With less than week to go until the waiting period of the Billabong Pipe Masters, all eyes are fixed on the charts. Will the World Title showdown get swell befitting the occasion?
In the coming week a rare event will take place in the North Pacific ocean: effectively every country in the region - from the Solomon Islands clockwise around to Mexico - will receive swell from a sole source.
Australia's eastern states have just exited the worst winter surf season in recent history. If you're a Sydney surfer and you've seen a wave over three feet you can count yourself lucky. So, the questions have to be asked: What is causing the recent lack of waves?
This Victorian winter hasn't been that bad for surfers. The pattern is about to undergo a serious transformation starting this weekend, as the southern Australian coast is slammed by back-to-back groundswells – forecast to persist for nearly two weeks.
When the LWT stalls and amplifies east of New Zealand, Southern Ocean storms are supercharged and steered deep into the South Pacific on a course towards Tahiti.
But there is good news ahead. The much discussed Long Wave Trough (info here) is about to enter a strengthening phase in the Southern Ocean, and we're looking at two to three weeks of heavy swell activity for the southern states.
There'll be plenty of swell, but not from Bells' ideal direction.
This indicates an above average chance of a good swell
