Page 3 - Ben Macartney News Today

The swell hit quick and early. For at least one world champ, it hit hard.

The Great Autumn, Part Two: Gold Coast Prelude In the week leading up to NSW’s bomb Saturday, coasts further north were surreal. Sharkies, Tuesday morning. Link copied to clipboard It probably shouldn’t have been this good. But it was. “At the start of the week I wasn’t thinking it was going to be insane,” says Andrew Shield. “But the way it went, the conditions and the sand everywhere were so good.” Shieldsy’s been surfing and shooting the southern Queensland and northern NSW c...

The Great Autumn, Part One: Weekend From Heaven When the wind went offshore early on Saturday, everywhere south of Coffs went a bit nuts. Photo: Steen Barnes @16images Link copied to clipboard Offshore and Pumping. That’s what Surfline forecaster Ben Macartney told us would happen, and well, it did. This has to be one of the great autumns, especially in central and southern NSW. Things just keep falling into place. The past weekend just made the point for us in most emphatic fashion. Not ever...

The Breaker Yep, finally pumping. Photo: Steve Arklay Sean Doherty Link copied to clipboard Mid-last week, Surfline forecaster Katie Jackson identified an explosive weather phenomenon — extra-tropical moisture merging with a cold Antarctic low under Madagascar, and moving east armed with super-low central pressure and intensifying winds.  The resulting swell struck all Australia’s SW-facing coastlines, first southern WA, then rapidly hammering everywhere else with scary power levels. But i...

The Warm-Up Swell If you’re a Sydney surfer, this is the autumn that keeps on giving. If you’re a visiting CT pro, you’re probably in shock. Too many waves are never enough. Down the beach at Narrabeen. Photo: Matt Dunbar Nick Carroll Link copied to clipboard On Saturday April 10, all the pro surfers who hadn’t already left Newcastle did so, heading south to Narrabeen, next stop on their wacky four event Aussie parade. Just a few hours earlier, completely independent of this shift, a bi...

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...

So Day One Is Done - What Lies Ahead? Round one of the Rip Curl Newcastle Cup gives us an idea of how this thing’s going to run. You just know airs will feature here. Yago Dora, elevating to a second place in his first heat. Photo: Dunbar/WSL Nick Carroll Link copied to clipboard Yeah, the surf wasn’t too flash, and yeah, it was a Thursday, and yeah, it was April 1. (Not bothering with a joke here, it’s too tedious.) But for professional surfing, it was the opening day that so easily migh...

Australias 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 Gros...

Swell Story: TC Lucas Pushes Kirras Button Early February — time for the Gold Coast to dance. Harry Martin, Coolangatta Beach. Photo: Andrew Shield Nick Carroll Link copied to clipboard Tropical cyclone season in a La Niña year can be a total tease. Anticipation builds for weeks, if not months. Old guys tell you crusty yet epic stories of that 28 day swell in 1975. The weather maps look good, and then they don’t. Then at some point, things start popping. That’s just what happened during ...

And So It Begins... Could February be The Month? Early signs of a magical swell event are landing on the Queensland points right now. Photo: Ted Grambeau Link copied to clipboard Great months of surf rarely start with a bang. Instead they kinda grow on you, swell after swell, till at some point everyone wakes up to another perfect morning and thinks, “Whoa! How long’s this been going on!” That’s how February seems to be shaping up for surf communities around Australia — but particular...