Photos: Tropical Cyclone Marcus

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
Swellnet Dispatch

Check the Western Australian swell forecast and the little arrow indicating swell direction is almost meaningless. Day after week after month the damn thing just sits there pointing from the southwest. Follow the line and you'll end up in the southern Indian Ocean, down where the Roaring Forties rumble, the swell engine for the whole West Oz coast.

Yet every now and again - think years not months - and the little arrow clocks around towards the north. The occasion that sticks in everyone's memory is the swell from Tropical Cyclone Bianca that struck in 2011. The following year Tropical Cyclone Iggy delivered Bianca-lite waves, but since then....nothing. The little arrow has been locked off on the southwest quadrant.

On Saturday the swell arrow shifted again, this time for the swell from Tropical Cyclone Marcus. The swell hit the northwest first, turning known left points into rare right slabs, while the forerunners hit the Margaret River region late Saturday alerting the locals that maybe it wasn't gonna be a hoax.

Swell from a rare angle and a unique storm was always gonna have the coast behaving differently. Inconsistency and just plain weirdness were some of the complaints: cyclone swells can be prone to intermittent pulses, while spots that see years of southerly sand movement were taken by surprise.

As of this morning the little arrow indicating swell direction in WA has shifted back to the southwest and who knows when it'll move again.

Shannon Worrall just metres from dry sand (Driftwood Photography)

Seven skis lurking, one guy racing (Mike O'Brien)

Choppa Read inside the king of all shorebreaks (Rowan Walker)

Bunno on the pump (Steve Allen)

Haven't caught a wave for a while? Paddle inside at your own peril.

All angles covered (swestoz)

Andrew Semark playing at the top of the stairwell (Fiona Peters)

Rights all over (Matty Lodge)

A rare left in a rare cyclone swell (westozsurfpics)

Makeable? (Owen Schultz)

Same wave as above. Note the nose poking out - it was a paddle entry and the wave was made (Owen Schultz)

Almost close enough to high five on the way by (Ray Stone Photo)

One slips through the crowd at Scarborough (westozsurfpics)

The rare swell direction saw the energy hitting the sand unimpeded (Peter Jovic Photography)

...and it turned some left points into right slabs (Ry Craike)

...and other left points into under-sucking ledges suffering an all day low tide (Ry Craike)

Meanwhile, a rare wave in Darwin lights up (read: breaks) from Cyclone Marcus swell (Micah Ramsay)

Comments

Nick Bone's picture
Nick Bone's picture
Nick Bone Monday, 26 Mar 2018 at 12:15pm

photo 2 is disgusting. photo 7 more like it

mr mick's picture
mr mick's picture
mr mick Monday, 26 Mar 2018 at 4:21pm

maybe that's the Kirra crew gettn" outa town! Me thinks you mean photo 8?

Jordan05's picture
Jordan05's picture
Jordan05 Monday, 26 Mar 2018 at 7:20pm

Yep. That looks like CrowdNet to me!

zenagain's picture
zenagain's picture
zenagain Monday, 26 Mar 2018 at 12:48pm

That's a swell they'll talk about for awhile.

Some lovely waves in amongst that mix.

Oldschoolkook's picture
Oldschoolkook's picture
Oldschoolkook Monday, 26 Mar 2018 at 4:18pm

WTF.....photo 2. Skis, skis, skis. Is that DHD on one ski with the once were Cooley kids. Are you kidding me. Why TF would you want to tow in there. Again the boys on the north shore of Oahu are laughing all the way through a triple overhead backdoor pit that they just paddled into.

Harman's picture
Harman's picture
Harman Tuesday, 27 Mar 2018 at 12:05am

I saw so many good waves go unridden cause they were unpaddlable, too dredgy and dry with no real entry, opted to surf some where else with less crew and the wind was so hectic that it probably could/should have been towed.

quokka's picture
quokka's picture
quokka Monday, 26 Mar 2018 at 6:05pm

Looks good in photos but in reality where there weren't skis on Sun it was a drop-in fest, the froth-o-meter was off the richter. Don't get me wrong, places were cooking but for old mate to nab a wave was near on impossible. Yals main was on the pump Sat arvo and the crowds turned up too. I thank the media hype...the farkin ABC even picked it up and ran with it. How about we let the next one go unannounced and if you're onto it then great, if not then too bad.

DFB's picture
DFB's picture
DFB Monday, 26 Mar 2018 at 9:24pm

While your at it: Hit up Tim Berners-lee to pull the plug for a while.

rooftop's picture
rooftop's picture
rooftop Monday, 26 Mar 2018 at 10:58pm

Yep. The crowds in Perth were like nothing I've ever seen. Blatant drop-ins on every wave. No apologies. Not even a nod.

I chose to keep my honour and not drop in. Hardly got a wave.

Ellen's clam's picture
Ellen's clam's picture
Ellen's clam Tuesday, 27 Mar 2018 at 9:10am

No surprises there!
The cunce surf like they drive.

quokka's picture
quokka's picture
quokka Tuesday, 27 Mar 2018 at 11:57am

Ala Charlie Sheen, you were winning on the day, integrity in tact. Those other carnts can go and get fooked.

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Monday, 26 Mar 2018 at 7:40pm

tomjenno insta 1st pic.

Ton59's picture
Ton59's picture
Ton59 Monday, 26 Mar 2018 at 8:59pm

Years ago an ex tc Bruno washed out the old nannup town bridge , we surfed north point with 4 guys out . Picked a carton of emu export at the general store listened to the news on 6wf am radio in the the hk wagon about the flood , the call was offshore , light rain hey let’s go .

quokka's picture
quokka's picture
quokka Monday, 26 Mar 2018 at 9:47pm

I like it, pre red death recipe change!

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Tuesday, 27 Mar 2018 at 9:59am

Clearly in Breach /Jack Robinson insta

quokka's picture
quokka's picture
quokka Tuesday, 27 Mar 2018 at 12:01pm

There's no defending skis getting that close to paddlers...full fucking stop

saltman's picture
saltman's picture
saltman Tuesday, 27 Mar 2018 at 12:41pm

Any stories of how Quokka Island fared during the event?

mikehunt207's picture
mikehunt207's picture
mikehunt207 Tuesday, 27 Mar 2018 at 9:04pm

Definite illegal tow surfing going on thru paddlers by pros and semi pros cyclone marcus, easy to determine who the offenders were thru all their selfie posts. Greedy photo sluts

Clam's picture
Clam's picture
Clam Wednesday, 28 Mar 2018 at 1:53am

What a crazy wave that place is.
pity the tide was so high

Spuddups's picture
Spuddups's picture
Spuddups Wednesday, 28 Mar 2018 at 5:07am

Those jet-skiing fools should be ashamed of themselves.