A new south-east swell started filling on the East Coast last Friday night. North-west winds were forecast for Saturday morning.

Knowing there'd be good waves Marcus Donsworth made the trek to his local reef to find it as crowded than he'd ever seen it. Put an obvious swell/wind combo together with an ideal tide and a Saturday morning crowd and the result is thirty surfers sitting tight on the take-off scrambling for everything that breaks.

So, put off by the numbers he decided to film rather than add to them.

The crowds weren't enough to deter the groms however, and an energetic younger crew snaked and snavelled anything that came their way. One in particular, Norah Head's Beau Foster, got his share slipping into some pits and busting big on the end section.//STUART NETTLE