporting that Slater will join Burrow at next month's Margaret River Pro prime event. They should be joined by some talent as everyone scrambles to avoid or take advantage of the mid-season cut. Now we just need the weather to change and some swell to arrive.
Best hack of the day - Martin Potter in the legends heat. Killed it like he was still 16.
QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST FINAL MATCH-UPS:
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 11.20
2 – Taj Burrow (AUS) 10.17
QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST SEMIFINAL MATCH-UPS:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.77 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 8.20
SF 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.56 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 11.40
QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.40 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 9.06
QF 2: Tiago Pires (PRT) 14.64 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.40
QF 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.30 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 11.60
QF 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.03 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 9.95
ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 5 (After Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast):
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 10,000 points
2. Taj Burrow (AUS) 8,000 points
3. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 6,500 points
3. Tiago Pires (PRT) 6,500 points
5. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 5,200 points
5. Brett Simpson (USA) 5,200 points
5. Dusty Payne (HAW) 5,200 points
5. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 5,200 points
Unbelievably flat. The harbour buoy was showing six centimetres and the Naturaliste buoy was only 0.6. I can't remember it ever being that flat. The wind was lighter with a touch of north in the east.
I had to work and drive to Augusta and back. It was flat everywhere, including the easy to get to swell magnets. The only waves I saw were in Augusta. They were onshore, dribbly and about gut height but after the last few weeks I was spewing I didn't have a mal with me.
Marges was dead flat. I have never been there when there have been no waves at all. The river mouth looked like Bunbury, Smith light Diamond pool and Yallingup suitable for water skiing only.
This afternoon the wind was a little onshore southerly but it hasn't brought up the swell.
TB has lost to Josh Kerr despite being in a strong position for most of the final. Taj locked in two eights and even Kerr thought he was done. With about five to go he took off on a wave and decided to put on a show for the crowd. Two big airs later and he had a 10. He backed it up with another air and Taj was left with three firsts and a second in his last four events.
FuelTV has been showing the event live for the last day or so which is good because the webcast has been crappy.
Size hasn't been an issue at the Margaret River Pro. Running it when I'm at work and probably the worst website ever for a WQS prime event has.
When you can finally find the results (try here as they aren't accessable from the MR Pro site) you'll find the men are almost finished round 3 (or the round of 48) and the women have complete two rounds. Taj Burrow has been on fire and has made the best of the conditions. His next heat has him against a Brazillian and some one from Uraguy. Yadin Nichol is the other West Aussie still in it but he has a horror heat with two WCT surfers Hawaiian Kekoa Bacalso and last year's surprise packet Aritz Aranburu.The big name to drop out is Parko who didn't make it out of his very low scoring first heat
Both Hopgoods are still in as is Mick Fanning, Ace Buchan and Bede Durbridge. If they get good waves heat five will be a killer - Ace v Mick v Damo.
Some strong heats in the womens event. WA's Felicity Palmateer is the only non-WCT surfer in her heat but Clare B has an easier time. Laura Macaulay is still in it in a winnable heat in decent waves. Heat four has a glamour girl (Blanchard), a world champ (Hedges) and the daughter of a world champ (Curren). This followed by the WCT rookie (Enever), the blogging model (Hosseni who is very honest that the 8 foot second day had her scared) and Owen's sister Tyler Wright.
Call it whatever you want, it will always be the Masters. The Drug Aware Margaret River Pro, a 6 star WQS event, starts Monday after the trials this weekend.
Jake Patterson has fallen from his lofty WCT position in retirement. Not only does he have to enter his "home" event via the trials (which he won from WAs Dave Delroy-Carr) but they spelt his name wrong on the results page of their website.
With the upcoming move to a single ranking system and a short break between Snapper and Bells, this years Pro has some decent heats right from the first round. Just about every heat contains a former WCT surfer and round 1 (the round of 128) has two former world champs (Occy and Sunny). Sunny is up against Bra Boy and big wave charge Mark Mathew, which should make a good heat if there is some swell (the Naturaliste Buoy is over two metres and heading straight up).
This year's Pro is a bit of a family event. The Macauley family have only two entrants, Bronte and Laura, after Dad Dave got knocked out in the first round of the trials. The Gudazkus brothers are here as are brother and sister combos Owen and Tyler Wright (Owen won the Boost Surfsho comp today) and Mason and Coco Ho from Hawaii.
Others of interest in round 1 include Frenchman Patrick Bevan who threw a pile of spanners in the championship works last year in Europe as a wildcard., John John Florence who isn't little anymore and Nat Young, the American grommett not the former world champ.
The WCT surfers are seeded into round two (round of 96). Taj is in the first heat and on a red hot roll. Yadin Nichol takes on Dan Ross in heat four. WA's Ry Craike is in heat 10 with world champ Mick Fanning up against Josh Carr and German Marlon Lipke. Joel is in the last heat of the round against Chris Ward and Dayan Neve. Kai Otten will be one to look out for. The waves suit his style and he surfed well at Snapper. He is against 2008 WQS champ Nathaniel Curran, who must be disappointed with his WCT performance last year.
There's a few big names in the Women. Courtney Conlouge from the US is an amatuer world champ who impressed in big Huntington Beach during the last US Open. Alana Blanchard will be hoping for big waves to show her stuff after a poor 2010 was brightened by a QS win in Hawaii. Bethany Hamilton will return and Erica Hosseini, an American also does media and modelling work is blogging her way here. According to her feed she arrived a few day ago and has had two waves and as many coffees.
There is a few waves down south but with a little bit of southerly on them. The tide is super low. There was a dog running around on the reef at Marges where it would normally be waist deep !
Not looking good for a while unless we get some cyclone swell !
A proper winter front has been battering us all day and half of last night. The swell is huge, hitting nearly seven metres at Naturaliste and over two in the harbour. This makes it pretty much the biggest swell this year and with more bad weather to come it could kick up more.
Swellnet.com.au is predicting 15 foot plus at Marges for the next three days but the gale force winds will stop the crazies.
The Wall was the only place surfable this afternoon and had attracted a good crowd. There was a mix of stand up and body boarder, groms and grown ups. The size was around head height on the take off for the sets and one guy was linking from way out the back.
Watch some of the action. Left the better camera at home so you'll have to excuse the quality.
Usually when I can hear the ocean from my bed its one of those super still summer nights and the waves are mini-zippers cracking on the shore.
Last night was different. Last night it was the deep resonance of a big swell pounding away.
Feedback from yesterday was that the swell is super thick and pinned my friend to the bottom as he tried to duck dive. Big horror drops and poundings were the name of the game.
Surfalert are calling 12 =- 15 ' at Marges on Sunday !
Up for the early despite the cold to find the swell is very small and the wind from the north. Swell period is way up.
After an hour of walking and watching we called it off.
The Bay has waves for boogers but thats about it. They are wedging both off the south and north walls and the sidewards waves look better than those coming inwards. Lots of weed though.
The Surf Club has its learner IRB drivers out again so this is a good place to avoid.
Lots of black clouds on the horizon and one swell forecast has it at 8'+ at Marges by late this arvo. We'll see.
