Photos

Some of the typhoons on the east stayed quite a way offshore and provided clean groundswell. The strange weather pattern was a boon for surfers this year, offering plentiful waves on the south, east and north coasts.

Somewhere on a lttle-trodden stretch of the east coast photographer Jordan Barta and surfers Josh Ku and Troy Van Vliet try to make sense of a triple-sucking, backless beast of a wave.

The second day of competition is done and the world title still hasn't been decided. The pointy end of the contest just got pointier! Momentum swung toward Slater today when he won his Round 4 heat, thereby jumping to the Quarters, while ol' Mick lost his Round 4 heat and now draws deadly C.J Hobgood in Round 5

After a quiet word with Kelly Slater the name Bocas del Toro - Spanish for the mouth of the bull - was thrown about. So, fresh after escaping the horns of the bull in Pamplona, Mick Fanning ran straight into its mouth.

On the eve of the Pipe Masters a clean mid-range swell gave competitors a last chance to fine tune equipment before competition began.

The first day of the Pipe Masters hummed along just swimmingly - coupla barrels here, coupla barrels there - as Pipe and Backdoor put on their frie

The weekend's swell on the East Coast was one to keep the working man happy; it hit Friday, built Saturday to an overnight peak, then tapered slowly on Sunday.

“Go to Mozambique NOW. It's too small for Skeleton Bay and there's nothing of interest at J-Bay.”

Highlights from two days of waves somewhere on the East Coast. A place that demands maximum commitment from the surfers who run the gauntlet between the shallow rock and the double-sucking face.

Sitting in sixth spot on the 'CT rankings and first in the One World system, Julian Wilson had no need to go to Hawaii early and fight for qualification. Following Portugal Jules had an extended break at his Sunshine Coast home, where a lack of swell meant plenty of small wave practice. 

"I was building confidence through each heat," said Ezekiel Lau after his win at Sunset. "It seemed like things were going in my favor and I was just getting the waves I needed at the right time."

Ryan 'Wanga' Waine and Kerry Langdon Down trade waves at an East Coast reef. The depth of the water betrayed, not only by the shape of the waves, but also by the ever-present boils in the water.

Every time we tell tales of sessions that stretched our legropes, we also tend to stretch the truth. So as October started we werenʼt sure how much truth was in the stories we were reading. There were claims starting to emerge that this was going to be the biggest swell to hit Indonesia in several years.

The surf dropped from Saturday's peak, but in exchange for big wave drama, spectators at the World Cup were treated to the top seeds making an entrance and upping the performance levels.

While the webcast cameras were trained on Sunset Beach, which was hosting the World Cup of Surfing, the photographers were burning up the megapixels down at Pipeline. 

"I just stood up and looked down the line and I just saw this thing that was perfect. I just stood there and kind of looked at the scenery. It’s one of the best places to be on earth, in the barrel. I’m just living in the moment."

The first day of the Vans World Cup of Surfing kicked off in fine Hawaiian style: six-to-eight foot of not-too-heavy North Pacific power was on offer at Sunset. Light trades completed the pleasant scene.

Rail turns being the overrated gimmick that they are it's time we ran a gallery comprised solely of airs. Thas' right, nought but dry rails, functional grabs, and spinning to win.

The first event of the Triple Crown, the Reef Hawaiian Pro, suffered out of control conditions at the beginning of the waiting period, abject flatness throug