Gallery: The Drought Breaker

Craig's picture
By Craig Brokensha (Craig)

Gallery: The Drought Breaker

Craig Brokensha picture
Craig Brokensha (Craig)
Swellnet Dispatch

Up until the weekend, the East Coast winter has been devoid of any major surf. Sporadic pulses of southerly swell have been sneaking up through the Tasman Sea, but otherwise all the action has been contained to the southern states. Deservedly so.

Family time, catching up with friends and hitting the golf course took precedence over surfing, but this all changed on the weekend.

A moderate to large pulse of southerly swell was set to be followed by a stronger easterly groundswell providing options aplenty across the whole Eastern Seaboard.

Previous commitments had to be swept aside to capitalise on the favourable conditions, and with an upgrade of the Cook Strait fetch (body of water between New Zealand's North and South Islands) generating the easterly groundswell for Sunday, plans were put in place and executed.

From slabbing reefs to spitting beachies, Sunday morning didn't disappoint.

Comments

Darryl Menzies's picture
Darryl Menzies's picture
Darryl Menzies Tuesday, 25 Jul 2023 at 11:50am

Nice capture Craig.

scrotina's picture
scrotina's picture
scrotina Tuesday, 25 Jul 2023 at 12:21pm

the article goes on about the whole eastern seaboard pumping, and every photo is of the same spot on the same morning. hardly a gallery of a drought breaker.

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Tuesday, 25 Jul 2023 at 1:42pm

More than being an around the grounds piece, this was from my point of reference Scrotina.

Check out social media for endless photos and clips of pumping surf.

billie's picture
billie's picture
billie Tuesday, 25 Jul 2023 at 5:50pm

Beautifully diplomatic!

Solitude's picture
Solitude's picture
Solitude Tuesday, 25 Jul 2023 at 2:43pm

Hope that was taken just before or after you scored Craig. Thanks for sharing. FWIW - I did surf another version of that in another neck of the eastern seaboard as well. No doubt many quality sessions went down throughout the State.

FrazP's picture
FrazP's picture
FrazP Tuesday, 25 Jul 2023 at 4:51pm

Some shots make it look fairly accessible but looking closely at the poor fella trying to paddle out it must have been damn hard work. Outside of Friday, there was not a lot of quality this way. Bit all over the shop and lack of anything resembling a bank.

scroty's picture
scroty's picture
scroty Wednesday, 26 Jul 2023 at 8:20am

How many times have I been there - watching people score 25m in front of you while stuck in the impact zone paddling until you've got nothing left in the tank.

Craig's picture
Craig's picture
Craig Wednesday, 26 Jul 2023 at 10:29am

Yep, this was the case here. You could get 2/3 of the way out easily with a rip and if you timed it without a set, straight out to the back.

Otherwise it was being in the worst place possible, sitting on the shallow inside as 6ft+ sets focussed in.

bbbird's picture
bbbird's picture
bbbird Tuesday, 25 Jul 2023 at 5:59pm

Thanks for the photos Craig, hope you scored some waves.
Two swell can often form a nice wedge ....though its tricky to time the paddle out in random closeouts.

PCS PeterPan's picture
PCS PeterPan's picture
PCS PeterPan Tuesday, 25 Jul 2023 at 6:13pm

I scored waves just like those on Thursday just after lunch , but with 286 others .

southernraw's picture
southernraw's picture
southernraw Tuesday, 25 Jul 2023 at 7:11pm

Beautiful pics Craig.
Dreamy looking lineup!