The fat fella in the red suit has been especially kind to Gold Coast surfers in 2009. First he delivered a string of E/NE swells that had many a pundit claiming most consistent season since MP was in short pants. Then a spate of south-east swells keep the beaches topped up so the locals could keep treading the boards. Finally on the weekend - in the dead of winter I might add, when the Goldy is supposed to be receiving intermittent south swells - a full-blooded east swell lands on the sand just like it's the middle of summer again. The outer section of the Superbank lies in tatters but the sand is intact toward the end. Adam Weathered parked himself down there and grabbed these images.//STUART NETTLE