Island option the way to go if things are looking a little flat
THE past week we have seen the surf along the Surf Coast at its lowest ebb, with summertime east to south-easterly winds not only making for a cold and messy ocean but also not even delivering any real decent swell to surf.
It happens every summer at some stage and we shouldn’t complain too much after what was a decent January of surf along the coastline.
So how do we handle these south-easterly poor conditions?
There are not a lot of options along the Surf Coast so usually, especially during February, one of the best locations to surf in Australia is not that far away: Phillip Island.
Easterly wind patterns are actually offshore at a lot of locations on the island and there’s an abundance of surf breaks you can access.
Woolamai Beach, close to the island’s entrance, is one of my favourite beach breaks anywhere in the world. It can deliver powerful surf that should only be tackled by experienced surfers. The rips that can and often do appear on tidal changes can be seriously challenging, but the waves can also be world-class.
At the other end of Phillip Island lies a playground of fun protected waves that are all sheltered from the easterly winds and lie inside Cat Bay.
All you need is a little bit of swell and the right incoming tides and you’ll find an abundance of waves to suit just about any level of surfing.
The other choice is to head north to Queensland. Their cyclone season has just begun and it’s pumping right now on the Gold Coast points.
In surf business news, I was not surprised to hear that Kelly Slater has invested in the world’s biggest mass-produced surfboards, which run under the label of Firewire.
Apparently Firewire are leading the race in producing eco-friendly surfboards, which is possibly what interests Slater. Without knowing his other business interests that well, it does appear he involves himself in products that he agrees with, such as recycled clothing, low sugar content health drinks and healthy food products such as chia seeds.
Firewire surfboards are popular globally. As a massproduced product they are one surfboard that is surfed in highest level competitions by some of the elite athletes.
It will be interesting to see how Slater influences the Firewire brand with designs. Four-day surf forecast: Windaffected and small conditions each day. Choppy messy waves today and Friday, clean on Saturday but very small then back to messy and small on Sunday — not great.