Though they had a good, and also unseasonal, swell in February, yesterday's swell on the Surf Coast feels like a turning point.
While Queensland and NSW surfers have revelled in La Niña's protracted visit, surfers in the southern states, particularly Victoria, have had a tough time of it. Active low pressure systems in the Tasman spell blocking highs to the west, often centred over the garden state, and they shunt swell-producing storms far to the south.
Yet the tough times appear over with a return to a more traditional storm progression below the continent. Says Craig Brokensha of this swell:
"A broad, slow moving Southern Ocean Gyre developed to the west of Tasmania earlier this week. Initially fronts rotating around the gyre were quite north in latitude, resulting in building westerly swell which slowly clocked more south as the gyre shifted east, projecting more southerly aligned winds up towards Victoria. The slow moving nature of the gyre allowed winds to hold out of the west for the peak of the swell instead of the usual south-westerlies seen with passing frontal systems."
And more broadly about the changes:
"After three years of persistent, blocking high pressure, the last couple of months of activity provides clear evidence of the break down of La Niña and its much welcomed walk out the door."
Yesterday, photographer Judy Scanlon rose early. The excitement of stacked lines warding off the early morning chill. "Not a bad day," said the typically understated Judy of the return to nomal transmission.
Not bad at all.
All photos by Judy.
Comments
Some huge waves in there!
No crowd. They all moved to Qld it would seem to scrap over waves at the Superbank and Noosa. Those waves look majestic.
Pumping! Great photos Judy.
Yep, captured the vibe beautifully. Great work Judy
Bloody good!
Love Judys pics.
Looks insane.
So happy for all the long sufferering Victorians!!
Very happy for them. First time in ages the vic forecast has outshone everywhere else. A classic series of sustained multi day pulses.
What an incredible day! Solid!!
Wow, solid sets!
Was hiding behind King Island on a tug vessel for 3 days during this swell. 10m waves recorded out at Thylacine platform. Winki looks like alot of fun, steep, open face, power. Similar to Jbay I reckon.
That must've been rad on the boat.
Epic day, long time coming. Was bigger and more crowded than these photos make it look I reckon, some massive sets through the morning. Scary. Everyone still buzzing today about it, everyone had a story at the reef I surfed this morning.
Yeah it looked like Easter had come early at 9.00am in the Bells carpark. A noticeable amount of interstate plates as well.
Probably 30 out at Bells at one point which is a bit hairy at that size and shifting around a bit.
All in all though good to see.
What size were most riding out there?
I used a 6'8" Desert Storm. Heard several stories of many who paddled out on a 6'4" or so and struggled - either to get out or get waves.
What size were the waves in your opinion...surf report said 4 to 6 ft...looked bigger than that... Unless we're doing Hawaiian measurements from the back of the wave now.?
Clearly bigger than 4-6’.
.......maybe 4-6ft somewhere on the SC but all shots ive seen say solid 6ft with 8ft++ sets.(i wont call 10' but only 'cause i wasnt there).For me,personally,just the thought of waxing up a 6'4" on a day like that would be a waste of energy
8' plus for sure. I heard 10' sets were coming through Bells through the morning. Speaking of board length, apparently Curren was out at Bells on what looked like a sub 6' board. He must be in town for the 25th anniversary screening of Searching for TC at the Astor today. Good timing! Hope some footage surfaces of his session....
Bells never gets bigger than 8ft+
Crew are too nervous to ever call 10ft
It only got 10ft for that comp in the 80s
If that wave out the back on the second shot from the Winki lookout looking back at Bells isn't 10 foot then the guy's either a midget or he's a knee boarder.
Spot on
Wonder how that bloke on the inside of that wave out the back felt in that moment…
8-10 easy
I was sitting further out at rincon than I have probably ever and a set broke 30m in front of me
Beautiful pics!!
Peninsula was great too - nice 5 foot sets in westernport - what a welcome to autumn!
Yes, W.P. was good . I really enjoyed it. It has n't been like that for ages!
The pines.
Gee I do miss Lowers wide ones, look the goods that day but sooooo many onshore shitty days in between that session...
Good to hear your stories. Patience rewarded.
Cracking shots from Judy.
I’ve got one of her photos from years back blown up on my wall at home. She sells her photos (well at least did in the past) if anyone’s interested.
wow, on those big walls you could easily share waves and not get in each others way. yet there is way less sharing than on the goldy where there are much smaller, shorter period waves.
Beautiful
Was this on Thursday or Friday........great photos.
Thursday.
Judy fanboy here.
Have always enjoyed her lineup shots.
Great shots!
Looks like the southern states have had a lot more swell than WA this year, flattest summer on record here . Great shots
As a kiwi from Raglan I just happened to end up at bells Thursday morning. I only had a 6'1" with me but borrowed a 6'10 and had a crack. But didn't get out first go and had a second crack at it before I got out there. It was bigger than Raglan has ever got and some sets during the morning were 4x overhead. I saw Tom currens board and it was 5'7 with some long extended fins and he seemed to go ok on it. But most guys seemed to be riding really big boards. Biggest surf I've ever had outside of Hawaii
So what was your overall impression with the waves?
People write Bells off but when it’s that size it’s such a good wave I think.
It can give you a nice hold down at that size
It was actually really nice shape and powerful. I didn't really have a clue on the paddle out and got a 3 wave flogging when I was nearly out and my leash held but a few others broke on that set. I couldn't figure out where I was and didn't want to end up on the button so went round for a second go. Got out the second time though but didn't catch much. Was super impressive to watch though. All my previous surfs out there have been way smaller only once have I had 5 foot. Looked like the side on view of mavericks on the big sets and I was definitely out of my comfort zone. Stoked I got it that Good though
Current would have been using
S -Wings fins .
Yeah but they looked like they were hand glassed on extensions. Looked pretty bizarre to me
So good.
There may not have been picturesque tubes over clear pacific sand bottomed water, but it sure is beautiful in its own way.
Winki looks like reverse outside corner.
Adam12 mentioned 'scary' and yep it was at times. Two observations: I thought the first wave of each set going past was really fast, like fast open ocean kind of thing. And second, it seemed to me (out in the hours around midday) that within a minute of a set passing through, you could see the horizon darkening with the next one inbound. Like there wasn't a respite. Good for the adrenalin production.
Question for Craig - in a sea state with really close together set timing, is it a normal thing to see outliers 50% bigger every hour/half hour or so?
Edit: when did the swell peak? Anyone get a snapshot of the buoy?
It was biggest with the push of the tide around 11-1pm
I made a similar observation with the Christmas day swell.
The first wave of the set was the one pushing the most water up onto the shoreline...although not close to the height of the following waves.
I figured the first wave was the start of an overall surge of water contained within the set due to the size (6m)
Happy to have that clarified as it was an unqualified guess at best.
Definitely the more active the sea state, the increased chances of constructive interference and wave, wave additions producing those larger rogue sets.
One thing I'll keep in mind when forecasting these closer range swells with fetches forming on top of active sea states. The fetch generating this southerly pulse wasn't overly strong, but it had been a very active period since the Tuesday leading up to the Thursday.
Cheers Craig, SR and dbut. Hadn't considered constructive interference. In fact I don't think I really clicked how the bigger ones form, just figured they arrive as some sort of stochastic outlier that's 'part of the program' or 'part of the regular transmission'. Managed to jag one many years ago in a big swell and it remains the biggest wave I've ever caught (nothing super human). My niece reckoned I looked like an ant going in haha.
Cheers DBut for the confirmation on timing.
And SR, wow, that swell must've been something else. I've seen a pretty big one impact from the cliffs east of Ocean Beach and was awe inspiring on the rocky bombie bits. Biggest wave I've ever seen in Oz was one that closed out Bells in 2009, that I had posted here some time ago. Just one, or two waves, out of the blue in a big, active sea state.
On 8.3.23 on the incoming tide at W.P. the sets kept coming in hard and fast and with some size and power. There was little or No chance to rest and wait for the next set and plenty of duck diving was required to get out there.
To all that are indigenous souled Victorians....
When "Bells tolls" perfectly.
... there's a magical feel in the atmosphere,
...you know the feel - cloud less sunny sky.
smelling the perfumed offshore of the light North Westers,
knowing a a big swell present alerting your surfing soul
You know from experience the earth and universe have aligned .... just for a moment.
It is a day for "Morning of the Earth" ..
Hears to "Perfect Bells Days".....
...it reminds you there will always be a... "God of Surf"...
.
...
P.S Anyone got shots of other West Coast locations... A la da Rock...?
Bells when it's got size is one wave you've got to pay huge respect to. I will never forget the close calls in the corner near the button. It's like a vertical bed of nails waiting for you
Almost 3 weeks have past and I’m still looking at these photos every day, even though I was about 300 kms down the coast from bells I scored great waves that are on a replay loop in my head as I drift of to sleep every night. I can’t wait for a repeat day.