Lookback: Six Epic Rides From A Week To Remember
Some rides to help us recall how 2021 moved from autumn to winter.
Nick Carroll
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Barrels, barrels, barrels. So many barrels. Enough to wear anyone out. Enough to tire us out just watching cam rewinds. That was the story of how the seasons changed along the eastern seaboard this year. Courtesy of Jesse Little and Spencer Frost, here’s some gems to remember it by.
Nick Vasicek and Dion Atkinson, Kirra. Nick was one of the early birds on May 25, when the first pulse of the week struck the nation’s most cylindrical piece of sand.
A Thing Of Great Cultural Power
While the pros struggled for a three foot wave on Rotto, it was life and death in the shorey at Newcastle Beach.
Mike Clayton-Brown, doing it for Merewether. All photos: Ethan Smith.
Sean Doherty
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Australian surfers will bleed for their club. From the second Tyler Wright was washed into the ocean pool at Cronulla back in 2014, her legrope snagged around the guide chain, Tyler getting smashed against the concrete wall while chasing an extra point for her hometown club of Culburra, you knew the idea of a national boardriders’ event was a thing of great cultural power.
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
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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.”
The Weirdest WSL Week Ever, Pumping Kirra, and Nate Florence s Backdoor Gem
Ten Things from Surfing & the Internet on the Week That Was December 18 2020
Photo: WSL / Bielmann
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1. Pipe Masters got the Rona
Was this the most bizarre week in the WSL’s time as an organisation? It has to be a contender, right? To recap: on Sunday, Aus time, the WSL announced that they were halting the Pipe Masters “as a result of positive COVID-19 tests within the WSL staff, including WSL CEO Erik Logan”.
Who could have foreseen that coming? The running of an international sporting event in a public and natural environment, in a country easily hitting over 2000 COVID-related deaths a day? But what came next was even more bizarre. Following the suspension of their competition, the WSL went completely silent. They didn’t post on Instagram or Facebook for a full five days. Not once. To put that in context, they normally hit around eight posts a day on each of those platf
Watch: Kirra and Noosa Fire Up As Chaotic Tropical Swell Arrives
So how did the points fare? Here s how
Surfline
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Well it certainly wasn’t easygoing when the first big push of the east coast tropical swell window hit Southern Queensland on Sunday and Monday, December 13-14. There was a lot of weather – rain, wind, huge tides and an aggressive swell –combining to make things pretty difficult. Aussie WSL commentator Ronnie Blakey copped a lip to the leg on Sunday and suffered tibial plateau fracture – helped from the water, ambulance, the whole deal (get well soon Ronnie!) – “A lot of rainwater making those lips collapse without notice…” explained Kirra icon and 1978 World Champ Rabbit Bartholomew, on Ronnie’s Instagram. But amongst the chaos were some frothy chocolate barrels at Kirra and Noosa.