Swellnet's biggest articles of 2015: Sharks, huge Indonesian swells and Slater's wave pool
Whilst we're not big fans of listicles at Swellnet, we thought it'd be interesting to go through our web traffic and see which were the most read articles of 2015.
Unsurprisingly, sharks topped the list with five of our top ten ranking stories.
In fact, only two other topics rated in the Top 10 - Kelly Slater's wave pool scored two articles, whilst the huge Indonesian swell in June also made the list with two stories - one written, one photographic.
Lastly, another forecast article detailing the Indonesian swell's impact across West Oz and South Oz finished off the list.
So, here they are in order - plus a bonus article on the maze of legislation regarding tow surfing at Kirra (which came in eleventh).
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#1: Blowing the location on Slater's wave pool
After seeing the perfection unveiled by Kelly and his team at Kelly Slater Wave Pools, Craig Brokensha's first question was: Where is the test facility and how did they keep it secret for so long?
Craig's investigative work ended up being quoted by a large number of international media outlets, including the UK's Daily Mail, America's Washington Post and San Francisco Gate, plus Australian media such as the Sydney Moring Herald, Business Insider, Pedestrian TV and many more.
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2015/12/19/blowing-location-slaters-wave-pool
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#2: Fatal shark attack near Ballina
The sad news reporting the death of Japanese surfer Tadashi Nakahara at Ballina's lighthouse beach in February brought about considerable - and sometimes heated - debate about the growing prevalence of shark sightings and incidents along the New South Wales Far North Coast.
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2015/02/09/fatal-shark-attack-near-ballina
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#3: Tiger shark attacks dolphin off Newcastle Beach
This was just a very simple story - one paragraph and a photo (probably a record for the shortest article on Swellnet!) yet the reaction was amazing. Not many comments however the article was shared considerably across social media which resulted in a lot of web traffic.
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#4: Indian giving: Western and South Australia to receive huge swell
Big swell events are always a talking point amongst surfers, and the discussion around this swell was feverish at times. Fortunately, the waves also ended up being pretty special too!
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#5: North Coast shark activity: A new theory
Following a spate of shark attacks in Ballina, Nick Brennan put forth a new theory as to why this may be the case. Cue ten pages of robust commentary from all and sundry.
https://www.swellnet.com/news/surfpolitik/2015/08/11/north-coast-shark-activity-new-theory
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#6: "You always say it won't happen to me": Victorian shark attack victim speaks
Kane Brough was attacked by a shark at Tyrendarra near Portland, and whilst he initially turned down numerous requests from the mainstream media to speak about the incident, the thought of not saying anything didn't sit well with him. "I'd like other surfers to be made aware," said Kane.
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This was actually the second of three articles on Slater's new wave pool we published on an overcast, almost flat Saturday in mid-December.
The first article we published was the video proper (we've excluded videos from this list, hence why it's not here) and Craig's sleuthy piece garnered lots more traffic due to the international coverage we received.
However, Stu Nettle's article was the first op-ed from anyone in the surf media, and it subsequently rated really well with five pages of comments.
https://www.swellnet.com/news/surfpolitik/2015/12/19/slaters-new-wavepool
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#8: Indian Ocean mega swell hits Indonesia - photos
The biggest Indo swell of the year was photographed from a thousand angles, and we ran a bunch of great images shortly afterwards.
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#9: What can be done to prevent the next encounter: stripes in, yummy yellow out
Mick Fanning's close encounter at J-Bay was one of the biggest mainstream media moments of the year. In and around a lot of new-tech discussions, Stu spoke with Craig Anderson from WA's Shark Attack Mitigations Systems about their stripy wetsuits.
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#10: Incoming swell for Indo: largest of the season
Craig Brokensha pegged this swell a couple of weeks in advance, and the discussion around this article then fed into the extra West Oz/South Oz article (above) which ended up coming in at #4.
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-analysis/2015/06/18/incoming-swell-indo-largest-season
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#11: Tow surfing and Kirra: A maze of legislation
When pictures surfaced of a tow-in surfer (behind a Thundercat, no less!) perilously close to paddle surfers at three foot Kirra in late February, Stu Nettle looked into the legislation and spoke with Warren Young, head of lifeguards at Gold Coast City Council.
https://www.swellnet.com/news/surfpolitik/2015/02/25/tow-surfing-and-kirra-maze-legislation
Comments
And keep up the great work Swellnet.
I've enjoyed reading your articles from the bottom of my heart to the end of my listicles.
Well done SN. Good mix of articles - something for all of us grommets.
Great variety... But the essence of your page are the forecasts, which you guys do better than none.... 3 cheers for Ben and Craig :)