"This morning, surfers were walking around the carpark stunned," said photographer Steve Arklay of the scene at the Bells/Winki carpark early on Monday morning.
"At any other time it would've been an epic day, but, "explains Steve, "everyone was tired and densensitised to what we'd just seen."
What they'd 'just seen' was a steady, incremental improvement in swell since the episode began last Wednesday, and which culminated in a Sunday for the ages. Long lines of swell, mixing between 8' - 12' feet, pulled taut with a steady westerly wind - arguably a little too steady at times - and the passing weather throwing a typically Victorian show: rainbows, scudding clouds, angled light...you name it.
It was both the first day of spring and Fathers Day too, giving every old pirate paddling an 8'0" reason enough to stay out long beyond what would be considered a normal session.
The first few photos are from Saturday - I'm a sucker for a rainbow - and the rest were taken on Sunday.
All photo by Steve Arklay. The video is from Swellnet's Winkipop camera.
Comments
Awesome pics
Thank You
fantastic!
Beautiful groundswell lines and stiff offshore wind -
that cam clip is out of this world, wow.
Lovely shots Steve, love the windy, moody ones with that light.
Cheers Craig - I sure was pinching myself all day !! Feels like a dream now !
The Bells shot with the rainbow!! Surely thats a keeper.
Awesome few days captured by one of the best photogs around here. Not sure if this has been given a plug on Swellnet before, hopefully this gets a few more of your books out into the world.
https://a-frame.com.au/
Thanks icandig - Greatly appreciate the plug. The boys here at Swellnet are kindly going to plug the book when its ready for delivery. Just pre-sales at the moment and hopefully arriving very soon. Cheers
amazing pics - last years swell on the day seemed bigger (angle related?)
Looks like heaven.
AW. . . Did the McTavish BlueBird get a Run ?
Udo . Hi mate. Hope ya well.
To be brutally honest, I didn’t even get a toe in the water.
Had great plans, for the first time in a while , all went to shit.
Friday, I just finished building a big water feature, had been lugging, rolling, lifting heavy rocks all week.. Body was fucked.
Woke at 5am Saturday morning, body said no, then the mind said the same thing.
Got to be on point for surfing large waves. ( Nearly drowned in huge surf at Lances Right a few years ago in very large surf, ill prepared and a brand new leggie that snapped clean in half on its maiden outing)
I tee up with my mate for a Sunday morning dawn car park rendezvous . All good.
My son texts me Saturday night around 8pm , I don’t see him often, says he’s coming down from Melbourne to see me for Fathers Day.
That put a halt to all surfing. I’m still spewing. All ive done is been miserable watching all the great photos, video and endless Winki Cam shots.
That’s surfing for you. It’s as unpredictable as the ocean itself. All the best . AW
Beautiful waves and photos, thanks Steve & Swellnet for sharing the weekend's splendor.
Reminds me how great the pro surfers are now, carving into big Bells walls...
https://www.9news.com.au/national/surfer-lifted-to-safety-jan-juc-torqu…
Please dont try practicing these maneuvers at your crowded spot full of learners... .
Great photos Steve , I'm a sucker for rainbows as well
Unreal photos Steve and coverage on the swellnet camera, some of those sets late in the arvo were huge and perfect, wonder how big it was down south around Port Cambell.
And on the 5th day ....
God came ....
Unfortunately i carnt show the pic from the morning surf cam overlooking Bells..
(Tech problems)
Its a classic
The sun is on the Cliff
and there is nothing but foam & swell..between Jan Jac & Bells ..
...get into Boys
Im 70 now but ..my crutches dont allow me ..
,,,,Fuck fuck fuck..
Also I forgot ..
Thank you to the
"Wadawurrung" peoples..,
I think i got that right..
For sharing the their land
Hey Swellnet ....
Got a potential new term to describe the Vic swell for last week thats continuing ..
"South Ocean Spaghetti Lines" ...."SOSL"s
(The SOS bit is accidental)
They stream from Vic/Tas west for 5000 kms then under WA diverge sth continuing in parallel all the way to the southern artic... (fuck I hate to be on that little island down their defending Oz territory) ....
Awesome photos. An incredible run. Even western port came alive
A few from Westernport... Not Bells but pretty impressive for inside the bay
https://imgur.com/a/YpU1TUW
Great days - Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday - for some reason - oh year Fathers Day - lay day! The shape and consistency was something that amazed me. Perfect offshore, tides meant you could go out there at any time meaning crowds were low - epic surf Puzzled! Well said.
Wonder how the size compares with 81’ bells it seemed bigger on the sets but wind as buggery.
I was there as a grom in 81. The cliffs shook, and the whole bay seemed to close out on some sets. It was big.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>