Around The World In 80 Waves

I have set up camp at the Kirra Tourist Park for two nights and have a great night there chatting with a young couple from the UK who are also passing through town.

I get to have a go on one of the Aussie griddle BBQs for the first time whilst there, cooking myself an awesome steak and stir fried vegetables in record time. We enjoy a chat over a few beers, but it isn’t a big night and I turn in relatively early.

I am up and away just after dawn and head straight to Snapper Rocks to try and beat the crowd because once again it is a weekend when I am visiting that break and it is bound to be busy as a consequence.

It is a fairly cold start by Gold Coast standards and I enjoy a relatively easy paddle out, although this shot would suggest otherwise.

There are already more than twenty guys in the water and because this is the home break of both Joel Parkinson, the current world champion, and Mick Fanning, a former world champion and another stop on the ASP’s world tour I know I am going to have to be on my game today.

Thankfully both the champions are at the US Open back in Huntington Beach so I stand half a chance of catching a wave, but I decide the only way forward is to paddle straight out into the line out and compete for everything. It works and I steal a wave from right under the noses of the local crew and shoot off across the beach through the section known as the superbanks where massive barrelling sections would be on offer if there was a bit more swell. 

I’m not complaining about the waves though because I have a fantastic session and am completely unaffected by the competition for the surf.

I catch loads of great rights all the way across Rainbow Beach going so far that at one stage I find myself right in the middle of a high school surf contest that is going on at the Greenmount end. Time and time again you just get out walk back along the sand and then get back in at the point to catch another. An absolutely awesome session which is a great way to start the next 80 waves (even if this is technically wave 80 because wave 1 was a wave goodbye!)

After my session I chill out by my van in the sunshine enjoying a cup of coffee. I’m glad of my early start as I watch hordes descending on the break, and to celebrate I cook an omelette  for breakfast.