This Victorian winter hasn't been that bad for surfers. The pattern is about to undergo a serious transformation starting this weekend, as the southern Australian coast is slammed by back-to-back groundswells – forecast to persist for nearly two weeks.
The Billabong Pro Tahiti Trials has earnt a reputation of dishing up some of the heaviest competition waves in the world outside of an ASP World Tour event. So what's in store for this year's Trials which kick off this weekend?
Following a sporadic start to winter, the whole East Coast is on target for a pumping east swell beginning this Friday as a broad belt of trade-winds develop above New Zealand.
The all day offshore and late arvo glass off are two special phenomenas that make for magic post-lunch or after work sessions. But why are they so rare in summer and only start to show more prominently into autumn and winter?
Such is the enormity of this typhoon, wind speeds are forecast to gust to 280km/h around the centre of Soulik as the pressure bottoms out at a phenomenal 915hPa this evening.
The most interesting, and also the best, characteristic regarding low pressure systems that form close to the coast are the wide range of winds available in a very short stretch of coastline. The following lesson is something to keep in mind the next time a similar sytem strikes.
With Kelly the victor in Fiji the ASP now moves the circus from one great wave region to another. And while they both boast high quality waves the differences are many; Fiji features big barrels over unforgiving reef, while Keramas is best compared to a skate park throwing up everything from barrels to racing walls for carves and aerials.
With this in mind we'll probably see the competition run over the coming 4 days before going back into a holding pattern.
When the LWT stalls and amplifies east of New Zealand, Southern Ocean storms are supercharged and steered deep into the South Pacific on a course towards Tahiti.
