Good-Epic: Empty (!) Kirra, May 25
Solid swell graces dawn patrol at the Gold Coast s finest pointbreak
Nick Carroll
Link copied to clipboard
Photo: Andrew Shield
Everyone on the Gold Coast knew it was coming. Nobody expected it at 7:50am. The expert consensus among Goldie aficionados was to wait for the afternoon’s low tide, but the east swell called in by Surfline’s forecast team showed up a few hours early. The key to its early arrival? Stronger winds in the swell’s original fetch off northern New Zealand, where gales peaked at over 40 knots between 48 and 72 hours earlier. In any case, it meant that longtime Gold Coast photographer Andrew Shield, who ventured up on the hill overlooking Kirra in the early morning light, saw something almost nobody does this days maybe the finest sand point in the world, doing what it does best, with just a solo onlooker paddling towards it.
Out Of Nowhere, The Goldie Lights Up
And Kirra turns on a half day of real gold.
Kirra, 11am just a few in the water. What a day. Photo: Andrew Shield.
Nick Carroll
Link copied to clipboard
Nobody expected this. After three days of wonky onshores and a half-formed east swell, perfect Kirra just didn’t seem like it was on the radar.
When photographer Andrew Shield drove by just before sunrise, he says, “Kirra wasn’t even breaking. It was high tide and super fat.”
Mr Style, Asher Pacey, was one of the earlier arrivals. Photo: Shield.
Shieldsy kept driving, up to Snapper, and found it around three to four feet and also fat with that early high tide. “I thought, oh well, I’ll be shooting guys doing turns at Snapper.”
Australia s Epic Long Weekend
February 20-22 pumped, coast to coast.
North Narra, Monday morning. Photo: Matt Dunbar
Nick Carroll
Link copied to clipboard
There’s a dream day out there somewhere. A day when all of Australia’s 15,000-ks-plus of surfable coastline cranks as one.
Imagine how fried we’d all be! Imagine how many barrels would be ridden, how many broken boards would be sworn at, how many dings would have to be fixed. Imagine the half-empty classrooms and the hit to national Gross Domestic Product. Imagine the overall stoke.
He’s always barrelled! Taj Burrow, North Point Sunday session. Photo: Tom Pearsall