Swellnet Sessions

Living up to its reputation as one of the world's best righthand barreling waves, Cloud 9 delivered solid 5-6 foot perfection today to start the ASC 6 star 19th Annual Siargao International Surfing Cup. To read a full report from the day click here.

Photos ASC/Tim Hain.

While the surf was much the same as yesterday - 2-3 foot of weak tripe - the level of surfing stepped up for Day 3 of the Hurley Pro. Filipe Toledo went down gallantly in a hi-fi battle with Jules Wilson. And then Jules Wilson vindicated that win with a jaw-dropping Round 5 display that had him swinging each way but upright. And with that the cute li'l Sunny Coaster takes the momentum into the (likely) last day of the event.

So there he was, young Grant Molony drifting about in unfamiliar waters, waterhousing in hand, trying to make sense of the ever-shifting Puerto Escondido lineup. Waves would stand up and reel off, either too far away to shoot or too close and self preservation would kick in and he'd dive deep to avoid the explosion.

But then a left stood up outside and not 100 metres away, and someone was scratching hard to get into it. If the surfer made the drop and nutted up the barrel then he'd be driving straight into Grant's field of view - bring it on...

In mid-to late-August the Indian Ocean fired up in a way rarely seen, even in the depths of Winter. Consecutive storms midway between South Africa and Australia sent over two weeks worth of serious swell north to Indonesia. And as each new swell hit the archipelago protected spots such as Padang Padang came to life.

Thomas Ling was in Bali during the good run of waves and snapped these shots at Padang during just one morning of waves.

All photos by Thomas.

It's been a tidy little run of waves on the Noosa points. Nothing big, but big enough to ditch the longboards for those so inclined, and persistent enough to sate the appetites of wave starved Queenslanders.

That said, it's flat today. So here are a few photos from then.

All photos by Jack Dekort.