Much like the drop at Cape Solander this gallery is a tad late.

After nine days of knee-high tedium the 'swell' finally arrived for the final weekend of the Australian Open of Surfing. Short period, two to three foot waves propelled the finalists a bit further and a bit higher.

With the Chinese New Year having just been celebrated - Happy Year of the Horse everyone! - winter swells are still sliding in. Clean winds and clear conditions are the order of most days with plenty of surf time on offer

I've already written plenty about this session. But as I took my post-session photos with an old model iPhone and Jordan Barta was using something slightly more appropriate it's worth posting his shots also. Keen-eyed readers might notice the difference in quality.

Old Baldy continued the roll through the semis and into the final. Of course he won the thing. Laid down a 9.53 in the first ten seconds of the final. It was that sorta day.

They're rising up all over the Mentawai chain. Land camps, that is. And with mod-cons and speedboat access they're challenging the tourist tugs for the white fella's dollar.

After paddling big Jaws (on a soft top), and doing step offs at Pipe (on a soft top), Jamie O'Brien recently set up a mobile winch - known affectionately as The Grinch - on the beach at Waimea and whipped into the shorey, (on...yeah you know how it goes).

Keen eyed readers will know that last week we forecast the Sunny Coast to have a sustained run of swell, and that prediction is coming to pass. Although winds haven't always been co-operative there's been at least four foot of swell each day this week.

"I haven't seen a better display of tube riding in all the years I've been shooting." So said Hayden O'Neill, the resident photographer at Pohnpei Surf Club of a recent session at Palikir Pass.

The waiting period for the 2014 edition of the Volcom Pipe Pro begins tomorrow so before the first hooter sounds let's look back at the 2013 comp.