Confessions Of A Pointbreak Surfer
With J-Bay imminent and a juicy forecast on tap, there's a nice tingle in the loins.
The extra frisson in the viewing comes about from a single fact. By default and design, I'm now almost purely a pointbreak surfer.
It didn't start that way. I grew up on a swell-shadowed island, with a steady diet of two second beachbreak rides breaking on the shore.
The fascination began when the island's hottest surfer returned from a trip to the pointbreaks of the Northern Rivers. He may as well have been Marco Polo returning from a trip to the Orient.
It wasn't the tales that I remember. It was the scars. He was covered head to toe with lines of scabbed up cuts, like he'd been set upon by tigers.
Apparently, this pointbreak surfing carried with it the threat of being cut to ribbons on entry and exit. The danger factor made it compelling.
Our island pointbreak protege is long departed from this world. He committed suicide as a young man - an event that still haunts my peer group. We'd thought he was an invincible god, capable of anything. A vanguard that could set out from our small island and conquer the world, including the famous and dangerous pointbreaks which we only saw in magazines.
As soon as I could, after a long period of vagabonding around the world's oceans, I moved to the place that had so captured my imagination through the vicarious adventures of my boyhood hero.
Pointbreaks are fine things; rare things. The finest and rarest things in surfing. As such, coveted and in high demand. The crowds that flock seeking the rarest gift: an unencumbered screamer through the length of the point deterred me for years. My diet was varied, and I went long stretches head-butting beachies to avoid the crowds.
The crowds remained the same but events stepped in to change my views. My kids took up surfing. Peelers on the points are so much more fun than closeouts for kids. I got used to ducking and weaving in crowds to pick up runners that slipped through the cracks, often ending sessions with surprisingly high wave counts.
The white shark had an even bigger impact. When Tadashi Nakahara got his legs bitten off on a glorious Monday morning in February 2015, on the type of lovely little beachbreak day where you wouldn't have a care in the world, something began to change. My pals who tried to resuscitate him all suffered severe traumas - as did those at further attacks. Most spent long periods out of the water, many needed long-lasting psychological support.
Like others, I stopped seeing my fellow surfers as competitors that needed to be overcome to get a wave and instead saw them as potential rescuers, or rescuees. The vibe changed, in my view, and became more collegiate. I became happier to sit with the crew and take a ticket. As time went on, that ticket - a set wave at the point - became more valuable than a million closeouts.
There's no secret to the buzz. The bank and the swell function as one unit. The rope is stretched taut, then whipped. The flow is the thing as you ride the whipped energy down the line. Minimalism becomes the end goal as you build effortless speed on speed. Periods of absolute stillness, ala Tom Curren in Free Scrubber, frame full-blooded turns.
Bill Finnegan in his memoir Barbarian Days describes the “first order” problem of the long term, longitudinal study of a break, of getting it wired, of truly understanding it as the “basic occupation of surfers at their local break”.
For sand bottom points which rely on this not-completely understood and idiosyncratic flow of precious sand the study is a daily one. Tides, swell directions, local and oceanic currents, seasonal regimes of wind all act in concert to deliver the payload. Months sometime pass in a kind of stasis. Sometimes when the bank is food, sometimes when it's gutted. Then, all of a sudden, a new slug of sand appears and the break is transformed. Or the bank gets a haircut, shifts wide, or goes deep in spots. Seasons of stable banks and good swells become memorable, such as in 2007 and 2020.
That year, 2020, with the COVID restrictions on movement, sealed my fate. With interstate, international, and even travel to the neighbouring towns restricted, the option to only surf the local wave - the point - became entrenched.
In all good conscience, I couldn't recommend it. At least as a way to improve your surfing. Despite pointbreak surfers making it look better than anyone else, and I'll submit Tom Curren, Steph Gilmore and Ethan Ewing as my evidence, your surfing becomes one-dimensional.
I forced myself to surf a beachbreak the other day. It was not an elegant affair. Stuck on the bank for the paddle out, thirty duckdives later, I had to reposition to have another go at getting out the back. Two shitty closeouts in thirty minutes; a very poor return on investment. A couple of wobbly lefts. It felt like a brutal comedown and my ability to duck and weave and generate speed was impoverished. Close to non-existent. In short, surfing nothing but points has made my beachbreak surfing an embarrassment. It's hard to know when I'll give it another go, but it won't be anytime soon.
I know, I've cut off my nose to spite my face - just like Pa always said I would. Abandoned to my pointbreak fate with a diminishing resistance.
The sharp sting of a barnacle slice across the arch of the foot seems a clean pain that makes me feel alive. The rocks are solid. They tell an ancient story. Scampering up those rocks in the gathering dark after a late surf that lingered into the moon-rise I see my boyhood hero in my minds eye, in the full flower of his youth, streaking across a moon-lit wall.
Free as a bird, and immortal.
Comments
your right but here comes another 50 guys sick of close outs on the beaches to a point near you.....
Stuck on the bank for the paddle-out, thirty duckdives later, I had to reposition to have another go at getting out the back. Two shitty close-outs in thirty minutes; a very poor return on investment......this is a day in the life of a South Oz surfer......regional SA excepted.....sigh
Depends where you invest your time...
Great poignant read FR. I hope you're firing on all cylinders on the point up there.
Great writing Steve. I feel your pain, the lure of the points is too much to ignore, especially in SEQ where the beachies are mostly shit - compared to down south anyway. Having said that, put the time in on the points and know your game around tides and banks and you can still score relatively uncrowded fun.
So refreshing to read a surf related story again, though if you’ll excuse my French I’ll have to call connerie on the idea that pointbreaks are the surf break trump card. That position easily falls to the limestone or coral reefbreak. These aquatic gifts take the best of your point breaks - the flow, the access to speed and the predictability of sections - and turbo charge every aspect of the experience.
Having said that, I certainly wouldn’t kick a throaty point tube session out of bed any time soon.
Thanks for the read. Always a treat.
So true about surfing reefs.
Reliable bottom that never changes,taking out of the equation one of the major variables,and mostly a lot less bloody current to paddle against once you get out!
Critical once you're entrenched firmly in middle age.
Interesting take. I've often seen the crew who surfing nothing but the 'point'(every town has them) and feel like they are missing out a little. I like going both ways, being surprised by the varying shapes of a wave and their take offs. When that 'special one' comes through, there's no ticket to check, it's often yours.
Completely agree Solitude. I started out on long points but now wouldn’t trade my local beachies for any point in the world. Like you, I love going both directions and the variability of beach breaks. Nothing compares to the satisfaction of scoring a perfect bank, particularly when you consider the varied parameters that have to align for it to happen. The icing on the cake is knowing you can cruise in on your last ride, even after dark, without having to worry about clambering up barnacle encrusted boulders, an urchin covered reef or slippery jagged rocks. That’s not to say I wouldn’t love a good one out at Winki or Lennox right now, but just the one……
Resonates with me for so many reasons.
That bit in barbarian Days about the longitudinal study bubbles up to my conscious mind quite often, and I think of 20 years figuring out a fickle, imperfect reef/point. And now putting in the hard yards at a long, fickle sandbar.
Great read, excellent writing.
Dunno how I'd go on a crowded point these days. I reckon I'd get monstered.
Really enjoyed that FR. Luckily there's a series of limestone reefs around here with many different flavours & moods, with a sprinkling of points thrown in, as well as some nice shaped southern beachies amongst the dross. Because of this, the points even when little, are a delicacy.
Excellent mr Shearer.
Quote:
The sharp sting of a barnacle slice across the arch of the foot seems a clean pain that makes me feel alive. The rocks are solid. They tell an ancient story. Scampering up the rocks in the gathering dark after a late surf that lingered into the moon-rise I see my boyhood hero in my minds eye, in the full flower of his youth, streaking across a moon-lit wall. Free as a bird, and immortal.
Free as a bird
Great read Freeride. I’ve gone the opposite way, from perfect point breaks to variable beachies and wouldn’t want to go back. I’ve been offered great jobs up your way but it’s the crowded points that put me off moving there, rather than being a drawcard to the region. I guess when you know the conditions that your quiet, local beach pumps in, you can score countless empty waves without worrying about taking a ticket and then dodging the hoards sitting on the inside, praying that you’ll make a mistake. The big-toothed fish is another consideration as well, I wouldn’t be comfortable surfing empty stretches of beach on my own up there either. It helps explain why the points are so rammed, despite there being perfect, empty banks just up the beach.
Stuff that. Way too much paddling on a point. Give me a short, sharp and heavy reef or ledge any day.
Depends on the beachie. Probably just as easy to find a good beachie as point.
I have set times that I’ll surf FR’s point and it’s malnourished step brother round the back. I’ve found different circumstances for both when I can get a good uncrowded window.
Otherwise it’s alone time on the beaches and semi reefs for me. I’m much less upset if Mother Nature doesn’t deliver me the wave I want than if I can’t get one amongst the crowd.
"Malnourished step brother" :)
Yeah there's a time and a place and if you work the windows and are prepared to surf in less-than-ideal conditions, you can easily score uncrowded and even solo surfs, right under people's noses.
Sometimes it's literally as simple as taking a dozen more steps to see what's hiding in plain sight.
One of surfing's pleasures is watching a set come in with no-one at all nearby and having the luxury of picking the best wave in the set from the optimum take off spot. All in a zen relaxed frame of mind.
At popular points you might get such a moment briefly early or during some fluky tide shift or crowd lull. But the lemmings are almost always visible pouring off the rocks or paddling up the point to fill the gap and snatch the magic from your hand.
Had one such opportunity the other day. I knew I had perhaps 5 minutes to hunt one down in peace in the semi darkness before 6 or 7 (soon to be 60 orb70) paddlers made it through the whitewater to my spof. As I took off on a classic set wave it was as much a sense of relief as excitement. At least i got one!
I get more of these moments at less popular beachbreaks cause the frothers are just not frothing - they are still in bed or further down the beach on some other bank or stretch of peaks. I have had hours of endless empty take offs on non descript beaches. That is just not possible at the points.
I had a same same but different experience like that the other day. I paddled out to an empty wave and spent the first 20 mins paddling round in a frenzy trying to get my 5 waves before the crowd descended.
I found myself having a laugh at my own expense. There was no one bloody there! Oh but the relief when I'd caught my waves and the crowd turned up.
Depends which state you are in. I get empty points quite often. Wouldn’t catch me living in NSW.
Lovely bit of writing Steve. Especially the reflections on the impact of the suicide and the shark attacks.
For the toothy gentlemen I for one hope that some day we'll have an effective technology that allows us to live in peace. One of our favourite remote points is rapidly becoming seal kindergarten as the population booms. They're cute little buggers but one can't help but think who else may be interested.
Point breaks are perfect for older surfers with the option to paddle round the outside and not get ten on the head. Your surfing can do the talking and not the fast twitch fibers and the cardio. Like you say everyone else wants a piece of them too but hopefully your experience and your game means you can get enough.
For us it's the boulders that mess you up, most of our points are made of those nasty ankle breakers.
I happened to be reading that section of Barbarian Days a few hours before your story appeared Steve. It certainly resonated with my experiences on various Surf Coast points that I get to surf. For me it is definitely that down the line speed run I crave. Yeah the crowds can be an issue, but the beachies around here rarely deliver like the points do. Unfortunately there haven't been too many days with those J bay like conditions the last couple of years.
Great article and I can relate to it 100%. Broken Head was my home break for 30 years and I moved away early 2000s as the crowds got worse. Had some good years down the mid north coast but moved to Tassie nearly ten years ago. Can't surf for shit down here even after that time. It's harder with a lot more rubber but the waves are so different and the only rare times the points are working it is crowded anyway. When I see the a team down here I can't relate to them. I'm struggling just to get a few wobbles in and am happy just to complete a wave without falling off. Oh the shame of getting older as surfing dementia creeps in.
Last surfed BH in 2009 with mate Rob S. who saw the caravan park as his 2nd home. We drove from SA non-stop and lucked into a new swell starting to hit. We had a day and a half of relatively relaxed BH before the hordes arrived. The swell pumped for a few more days and the crowd maxxed out... there were at least 200 out and only the really wired ones were picking off the best barrels. Man I never saw such a crowd except when we tried to surf LH and the Pass... twas the last East Coast trip for us.
G'day John
Hope you're well.
Remembering my first boards I got from you (the Henri's and the Mikey shapes that you glassed for me in the bails at Newrybar) how yourself and Terry S would get me to the water when you hit it. So good as a young grom as it was a fair ride on the pushie from up there. Some magic sessions at the meat works and river mouth from memory. Will always appreciate that.
Totally relate to what Steve says. After doing many years at Broken, moving away and then coming back to Ballina in 2016 we did the same and got out of dodge early last year. Crowds (not only in the water) were just unbearable. Don't get me wrong, you could still snag a few uncrowded ones if you weren't too fussy on quality, knew particular conditions, if you're into night surfing (I'm not) or at the poorer cousins south but it was getting harder and harder. I thought the beachies were getting too busy on the main stretch also. For me, it comes down to return on investment, as Steve mentioned.
Living right on the nth Tas coast not far from a reverse Lenno now. Ok, that's a stretch but it's rocky, breaks left and is a point.
6 times in 18 months I've had magic 3 feet plus beachies straight out the front by myself, very rare. When the westerly blows and we get the wind swell, you might get the Lenno left, but can be crowded, if 15 is crowded.
Surfed 4 to 5ft beachies on the east coast the other week. Totally hammered me. So out of condition for 'proper swell' Return on investment was low.
Having said all that, I get 1 to 2 feet groomed a frames out front pretty regularly, sometimes it's a bit fatter and runs. Grab the mat or soft Mal. Big smiles for me. Maximum return on investment.
Crowded, warm water points or beachies that work you are a bad investment for me now. At almost 60 (and i know you're a bit more than that Spencie) I just cheer to get in the water. I want to make the most of it.
I think I was spoilt growing up on the points up there. Or just lucky. Sure, it's windy and cold down here but I get a 'good return'
Yep I miss the warm winter water and the wave quality of Steve's neck of the woods.
I miss days like when it seemed to break from the cocked hats, through cungie and the carpark, dezzies, alfies and beyond. I can't even look at it when it's a fraction that good anymore because you can't get near it.
I'm a soft beachies type now with the occasional scratchy point thrown in, trying to keep the 'surfing dementia ' away (but failing)
Return on investment.
Stay well John.
Great read Steve.
Great to hear from you. Swellnet helps me stay in touch with a lot of old memories from the last 60 years that I've been surfing. Would love to catch up with you at some stage if possible. I'm going for prostate cancer op in a few weeks and will be off the radar physically for a while but hope to be back in the water some time in october. Had a look at Tam'o about 20 years ago on a visit and could see the potential,. Looks like there are plenty of reefy breaks on the north coast when you get enough swell and clean conditions. Like you I can happily surf waist high waves if they have good shape. Less strain on the body too. So nice to get the response from you.
Hey mate
hope all goes well and look to touch base with you later for a definite catch up. Pretty sure Gypo gave me your number. Need to check phone. You're down south arm way?
We were looking down that way or the peninsular but ended up here, long story for another time.
Catch up with you soon
regards
Mike d
Surfing dementia. Good phrase spencie. Been so many long periods over the past two years where surfing was just not viable and the surfing IQ is dropping fast. But I still live in hope, not dead yet. There are better days ahead.
I’ve spent most of my surfing life on beachies. Not necessarily by choice, there are just very few viable ones around. But a good beachie is a great thing, and every beachie is good, once at least. Just a matter of turning up. Wave selection, positioning, everything is harder and the fast twitch is not so fast anymore, but at least a beachie gives you the chance to out-think your fellow surfers or at least play the odds better.
Love a beachie. It’s like a box of chocolates … (Forrest Gump style)
I'm still loving variety while I can. Each type of surf terrain has its peak moments. The linking of turns and speed runs of a pointbreak. The pushing yourself past your comfort zone on a good slabbing reef. Offshore winds on a nice 10 sec period E/NE swell, with a beautiful tapered wall about to meet a nice shallow sandbank.
These are the things that keep me poring over the long range forecast charts, and froth levels high.
Not sure if it's the same for everyone, but I found it hard to shake the surfing style of my formative years, which wasn't on a pointbreak. There was a pointbreak in town but it's a point in name only, more accurately called a bedrock reef - it breaks short and thick - that just so happened to break offshore from a point
After moving around a bit during my twenties and thirties and then finally settling down, at one of the better pointbreaks in NSW, it took me a long time to slow down and make use of the full length of the wave. I'd paddle in, take off, and at the first sign of a pitching lip, stall and reset the rail line to maximise tube time, as would be expected at the beachbreaks or 'pointbreak' I grew up at.
It didn't work. I'd just as often get caught too deep, while beyond that initial pitching section was hundreds of metres of wall including more appropriate sessions to pull into where stalling wasn't required and you could maintain speed and flow.
Surprisingly, it took a while to erase that template of surfing; it'd become so natural and instinctive.
Pointbreak surfing has taught me to ease up, relax the shoulders, and respond to the wave over its entirety rather than force the whole damn act into the very first section.
Got a g-land report for us Stu? How was the big day(s)?
Yeah, unreal. Waves everyday but one, when it went WSL-level small, but it helped with ear recovery and gave me a chance to go temple hopping with Roystein and his mates.
Missed a Speedies session by a couple of hours when we went in by boat. The guys who were there were fortunate the wind was offshore from daybreak as it was also high tide at daybreak, but by 9am when we arrived it was getting dodgy. Still managed a few down that end.
Easy highlight was the big west swell that hit. Extended my stay - for free as I discovered I'd paid for superior accommodation but was put into standard - and woke that morning to very big waves. Through the morning the bommie was breaking non-stop so I took out a 7'0" and sat at the top of Moneys.
Fella from N Beaches, Marlon Henderson, sat a bit deeper and further out trying to connect them from the bommie whitewash through, and managed it on one absolute screamer, but also got touched up on a few others.
Size was probably solid 12' on the bommie and around 8' to occasionally 10' where we were. As Fraser G mentioned, the swell was too west for Speedies - remarkably it was only about 2'-3' and too fast to ride - while Launching Pad wasn't even breaking. Meanwhile, Chickens was 4'+ and breaking across the boat channel at high tide and the crew that went down to Tiger Tracks surfed a reform bowl way inside, reporting on 8' waves breaking out the back.
Reckon Speedies is heavily shadowed by the bommie; the energy all focuses onto the bommie with the swell line refracting into Moneys at the expense of Speedies. The waves further down the bay are free of the bommie's influence.
Was paddling back out when a dead set 12' set swung wide off the outer Moneys takeoff and mowed down the pack. Maybe ten people got caught, with half getting through the next wave and the other half taking the rest of the six wave set on the head. The crowd dwindled after that. Few guys hadn't even caught waves and called it quits, yet no other set like it came through all day.
A day of riding long boards across big, blue waves in warm water. It wasn't perfect and dreamy like Kanduis but it was challenging and fun as hell. One for the memory banks.
That evening was my last, and with no-one out I chanced a paddle out between Fan Palms and the Ledge, hoping like hell a bommie set didn't come through while outside of the Ledge. It didn't and I made it, but only by a minute, as while I was taking off my booties one stood up and shut down the entrance I just used.
Sat out there for a while, got two waves, the second one shutting down on me and closing the curtain on a very satisfying trip. Had a Bintang waiting when I got back to the lookout with Bob Marley's'Three Little Birdies' playing across an epic sunset.
Lot of excitement that evening as crew had just come in for surf guide Stephen Pigott's birthday. Simon Law gave a speech about lineage, getting taken to G-Land as a grom, nodding his head to the Newy groms in the crowd, 13-year old Felix Byrnes (son of shaper Jye) and his mate Oli Ryssenbeek, who both rip and had their eyes wide open on their first G-Land trip.
Billy Morris reported on a good late session that next day but I was back at Kuta Reef having my own eyes opened at what that place can do when there's some size.
That’s more than I was expecting! Sounds epic.
And have a look through Marlons images. He fricken charges!
More than I was expecting to write too...
Like Marlon says in the IG post, a day to remember.
A Thumper
Sounds unreal, Stu. Good on you.
Another thing that really attracts me to point breaks is the aesthetic aspect; I can just stare at a point lineup for hours, and that goes for long Indo reef waves too. 4, 5 or more lines spinning down a point is a visual feast.
You should see Noosa on a big swell when all five points are going off. A unique sight, surely there is no other break in the world has five points that the swell wraps around consecutively.
Surfed 'The Point" & also all of the QLD points on trips Nth from The northern rivers region thru the early to mid 80's. Left the area & relocated to an area with mainly beach breaks & a couple of sand bottomed points. Miss those set ups but the crowd factor is now chronic & unfortunately has impacted almost everywhere that has a decent wave now. Glad I was lucky enough to experience it when I did!
Points seem to draw the biggest crowds these days. It amazes me how many times I see a million people fighting over ordinary waves on a point break when there's decent banks on the beachies a short stroll up the beach.
Personally I have no preference , but there is something about a long perfect barrelling point break that increases the anticipation factor for me.
And on the 3rd Day ......God Created......... the "Golden Mile" of Torquay
......Just for Point break surfers of the World ...
Ah..men....
On the 3rd day.... what a day that was
And then we went down the road to find another .....
The Rock....
Heads ...Excellent Track ...
.For Gods Best Creation
Suck eggs ..Cockroaches and what ever you call yourselves in NSW now days ...
Brother Hood Of Eternal Loves still exists in Vicco...
Were all connected down here ...
Yeah 50 Year anniversary ..since BEL bust ...what a take down
...and they still haven't found me ..
I wonder if the statute of limitations has expired...?
poor old jULLIAN ...
Ewing ?
Hahahaha
I often dream of relocating to a left hand point.
Suncerely, east coast goofy footer.
Steve I see whats going on. You've found a sick beachy bank and are using your subtle powers as an influencer..... I just talk loudly in the car park/lineup myself to throw them off the scent
At the Central Coast had a concussion at a point break, broken ankle on a reef break, and some perfect days at beach breaks. You know the ones, just like the good old days tripping, warm, sun shining, water sparkling, can't stop smiling. Kill all care in the world, waves so good, no crowds, out for smashed Avocado and coffee for smoko, all in less than 15km. Singing 'such a perfect day ...' Guess I like beach breaks ...
"Reckon Speedies is heavily shadowed by the bommie; the energy all focuses onto the bommie with the swell line refracting into Moneys at the expense of Speedies. The waves further down the bay are free of the bommie's influence." Stunet.
A rare surf break where the opposite of what is logical happens. Even some legendary old timers got it wrong thinking a certain swell direction would make it happen. Some of these things take years to figure out, it's ok if you get it wrong Stu
Hey Camel, what's your theory with why Speedies is, counter-intuitively, smaller in a west swell? Same as above or something else..?
That joint really gets you thinking, hey?
BTW, morning of the big day, no-one out yet, Larry rocked up at the viewing spot and, completely unprompted, said "this is one of Camels days".
Had a sly chuckle. Gone but not forgotten.
Thanks Stu, stoked to hear Larry aka doctor gigi still remembers me. Big shout out to Larry who is still charging g-land in his 70s, getting barrelled and drinking beer, A rare combo and human ! Inspirational...
Big west swell and strong current I guess, need a big board just for paddling up current or you ain't getting near a money tree wave....
The topic of West swell vs south swell, my theory is : I won't elaborate or I will be writing pages on the G-Land reef contours.
There was 13 sections, all different takeoff spots, on the g-land 2 km reef.
The bommie is the big swell magnet that redirects the swell onto various sections of the long reef. If you've seen a big south swell it explains itself. The swell peaks on the bomie then swings a little bit and moves onto the launch pad.
The pad reef is connected to the bommie. it's just how it works, trying to explain on here is too hard but if you meet me in person feel free to discuss
SS > GR8 writing as always > as I'm always trying to be cognisant of the modern take on our mental health epidemic, where you write "He committed suicide as a young man"; my understanding is the better grammar to use is "He suicided as a young man" - which leaves his death as one without judgment and removes the assumption of logic, when the absence of logic is the case for such dire states of mental health. Just passing on what I've learned. RIP to your inspiring mate and role model. > RR
Thanks RR, noted.
No judgment, just sorrow at the loss.
Yep; for the record I wasn't accusing you of judgment, just sharing that this subtle change to the common vernacular takes the judgment away for all of us. I've grown up with the judgment of suicide around me and just when I thought I'd seen it all off, two kids of my peers have suicided. The grief grows old but never cold IMO. Eternal vigilance. RIP.
I did a lot of surfing in the early 70s to early 80s at two of the world's best point breaks - Nationals (Boiling Pot) at Noosa and The Pass at Byron. They were quite uncrowded then on weekdays and I realise I was very fortunate to surf these breaks at their best with only a few others in the water. These days I will not even visit Noosa and Byron, let alone try to surf there. Both breaks will now have 100 people out even in a one foot swell. If you like to surf without all the hassles and aggro then an isolated beach break is now the way to enjoy surfing. Where I surf in central Qld there are some great uncrowded beach breaks with long walls, some of which require some serious 4 wheel driving to get there which thins out the crowd. If you see surfing solely as a sport, then fine get out and hassle with the wannabe heroes at the points, if you see surfing as a lifestyle with a spiritual dimension avoid the over-crowded points at all cost. PS I have spent some time this century surfing in WA and I could show you pics of beach breaks there that would blow your mind.
I love the whiplash analogy
As I did your soap around the bathtub one recently