Table of contents for No. 571 in Tracks

With a swell of this magnitude, one can behold the whole of SE QLD in maps, and choose from a few of the most significant bends in the coast – DI, Noosa, the tips of Moreton and Straddie, and Kirra (The Pass wasn’t breaking, I checked it). The size and period meant that only a point lengthy enough to be discerned from space was capable of providing enough refractive space to produce a worthy and manageable ride. According to lore, Kirra likes a SE swell the best. Snapper was breaking hundreds of metres wide and reforming wobbly double ups in the corner at Greenmount. Rainbow was a frothy lagoon with dry-hair paddle outs on offer. The power grew across the Cooloongatta beach bank, which, though not quite linking up to…

Isn’t it strange that when you visit a new place with no reflections of yourself or your way of life, you somehow see deeper into your own soul and the surrounding milieu? Your desire to be anything vanishes. Less noise, more to hear, less eyes, more to see. Too often with travel and life in general, we crave the fiction when we need the truth. Since my first visit to Africa I have been entirely drawn to the place. There’s an inescapable element of danger and instability both in and out of the water. As surfers, having the freedom to divide your time between chasing waves and enjoying enlightening experiences beyond the ocean is what makes foreign surf travel so enjoyable and unique. And more often than not, it’s those…

Season: May to September Fly into Walvis Bay and base yourself there, or you can opt for the more gentrified Swakopmund, 50 kays north. Walvis is a port town dominated by a large working harbour and the lingering smell of diesel and fish, but it’s not without its charms. The tidal lagoon is home to an abundance of birdlife and the Namib Desert starts just a few clicks east. South of Walvis lies the mythical Skeleton Bay, but there’s also a good selection of waves north of town that have been overlooked amongst the hype. Before the latter became the most GoPro’d barrel in the world, Guns was considered Namibia’s prime wave and is still a class act. Located just out of town on the road between Walvis and Swakopmund,…

Season: April to September Almost any journey to Madagascar starts in the chaotic capital of Antananarivo. It used to be a painstaking, daylong drive from here to the surf-rich southwest coast of the island along decrepit roads. Thankfully, nowadays you can avoid all that by hopping on a connecting flight to the port town of Toliara, located halfway between Ifaty and Anakoa. This 60-odd kilometre stretch of coast is part of the Toliara reef system, the third largest network of coral reefs in the world and home to a variety of quality waves to suit all levels. The snag, like much of Madagascar, is access. Almost all the breaks are located far offshore and require hitching a ride on a local pirogue or a chartered dive tinnie, unless you fancy…

During the busy summer period, sleepy coastal towns across the country are overrun by visitors and holiday-makers. In the town where I grew up, the visitors are predominantly from Canberra, and we call them ‘yogies’. I have since left this town for a bustling, tourist hotspot on the north coast, becoming accustomed to crowds on a whole new level. But it’s all relative, and over Christmas I returned to my old stomping ground, where I witnessed the locals grappling with their burgeoning summertime population. The beaches were packed, and everyone was on edge. “No point going to the beach, won’t be able to get a park,” they’d prophesise. “No use going to the cafe for breakfast, there won’t be any tables. We’ll have to eat standing up !” To the…

Lachie Rombouts - Kirra What board would you ride to thread Kirra’s innards during a cyclone swell for the first time? A 6’0” perhaps? Maybe a 6’2” if things got serious? Not South Coast surfer Lachie Rombouts. When he hit the Princes Highway for the 12-hour trip north to intercept the TC Oma swell at the Gold Coast wave, he was packing a little more foam and fibreglass. A 10’4 Misfit Surfboards rhino chaser, and a 9’0” Keyo Surfboards Gunfish to be exact. Not exactly standard fare for 6-8-foot tubes but looking at this photo of Lachie styling through a forehand layback on his Keyo, perhaps he knows something we don’t. “It was my first time surfing solid Kirra,” recalls Lachie of the swell. “I was riding a 9’0” long,…

Bryce Young and I met in his native Angourie in the latter part of 2017, a couple of memorable sessions were shared in the beautiful Clarence Valley right-handers, followed by a delightful dinner chez Young. The idea of a trip to my neck of the woods, some 17,000 km north and 20 degrees cooler, was mooted. Bryce seemed keen on the idea of lonely windswept rights (and the odd left) similar to his own, on the northern European fringe. At this point I should mention that, due to Bryce’s somewhat elusive nature and clear eschewing of the corporate surf industry, I knew little of his near-freakish ability on boards of all varieties and in all mediums. However, after meeting in Oz and seeing his surfing first hand, I was left…

You need to step a long way back to take in the Pacific. The window seat of a jet plane gives only a fleeting sense of its immensity. On a flight from Sydney to Los Angles you cross its widest point and cop 14-hours of relentless blue. Stare long enough and your brain will gum up and you’ll start drooling. It’s too much. Only astronauts get the full Pacific wack in one awe-struck eyeful. From outer space Planet Earth is mostly water and close to half of that water is Pacific Ocean. It is so bountiful you could fit every country within its liquid borders and still have room to spare. For surfers, the Pacific is our premier playground and our collective origin place. Wave riding began in its epi-centre…

Season: April to October Fly into Columbo and head south to Hiriketiya, an idyllic little cove on the southern-most tip of the island. Hire a driver rather than attempting to get behind the wheel yourself. While the highways have improved, the Sri Lankan coastal roads are notoriously helter-skelter. The bus drivers approach the narrow, two-way veins of bitumen as if preparing for a formula one debut. Dogs, buffalos, humans and other vehicles are all under serious threat from these swerving Fangios. If you want a more scenic alternative, take the train to Matara and then get a driver for the short trip to Hiriketiya. Surrounded by dense forest where monkeys climb and peacocks rustle, Hiriketiya is a small, palm-fringed cove that gives way to a labyrinth of houses (many quite…

When Tracks made its debut nearly 50 years ago, there was no such thing as surf travel, unless you counted heading up or down the coast in a panel van with your mates for the weekend. From the 1950s, the more adventurous (and usually the more skilled) California surfers began taking the Matson liners over to Hawaii each winter to ride the big waves of Makaha and the North Shore, but in Australia it was only true pioneers, like the late Scott Dillon and Barry McGuigan, who made such daring treks. In the 1960s, the Hawaiian sojourn became more common, as did the bizarre idea that there might be good surf somewhere else, made fashionable through the adventures of the late Peter Troy. So yeah, it was a long time…

From The Vault. Ant Corrigan, 3rd Ramp Bondi, 1977. – Photo: Dave Sparkes Ant Corrigan was one of Australia’s hottest young surfers. Meanwhile Dave Sparkes (now an accomplished artist) was in the nascent phase of a career as a photographer/writer. He recalls the context vividly. “We were 15, and I shot it on a Pentax Spotmatic with a $49.95 Tamron 400mm, which I bought after mowing many lawns at $5 a pop.” Follow. @pulsesurf - Get deep in 90s surf footage! Read –A Surfer’s Guide to Property Investment By Paul Glossop Tired of being pushed out of the coastal town you grew up in? Don’t get mad get equity. Find out how to stay salty and improve the property portfolio. Not The News: Gold Coast Surfer Hospitalised After Boardie Rash…

It’s been almost a year since Dane Reynolds went on a surf trip. Life will do that to you. Newborn twins and a growing family will do that to you – even if you’re one of the best surfers on the planet. He’s surfed a bit at home during the 11-month sabbatical from ‘professional’ surfing, but he is mega hungry to surf some lengthy, world-class waves in boardshorts. Almost as hungry as the surfing world is to see him caught on camera again for a full-length feature. Many of us can relate; well to the family responsibilities and no-surf-for-long-periods part anyway. We’re in East Oaxaca, Mexico, hoping to score the famous points between Barra de la Cruz and Punta Conejo and to test out 10 of the most eclectic surfboards…

We are nine mates from Victoria, on an annual surf trip which has been going since 2014. We spent three days as a warm-up in Lagundri Bay, Nias before heading for 10 days in the Banyaks. We usually stay with Scotty at Telos 101; in fact, Scotty had warned us that safety standards would be very different where we were heading. We should have listened... 6am - 11am, Tuesday 21 August 2018 Road travel from Lagundri Bay to departure port We were picked up by Lovey and two other drivers at 6.20am, for a scheduled 6am departure to a small boat harbour at Siofambanua Village, about an hour north of Gunung Sitoli, a four-hour drive. We had no breakfast this morning, although there were bananas which most of us didn’t…

Season: All Year Round As your life is increasingly defined by myopia-inducing screens and the constant ping of texts, WhatsApp, Messenger and other mind-tugging apps, some deeper part of your DNA craves an experience that is far removed from the artificial reality of the digital world and the relentless progress of modern living. A trip that will jolt you back to reality and inspire an internal recalibration that puts you in alignment with the natural order of things. A setting where you can savour the sense of isolation from the outside world, where you are dwarfed by the majesty of the surrounding landscape and relish the feeling of unrivalled independence that comes from catching and killing your own dinner. A geological super-juncture where spectacular wilderness carpets the earth’s crust, while…

Aura Surf Resort Indonesia w. www.aurasurfresort.com e. aurasurf@aurasurfresort.com Instagram. aurasurfresort REGION: Aura Surf Resort is located on a pristine small Island in North Sumatra, only a short 45min flight from Medan and a 25 min drive will get you to the Resort. What’s different then other parts of Indonesia? No crowd, no trade winds, no rainy Season but waves all year around. Uncrowded Points, slabs, beach breaks, flawless drainers, heart stopping tubes, “THE LOT” are all on tap. RESORT: Fully Renovated at the beginning of 2019. With the most consistent wave in North Sumatra, a world class peak right at your doorstep. Private speedboat, 5 renovated Bungalows, brand new cars and much more. We are the longest running and most professional resort on the Island. PACKAGE: All inclusive package: Accommodation. 3…