Well, once again we're at the arse end of the year so it's time to reflect on the surfing year that was.

These were the top ten stories on Swellnet this year, some of them ranked because of the traffic, but mostly because they gave us a laugh or they were stories we enjoyed telling:

Koa Smith at Skeleton Bay

The best story of 2018? Well, if we're gonna use traffic to measure that statistic then it's Koa Smith's Skeleton Bay octa-barrel: a two minute by one kilometre ride that included eight barrels along it's length, all of which were filmed by drone.

Posted mid-year, it's since had 1.1 million views on YouTube, a fair whack of which came from Swellnet - not our best journalism moment but we'll take it.

Numbers aside, it shows that ten years after Brian Gable and Surfer mag blew the place wide open the public is still infatuated with the Donkey.

South Straddie: The castle made of sand

There's a tendency to think that many of our great waves are immutable, that they break the same now as they would have eons ago. So when we found out South Straddie - one of Australia's greatest beachbreaks - had only been doing its thing for a couple of decades, and that the whole project was conceived in a Dutch laboratory with waves being just a minor factor...well, we knew we had a story. It appeared the readers agreed also.

This story described the distant history of the northern Gold Coast and how the shoreline changed over time, the accidental engineering that created a near-perfect wave, and the surfers who tried to keep it under wraps.

Parko, Mick, and Dingo caught by the Water Police at Snapper Rocks

Happens every year on the Goldy in summer: a big trade or cyclone swell hits, local pros fire up the skis and pick the eyes out of the swell at the paddlers expense, and the shit hits the fan online. This time around it got more serious with first Darren Handley flipping his ski at Kirra, and then Parko, Mick, and Dingo illegally doing step offs at Snapper - both incidents were caught on film.

Because of the evidence the authorities got involved and the PWC War ramped up a few notches. This bled over into a few more articles, including The Gold Coast's Tow-in Code of Conduct.

Will summer 2019 see a return to arms or yet more flouting of the law?

'LA Bob' drowns at Avalon Beach

Should Old Acquaintance be forgot, 
and never thought upon?

Many in Avalon's surf community will know the answer to this NYE standard. 

In 2017, Spencer Frost made a short film about 'LA Bob', his lifestyle and his life choices. Though Bob had chosen what you'd call the path less travelled, his choices spoke to many surfers, especially his dedication to the ocean and to one wave in particular - Little Avalon. So when Bob Bevern passed away, also at Little Avalon, the news was felt far and wide.

Ramon Navarro at Cloudbreak

As always we tracked this sucker since it clenched its rings somewhere south of Tasmania. Six days later this happened.

But six days is nothing, imagine waiting six years for it. That's what Ramon Navarro and Kohl Christenson did, ever since the Volcom swell of 2012, when Healey got cleaned up and the world's best big wave surfers got a glimpse of what Cloudbreak's outside ledge could do when everything aligned just so.

Christenson and Navarro waited out there for two hours willing the wave to come, and just when they were through wishing they saw this wave bend onto to the reef. Navarro slid off the back, Christenson wrenched the throttle, and the shortly afterwards the surfing community stood mouth agape.

Not just those out in the surf mind you, as thanks to social media Navarro's wave was online before the cheers in the channel had died down.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by mySURF.tv (@mysurftv) on May 27, 2018 at 12:05am PDT

Crinkle cuts and the great Macaroni fin experiment

Just when you think there's nothing new under the sun, that design improvements are incremental at best, comes an adult learner trying to prove you wrong. Professor Marc in het Panhuis is a Dutch materials chemist who moved to Kiama twelve years ago. That's also when he began surfing. Professionally opposed to the existing methodology, Marc is applying scientific rigour to surfboard design: blind tests, peer reviews etc. He doesn't care for looks or reputation, all that matters is data.

Mid-year he took a bunch of surfers and shapers to Macaronis, had them ride a bunch of different shaped fins, but not knowing what shape fins they were on, then give unbiased, dispassionate feedback. It was much more compex than I make out here, read the article if you haven't already.

Recent talks with Marc reveal 2019 and 2020 - he's a planner - will be big years for the science of surfboard design.

Deconstructing Laggers Point breakwater

Hit up by the local crew, Swellnet shon - is that a word? - a light on Laggers Point breakwater on the Mid North Coast. Constructed by convicts in the late-1800s, Laggers Point breakwater was intended to create a safe harbour for the Sydney to Moreton Bay haul, though it was never finished. The remnants of the wall now project north for the point and block all but the biggest swells getting into Trial Bay.

As a case study of sorts, Swellnet spoke to Dr Neil Lazarow about the social and economic implications of removing the man-made wall. All hypothetical issues, mind you.

The feedback was mixed with some daring to dream and others aghast at the prospect of another wave being created.

Outsized Ulus from the cliff

The biggest Indo swell of the year....hell, of the last twenty years, hit in late July and very few open stretches could hold the size. Unsurprisingly, Uluwatu was one of those places, however accessing the lineup was gonna be as hard as taking off.

Unless you had a jet ski, of course, as two surfers did during the most incongruous moment of 2018. The biggest swell in recent memory, every big wave surfer on the planet poised to go, and two Russian surfers - from Russia! - that no-one had ever heard of stole the limelight.

Meanwhile, up in Nias, Lagundri Bay had turned into Cape Solander with an unfortunate end section pinch, and the glory hunters were again one-upped, this time by a boat: Boat over the falls at Nias

Darren Handley and the wisdom of the crowd

If we need further proof of surfing's shift to the mainstream, then DHD's play for investment should provide it. Thursday evening in a building opposite the ASX, a room full of distinct non-surfers, and a spiel that trades on Mick and Steph and wavepools and surfing's ubiquity. It's hard to know what to make of it all, though the punters were more certain, as of today (28/12) just $75,000, or 15% of the target, has been raised.

On the Edge of a Dream

As the internet pushes us towards the Hive Mind, where we're all autonomous agents but coincidentally doing and thinking the same thing, it's with a huge relief that surfers like Andrew Kidman and Ellis Ericson are willing to swim against the current and do their own shit. 'On the Edge of a Dream' should be lauded for its going-against-the-grainedness, but also for its forensic dissection of design. And for it's soundtrack too. And fuck it, it should also be lauded for its poetry.

Just check it out. The more you support the independents, the more they can create good work.

OK, it's a few days till 2019, the temperature is over 35° and the waves are pushing three foot, so I'm out of here.

See you on the other side where we'll have all the forecasts and reports, of course, but also the news, stories, and video that matter.