It's been a lean old month on the East Coast, particularly the southern half. May is usually the 'surfers month' because it's generally consistent, yet this year defied the norm - it was flat for weeks. The swell drought first broke with a south swell that hit last Saturday, quickly followed by a fairly innocuous looking low forecast to top up the quota yesterday.

The swell hit right on time, however rather than bathing the lower East Coast with uniform southerly lines it was one of those swells that hit the 'magical numbers' for some stretches. While 5' - 6' was forecast and matched in most regions, others, notably Cronulla and the Illawarra, reported the biggest ridable waves in recent memory.

Though it was mostly in the 10'-12' range, around midday 15' sets hit a semi-rare wave near Shellharbour. Sandon Point, so often in the shadow of south swells, was in the 8' range most of the day with occasional 10' sets. While to the north the Cronulla stretch, particularly the northern end of Bate Bay, magnified the swell to the max. Jeremy Wilmotte and Spud rode Voodoo arguably as big as any session Jim Banks, Gary Hughes, or Rusty Moran had ever had out there, and the Merries Reefs were...how big? Check today's Wave Of The Day and put your own size on it.

The term 'magical numbers' refers to the characteristics of a swell - size, direction, and, most importantly, period - agreeing with the bathymetry and alignment of certain coastlines so they combine to squeeze every bit of energy out of the available swell. This is likely what happened yesterday. Stay tuned for a hindcast of the swell plus photos and video updates.

And here's the video of today's Wave Of The Day for all those people calling bullshit.