Gallery: Christmas in July
The East Coast has been pumping for days straight, with the energy only just starting to tail off today.
Endless sets from the east, groomed by offshore winds, originating from an out of season synoptic setup reminiscent of a mini 'Black Nor'easter'.
We'll go over this unique setup in another article this afternoon, but effectively we saw east-northeast winds extending for days from the Tasman Sea, up into the Coral Sea and over the back of New Zealand. I gave a heads up on this scenario two weeks ago and it's good to see it come off.
For those in lockdown across the greater Sydney region it's been both blessing and a curse with stay at home orders allowing plenty of surf time, but with that comes the crowds.
Patience was the key as well as thinking outside the square a little, though no corner was left unpopulated.
Sunday saw all day offshore winds as the strongest of the swell started to muscle up into the afternoon and evening, with Monday being the standout not just across southern NSW but most of the East Coast with clean groomed sets either side of 6ft.
Below are images taken around lockdown city.
Eduardo Mattei with a blank canvas
Tyron Raines and some heavy water
Sam Bond guided by the light
Axel Curotta, locked and loaded
Very poor form!
Axel Curotta
Comments
Nice shots, Craig
X2
And a public shaming to boot.
Nice.
Awesome Craig. Even better that you called it 2 weeks ago. That's some next-level forecasting right there.
Oh man that 3rd shot... feels like forever since winter looked like that here.
Sheezas Craig great shots the light in some is exceptional meanwhile here another front rolls over howling onshore winds horizontal rain
They’re sensational Craig. Love those backlit ones with the pine trees.
3rd shot Craigos sick one
Beautiful pics!!
Beachies don’t get much better. Not here in vicco at least!
I remember when I did a certificate 3 in photography, a particularly inspiring teacher explained that anyone can learn the skills of photography, the mechanics of aperture, shutter speed, iso, flattened perspective etc; but the most important thing is to just fucken be where you need to be. The enthusiasm, the energy, the editing. Hats off to ya Craig.
Thanks guys, got a new lens after accidentally dropping the old one, doh. It's working a treat!
Those last two shots of the backside barrel are pretty cool. It’s interesting to look at the board, as it looks to me a little wide and “plankish” - like a shortened old plank or something- looks good , although I normally surf “short boards” from around 5’10” to around 10’, I’ve had some amazing barrels on the old style planks - around 12’ - and even soft boards - it’s a challenge that requires more attention to timing and positioning, but sometimes the old planks just fall into place on a good barrel - especially bigger barrels- and the tube riding is great, and the boards look beautiful doing barrels as well and it can be more about the board than the rider. Helps if there’s a bit of room in the barrel but those old planks can really work a treat. Bigger boards have a certain presence and cool thing going that you don’t get with short boards. But bigger boards are more dangerous in a crowded lineup though, so some intelligence and ability is called for, I hope!
Here's the video of that bomb set from image 9..
Sooo lockdown Sydney means driving all over the coast looking for an uncrowded surf? Classic corony !