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DON'T DREAM IT'S OVER
The Autumn festival of swell on the Gold Coast has finally subsided
Category: General
Posted by: tim
I guess it had to happen sooner or later. After nearly two months of almost constant waves, the Gold Coast is as close to flat as it has been for a very long time. Ever heard people say, "If it was six foot and perfect all the time you wouldn't appreciate it because it wouldn't be anything special"? Or something similar. Well, surfers on the GC have come very close to inhabiting just such a world for the last couple of months and I think I speak for most of us when I say, it was special and we did appreciate it. I can recall skipping across the sand on more than a few mornings, simply incredulous that it was still there, that I could paddle out at my local break into perfect four to six foot barrels again, and again and again. It got to the point where you could happily sit and watch perfect waves and not even get wet, confident in the knowledge that it had been there yesterday, and the day before that and the day before that, and it would most likely be there tomorrow and, etc, etc, you get the idea. You read a lot of hype about swells, especially on the net - best Kirra in a decade, best swell ever, etc, but I think it is fair to say this has been the best run of consistent swell most of us can remember. Autumn is always a glorious time of year here, and in most places if you ask me, but this one has been a cracker. I reckon Bruce Brown got it wrong - Endless Autumn should have been the name of his surf movie classic.
Speaking of surf movies, you've gotta feel for the crew from the "Drive Thru" series of videos, who recently arrived on our fair shores for "Drive Thru Australia." Donovan, Pat O'Connell, Benji Weatherely and crew flew in on the red eye from WA yesterday only to be greeted by flat seas and that dreaded refrain, "you should have been here a week ago." They had apparently also arrived in WA the day after Taj was calling his local break as good as it gets. Hope the boys get some waves here, most likely a moderate south bump later in the week. They are a curious bunch, the Drive Thru crew, these mature age pro surfers, keeping the dream alive and churning out surf videos in an age when the free cover mount DVD has supposedly killed independent surf movie productions. Occy is playing host for their Australia leg so they are unlikely to be bored while here.
Oh, and jet skis still suck.