Heads Up for big swells SEQ/NNSW coast – surf photos anyone?
With the east coast low currently off the coast there are big swells forecast for the next few days, accompanied by morning time low tides which will be well suited to surf/ocean photography. I’ll be off to D’bah/Snapper tomorrow and probaly Monday & Tuesday too. If anyone wants to meet up email me (I have it enabled here) for my mobile # and give me yours so I can program you in – I only answer relevant calls when I am out shooting – then just come down and look for the big yellow Kia van and ring me if you cannot find me.
Source for this is Willy Weather - http://swell.willyweather.com.au/nsw/far-north-coast/durranbah-beach.html
|
Day |
Time of Low Tide(am) |
Swell (m) |
|
|
am |
pm |
||
| Sunday |
0608 |
2.8 |
3.3 |
| Monday |
0700 |
3.8 |
3.8 |
| Tuesday |
0810 |
3.6 |
3.4 |
| Wednesday |
0926 |
3.5 |
3.3 |
Vale Andy Irons
Vale Andy Irons, originally uploaded by Photography by Odille.
A great talent and nice guy lost to the surfing and sporting community.
Shown here winning his heat at the 2008 Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks.
PLEASE NOTE: I have made this pic available via my RedBubble shop and have set this print to a NIL% markup – I make no profit from this image, it is up here as a tribute ony.
64th Bristol Salon (2010) acceptance
The Green Dream (PY7Z9481), originally uploaded by Photography by Odille.
I entered a few images and was delighted to have this shot accepted for the 64th Bristol International Salon of Photography (2010). From 215 entries in the Open category from Australia only 39 were accepted. I feel very honoured.
Wild surf weather due to TC Ului
The 2 tropical cyclones currently active (Ului – off Townsville/Mackay & Tomas – off Fiji) are affecting the surf on practically all the Qld coast. Tragically, a younf ironman from Sydney has died at competition at Kurrawa beach.
However, yesterday the southern Gold Coast beaches had a big pumping swell, with waves of about 2m and there were a lot of surfers out. The swells breaking over the rocks with huge bursts of spray sounded like rolling thunder, and I swear the ground shook a couple of times!
Quiksilver Pro kicks off today
The 2010 Quiksilver Pro starts today with the trials. Surf predictions are for waves reaching 2ft-3ft, with slightly larger swell on the more exposed south facing beaches. Southerly winds predicted, and best spots on the points at low tide and beach breaks in the morning, before the wind picks up.
The Quiksilver and Roxy Pros are based at Coolangatta at the iconic Snapper Rocks surf break, famous for its Superbank, but it’s a mobile event. If the waves aren’t working there, organisers have an enviable array of options with Duranbah, Kirra and Burleigh Heads all world class spots close by, both for the competitor and the spectator.
I’ll be covering as much of it as I can and downloading via my laptop on the trot where I can.
Below are a couple of shots from 2008, when I last covered it in depth
Kelly Slater during his victorious winning ride in the final
Local champ Mick Fanning during his semi-final round
More Breaka Burleigh Surf Pro shots – Sun 21 Feb 2010
Spent the whole day at Burleigh, I arrived there at 6.15 am to get a good parking spot. Had a wander round, bought myself a delicious breakfast the The Bluff cafe, and had a great day shooting.
The event was won by Taj Burrow (AUS), claiming the inaugural 2010 Association Of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) 4-Star, Breaka Burleigh Pro.
He defeated Josh Kerr (AUS), Owen Wright (AUS) and Dusty Payne (HAW) who finished second to fourth respectively in an exhilarating four-man final.
Burrow exploded out of the gates with a blistering 9.10 (out of a possible 10), going on to register a combined two-wave total of 17.30 (out of a possible 20) to Kerr’s 15.67, Wright’s 14.60 and Payne’s 8.73. The shot below is from his 9.10 scoring ride, and shows why he was a fitting winner in this event
Bound for Glory
And then he ‘rolled over’ and gave the crowd a triumphant fist pump
And a montage of this manouvre, showing 6 shots over 2 seconds of action (click on the image for a larger size) Full size image (18000 pixels wide) is available as a print, please contact me for a price
In the first heat of the day, on the very first wave surfed, Corey Ziems broke a board.
The board breaking ride
The handover of the new board by ‘caddy’ Mick Fanning
And the sad remnants collected by another surfer
Unfortunately Corey never seemd to quite get it back together and finished 4th in that heat.
While I had a great day’s shooting, I did get somewhat wet. Another fellow and myself were watching this storm front come closer . . . and closer and when it hit it was big. Lasted for about 75 minutes of very heavy rain, but you’ll be pleased to hear I kept right on shootin’. I squelched for the rest of the day, but I kept on. The camera had its raincoat on but silly me had left MY rain poncho in the other bag. Oops! Won’t do that again, no matter how fine it looks.
(click to see full panoramic image)
And a few more name surfers
Mick Fanning was unfortunate enough to have his heat in the worst of the rain, it flattened the waves and visibility was very low as well.
More coming . . . .
The first semi final was the pick of the day surfing wise and was a very aerial affair. One of the judges commented he had never seen so many aerials in one heat.
Among the marvellous manouvres, Josh Kerr of Lennox Head blasted his way to perfect 10 score (from a two wave aggregate of 19.7) with moves like this.
And also scoring high were Josh Kerr of Coolangatta
Brent Dorrington of also Coolangatta
and James ‘Taipan’ Woods of Byron Bay.
Owen Wright and Josh Kerr progressed to the final, along with Taj Burrows and Dusty Paine. With quality surfers like these guys on the circuit, I can’t wait for the Quiksilver Pro!
Breaka Burleigh Surf Pro
http://www.breakaburleighsurfpro.com.au/
I had a great time but couldn’t process any pics due to power fluctuations last night. Done a quick couple before I set off for the day.
These are James ‘Taipan’ Wood who with a 15.33 aggregate pushed Mick Fabbing onto second place in their heat. Both these shots were taken in the same wave – he got the tube and rode it well and then had an incredibly long floater, I have 4 frames, it seemed to go on forever.
I will be down there again today, on the rocks in front of the commentary box somewhere. If anyone comes down, some over and say Hi. I plan to arrive at Burleigh at 6 (with DST I leave home at 6.30 and get there at 6, neat huh?) to get a good parking spot.
In the tube
Rising the crest
Surf’s Up for the Quiksilver Pro
Thought I would mosey on down to Snapper Rocks and Duranbah for a check of the surf and the talent.
A very windy day, as shown by the 6 attached pics, for the first time ever there I saw windsurferssurfers, and they were powering along.
Half a board at Duranbah Beach 18 Feb 2010
And there were some great manouvres going on out in the surf.
D’bah 18 Feb 2010
Tackling the big rough waves at D'bah 18 Feb 2010
Carving through the surf, D'bah 18 Feb 2010
D'bah 18 Feb 2010
Stay tuned here for daily photos and reports from the Quiksliver Pro 2010 and Roxy Pro 2010 from Snapper and D’bah.
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27 April 2012 | Categories: Commentary, Competitions, Surfing | Leave A Comment »