4pm Monday afternoon:

“There’s too many friggen kids out there,” said the surfer exiting the water, his words laced with bitterness. “I could barely get a wave.”

I smiled and looked to the lineup, then back to my own kids following me like ducklings across the rock platform. His statement went unanswered.

He was right though, there were lots of kids in the lineup. I looked at the faces. Some of them had been gravitating toward the takeoff spot for a while, some were sons and daughters of friends, some faces were entirely new. Oddly for this break, there was an almost complete absence of older crew which made for a Lord Of The Flies scenario where adults weren’t part of the order. Every wave, another kid.

Free of deference, the performance level soared - so too did the enthusiasm. Absent of adult judgement the pack chirped and hollered. Kids I’d never seen before playing class clown in public. I felt like a first-timer at a wave I’d surfed a thousand times.

I understood the original complaint. The situation was infuriating…but only if you let yourself get infuriated. It helped to turn my thoughts inward.

Inside of all of us are two dogs that are fighting, or so the old saying goes. One dog represents hatred and bitterness, the other optimism and joy. The dog that wins, in case you’re wondering, is the one you feed the most.

At some point, the betrayals of age will slow down every single surfer. A reckoning is coming, so how will you react when it arrives? Bitter at what you’ve lost, or joyful in a ‘circle of life’ way?

Which dog are you gonna feed?

I paddled wide after a set and got a glimpse of the surfing future. It looked pretty damn good.

7am Tuesday morning:

The forecast swell arrived overnight and after an hour of pre-dawn small talk - weather, board length, jump rock - a small crew began suiting up. Average age forty-ish. The oldest sixty-five. Old dogs, every one of them.

“Out there is my happy place,” said a mate excitedly, indicating the outside ledges while unsheathing a 7’6” Pyzel Padillac. He only appears on days like this.

There’s no sitting on the inside bowl when 12 foot sets are strafing the outside reef. Spontaneity and flair play no part, supplanted by calculation and confidence. Traits built upon years of bedrock experience. Of dedication to the goal.

For the size, it was as good as the wave gets. With the swell striking from the east-southeast the takeoffs were radically steep and with a 15 second period, immensely powerful. Seriously great waves were ridden by surfers stationed between middle-age and the pension card.

An hour into the session and three teenagers paddled out: Ethan, Ashton, and Taj, the top dogs from yesterday’s pecking order now entering a different realm, all paddling low on too-short boards. They scratched and scrambled, jagged a few, and stared wide-eyed as an old dog on a 7’6” Padillac stroked into an escarpment of advancing water. It’s a look I was once familiar with.

As the spray from the wave rained down they got a glimpse of their surfing future, if they choose it.

I hope they do, it’s pretty damn good.

- Stu

Notes From A Swell To Remember

15 to 20 foot on the East Coast? April 1st was no joke this year...

The low pressure system that created this week's swell was always going to be a good one, but no-one expected hell to break loose on Tuesday afternoon. In this article we cover the high points of an amazing swell but also try to comprehend how a 10-12 foot forecast - which should never be taken lightly - almost doubled. Read More >

El Salvador Pro 2025: Day 1.1

Steve reports on the opening day and a bit from Punta Roca, where's there's been a few hours of glassy waves followed by "dreary, onshore crumblers that probably would have been fun for a tech bro on a mid-length." Read More >

Andy Goes Svengali

Who is Andy Meridian? Don't go looking for him on Facebook, though he's there, peering from between the lines of the colourful and long-winded comments.

Frankensteined into being, Andy is as real as a 13 foot wave, as credible as next week's forecast, and as honest as a surfer appraising themself.

In this instalment, few would remember Andy's time as a pro surf coach, it's been black-holed from the sport, yet a new generation of cornermen have pilfered his tactics so today we write some wrongs.  Read More >

Forecast: 2025 Surf City El Salvador Pro

The Punta Roca forecast is unfolding like a Pixies song: loud, quiet, loud, just replace the loud with waves and the quiet with flatness. Comprende?  Read More >

Watch: Tucker Wooding // Deep Blue

Despite everything that happened in NSW this week, this is a video that deserves your attention. Filmed last December during a five day run of waves, the biggest seen at Jaws and certainly the best it's been surfed. Read More >