June meets Jan

(above): James "laff" laird, hooking it off the top on a Bannana -  photo: Noble

Admittedly Cyclone June was a funny name for a Cyclone mid January and the above title was created by Geoff Noble who just so happened to pull out his high quality camera for some action shots of Snappers as the swell filled in Tuesday afternoon on a small but still remarkable Cyclone swell. Technically only just a cyclone being born and dying within 24hours she was a baby in comparison to some and the punters were left very worried as Tuesday morning revealed absolute dead flatness but in true Nelson fashion come midday sighns of life in the ocean appeared out of nowhere as instant 2 to 3ft lines began to fill the bay with the only problem being the high tide and nowhere to surf so some quick out of the box thinking saw Keni Duke and Chris Tupu sup-lording the back bar/blind channel Tahuna which may possibly be the best sup wave in the world, whilst myself and a couple of boys ventured east to a semi secret location and met the swell head on.

(above): Emptiness                      photo: Dubienic

While Snappers became more and more crowded in the mid 20's it was strange someone noted that there were 34 cars in the carpark and only 25 people in the water and another thing noted was that despite the large crowd only about 5 or 6 guys were digging deep and catching the 4-6ft sets and with long lulls between sets you kind of gotta wonder what the rest of the pack were doing apart from getting sucked over the falls on top of people and/or blasted to the beach. Without sounding like an egotistical asshole but the feedback from a few surfers and spectators was,,,, sure everyone has the right to be out in the water but if theres only a couple waves in a set and already more than ten guys on it then whats the point?. If it was 2ft you probably wouldnt bother paddling out.
* ( *Sentence revised )

(above): Barry Kingston,left and Frosty right,  Nek Minnit.         photo: Noble

There were plenty of other options on hand and a handful of guys surfed relatively empty breaks with only a couple out everywhere else!! Big ups to those guys for being Black Sheep!!!
Anyhow, another day and another swell.

(above): Marco Edwards solo surfing over the hill and far away.    photo: Dubienic