Kai Otten has just nailed his maiden World Tour event at Supertubos in Portugal. He took on the newly crowned ASP Rookie of the Year Nat Young in a wave starved final and found enough scoring waves to secure the win of the Rip Curl Pro.
Kai has been on the tour since 2007 and was actually Rookie of the Year in his first year but the results have not come easy. Over the past 12 months things has come together for the goofy footer, a new sponsorship with Reef and a new quiver of Al Merrick's under his feet. There have been a lot of close heats over the past 12 months too, very frustrating for Kai but last night in Portugal that was all forgotten when he held the trophy above his head and was drenched in champagne.
“It’s the weirdest feeling ever, I just can’t comprehend it,” an
ecstatic Otton said. “I really want to dedicate it to my Granddad, he
passed away the year I qualified and never saw me on tour so this is for
him. It seems like this event was a little bit of a grind, every heat
the tide changed so dramatically you never really knew what was going to
happen!”
Kai had forced the 2013 World Tilte race to hawaii when he kncoked out ratings laeader Mick Fanning in the quater finals. The World Title could have been warpped up at the Rip Curl Pro but Kai's win and Mick's loss meant that for the second year running it's going to be a two horse race at Pipe with between kelly Slater , who is going for his 12th and Mick Fanning as ratings leader going for his 3rd. A nail biting finish is guaranteed.
The Billabong Pipeline Masters is final stop on the 2013 ASP World Championship Tour, Mick Fanning and Kelly Slater remain in contention for the World Title. Following
Fanning’s fifth place in Portugal, Slater must win the
Pipe Masters to surpass Fanning for the ASP World Title. If Slater is to
win the event, Fanning must place 3rd or better to claim the title for
himself.
Kai, who now sits at No. 7 on the ASP WCT rankings following the
victory, has been one of the most consistent surfers in 2013 and his
road to victory in Portugal saw the Australian take on the
world’s best surfers. The goofy-footer was unstoppable on the final day
of competition, defeating Hawaiian prodigy John John Florence two-time ASP World Champion and current rankings leader Mick Fanning and reigning ASP World Champion Joel Parkinson en route to the final.
“One of the things that has changed for me this year is my girlfriend
being pregnant, I’m pretty excited about that,” siad Kai after the win. “It’s
unbelievable, it’s the next chapter I’m really looking forward to. It’s
amazing to have all of the support, all my home town of Tathra, my Mom
and Dad who supported me all of my career. To get here is kind of a
pinnacle for me.”
The win has been a long time coming but it is fully deserved.
Kai pulling in at Teahupoo earlier this year. photo: joliphotos.com
Stephanie Gilmore being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Photo: joliphotos.com
It’s been a busy couple of weeks with two big awards ceremonies and the hype surrounding the first WCT events of the year, the Quiksilver Pro and Roxy Pro’s here on the Gold Coast.
This gallery is all about the 50 year Anniversary of Surfing Australia and the Australian Surfing Awards which incorporate the Hall of Fame Awards It was a black tie function held in the Darling Harbor region of Sydney attended by Australia's surfing royalty, politicians and leading industry figures.
Mark Richards and Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan. Photo joliphotos.com
Four times World Champion Mark Richards was named Australia’s Most Influential Surfer 1963-2013. The Top 10, in order of votes received from the public and the Hall of Fame members, was: Mark Richards, Simon Anderson, Nat Young, Michael ‘MP’ Peterson, Midget Farrelly, Tom Carroll, Layne Beachley, Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew, Mark Occhilupo and Bob McTavish.
Five times Women’s World Surfing Champion, Stephanie Gilmore was inducted into the Hall of Fame as well as receiving the award as Female Surfer if the Year while 2012 World Surfing Champion Joel Parkinson was the Male Surfer of the Year.
I was honored to take out the Nikon Surf Photo of the Year award with a shot of Mark Healey’s surfboard stuck in the lip of the a Cloudbreak monster shot during that massive swell last June. It’s the second time in four years that I’ve received the Award and I can tell you I was stoked.
Peter 'Joli Wilson-The proud owner of a new Nikon D4. Photo by mrsjoli
Here’s the list of awards handed out during the night:
2013 AUSTRALIAN SURFING AWARDS WINNERS
Australian Surfing Hall of Fame Inductee: Stephanie Gilmore Australia’s Most Influential Surfer 1963-2013: Mark Richards Male Surfer of the Year: Joel Parkinson Female Surfer of the Year: Stephanie Gilmore Rising Star: Jack Freestone Waterman of the Year: Jamie Mitchell ASB Surfing Spirit Award: Misfit Aid Peter Troy Lifestyle Award: Bob Smith Surf Culture Award: The Reef - by the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Tura New Music Simon Anderson Club Award: Kirra Surfriders Club Nikon Surf Movie of the Year: Storm Surfers 3D Nikon Surf Photo of the Year: Peter ‘Joli’ Wilson
A lay day was called for the Quiksilver Pro and the Roxy Pro here on the Gold Coast today so it’s given me a chance to sit down at the computer and catch up with a bit of photo editing.
The first heats of the year are out of the way in both the Men’s and Women’s WCT with a few surprise results recorded. Parko finished a nail biting 0.03 points behind Matty Wilkinson in their first round heat yesterday while Kelly Slater, riding a tiny five fin board, struggled to get going early before finally getting the board to do what he wanted and nailing the win.
Jody Smith threw his big frame around for a convincing heat win while Gabriel Medina won his heat on a twisted ankle before rushing off to hospital for tests and x-rays.
We’ve got a cyclone (Sandra?) brewing off the mid north coast of Queensland which could send swell our way later this week. Hopefully this time around it will be waves and not the cyclonic weather that have smashed our sand banks, especially at Snapper, and giving us weeks of onshore winds and flooding rains.
I’ve loaded images into this Gallery from the last few days action and lifestyle and will continue to add images as the action unfolds. Tomorrow’s call is at 6.30 am and there is even a chance the heats could run at Kirra after three days at Rainbow Bay and Greenmount.
Dane Reynolds scores a wildcard entry into the 2013 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast.
Dane Reynolds and girlfriend Courtney before a heat at the Quiksilver Pro France where he finished 2nd behind Kelly Slater
The announcement yesterday of Dane Reynolds receiving a wild card entry into next month’s season opening Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast no doubt sent shivers through a lot of the ASP’s new Top 34.
Reynolds didn’t enjoy the grind of touring the world competing in WCT events when he was a member of the Top 34 but he does love competing and it shows when he turns up at an event, competing as a wildcard and goes about winning heats.
He cut a swath through the Quiksilver Pro in France last year, finishing second to good friend and mentor Kelly Slater and all but ending any hopes that Mick Fanning had of a 2012 World Title along the way.
Dane getting shacked in the beach breaks of Hossegor France.
Reynolds was the Vans Wilds card for the whole of the Vans Triple Crown in Hawaii last season and while he didn’t get close to winning an event like he did in France he certainly caused a few headaches for his fellow competitors along the way. An equal ninth at the Billabong Pipe Masters in testimony to that. With virtually no ratings points to his name Reynolds will likely draw either the new world champ and hometown hero, Joel Parkinson or the #2 seeded surfer, 11 times world champ Kelly Slater.
“As a wildcard you’re automatically the lowest seed in the contest so you get a really tough draw in the first three rounds which makes it really exciting but really difficult,” he said. “Joel would definitely be a fun heat but I like to surf against Kelly too.”
The draw for the Quiksilver Pro wont be worked out until the results of the Trials are known because the other wildcard will go to the winner who may or may not have a higher seeding points than Reynolds. The Quiksilver Pro Trials will run on March 1st, the day before the beginning of the waiting period for the Quiksilver Pro.
Reynolds is a crowd favorite partly for his enigmatic reputation and also for his devil may care attitude which results in some of the craziest moves ever attempted in contests. he sent the internet into melt down last November when he pulled off an amazing snap to reverse at Haleiwa during the Reef Hawaiian Pro. Fans will be watching via the webcast or flocking to Snapper Rocks to see what he can do this time around.
Dane smacking his way through a heat in the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa last November
Andy driving into a roundhouse cutback at St Pierre
I'd had a request a few days ago for photos of Reunion Island
and the last time I was there was for the first Rip Curl Search in
2005. Mick Fanning won the event which was blessed with amazing waves at
St Leu. There were plenty of free surfing going down over the two weeks
too. Going through my shots, Andy Irons with three World Titles in a
row (2002, 2003 and 2004) was the clear standout taking St Leu and St
Pierre apart.
John John's multi million dollar deal with Hurley:
John John Florence with a million dollar smile after signing a five year deal with Hurley
The rumour mill had been grinding for months, starting as far back as September, that there were going to be big changes in the O'Neill surf team for 2013. The base of the rumors was that both Jordy Smith's and John John Florence's contracts were up for renewal and the $ figures were resembling phone numbers that included the area codes.
One of the rumors was that Kelly Slater, looking for an heir apparent at Quiksilver, was pushing for John John to join Quik, another was that Vans were going to step up and sign a 100% deal while a late comer to the rumor mill was Hurley. On the Jordy Smith front his name was being linked to Oakley with talk of a 100% deal but that could have slowed when they signed Bruce Irons and a yet to be confirmed World Championship Tour event in Bali around mid June of this year.
Florence, who had been riding for his former sponsor, O'Neill, since he was six years old, rode Jaws on the last day of 2012 on a sticker-less board and just over a week later put an end to the rumors when Hurley announced he'd joined their team.
Maybe the writing was on the wall back in November during the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Hale'iwa when Hurley management, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Evan Slater and former pro surfer and current VP of Sports Marketing Pat O'Connell were set up in the stands with the Florence camp. A group that included Florence's Mum Alex, brothers Nathan and Ivan and his longtime shaper Jon Pyzel.
Jon Pyzel, Evan Slater, Alex Florence, Nathan Florence, Pat O'Connell and Sunny Garcia share a joke while watching John John in the final of the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa, November 2012
2012 was Florence's first full year on the ASP World Tour. He defeated Parko in the final of the Billabong Pro Brazil to become the first Hawaiian to win a WCT event since Andy Irons and was in the running for a world title until the O'Neill Cold Water Classic, the second last event of the year, before finally finishing fourth in the world.
John John Florence smacking the top off one during the Reef Hawaiian Pro
Florence turned 20 in October 2012 and as a teenager he had already racked up a Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title, three wins at Pipe that included a Backdoor Shootout win and two Volcom Pro wins, an ASP world tour victory, a runner-up at the Surfer Poll awards and invites to two of the world's most prestigious big-wave events; the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau and the Redbull Jaws, Paddle at Pe'ahi on Maui.
The dollar value of his new sponsorship package with Hurley was not announced with his signing, but solid rumors puts it's worth around 3.5 million dollars annually, which would put him in the top one percent of earners in surf and a deal worth somewhere in the $18 million range over five years. Pretty cool for a 20-year-old.
Last year at just
18 years of age Brazilian Gabriel Medina split open a huge hole in the ASP
world tour. As a teenage giant killer, Medina went from young grommet to
full-fledged world title contender in the blink of an eye with two World Tour
wins from four contests.
At 15 years old
Medina is the youngest surfer to win a WQS event and amazingly had only begun
competing in pro surfing events at 14. Last years ASP mid-year rotation made it
possible for him to jump straight from the WQS and into the 2011 ASP Top 34.
2012 should be
shaping up as a big year for him but an =25th place at the
Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast is not what was expected by him or his fans. What went wrong?
Snapper Rocks can be a tricky place to surf at times especially in less than
ideal conditions. Medina couldn’t find any rhythm in either of his heats and paid
a heavy price being knocked out in Round Two by fellow rookie, Aussie Yadin
Nichol. But there is one thing for certain about the year ahead, Medina wont be
down for long. The Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach is just around the corner.
Adrian Ace Buchan,
the goofy footer with the gnarlest backhand snap on the tour today always
greets you with a smile. When Ace came up against Tour Rookie and fellow Hurley
team rider Brazilian Miguel Pupo in the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast there weren’t too many smiles going around in
or out of the water.
In the battle of
the goofy footers Ace came out on top and moved into the quarterfinals on the
very last wave of the heat. He was wadding to the beach as the final scores
were read out from the judges. Ace’s reaction to his wining ride was far from
the usual smile, more like a lion’s roar and an emotional fist pumping. Ace was
very happy but his normal smile was missing.
Steph is Back:
The first Women’s World Tour event for 2012, the Roxy Pro Gold Coast, is all wrapped up with Aussie girls filling the top four spots. Four times world champ Stephanie Gilmore was back on the podium holding the winners trophy and lighting up the crowd with her infectious smile.
Steph, the local heroine, defeated North Narrabeen’s Laura Enever who was surfing in her first tour final, with a excellent nine point plus wave right on the siren.
Fellow Aussies Tyler Wright and Sally Fitzgibbons bowed out in the semi finals. The tour rookies put in solid performances and it looks like it will be an exciting year ahead for women’s surfing.
Check out all the action in this Gallery. Also check out the latest issue of www.18seconds.com.au for a cool multi media interview with yours truly.
The next big event is the Women’s Six Star rated Telstra Drug Aware Pro at Margaret River in Western Australia. I’ll be covering all the action so keep an eye on this blog.
Cheers
Joli
Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast 2012 - Images by Peter 'Joli' Wilson Happy Vegemites
Aussie surfers scored a double victory at Snapper Rocks with Taj Burrow winning the Quiksilver Pro and (former world champion) Stephanie Gilmore winning the Roxy Pro.
“I’m feeling great mate!” said Burrow after defeating Brazilian Adriano de Souza in what was a tense see sawing 35 minute heat battle in front of a packed Snapper Rocks beach.
“I felt like I was in Rio [Rio de Janeiro],” said Burrow about the massive crowd that spilled into the water. “There were so many Brazilians here chanting for Adriano and I was a bit unnerved at first but it got me revved up, and I heard the Aussies bounce back with a really good roar on a couple of my waves, I could actually hear them as I was going through my turns. That’s a pretty special feeling.”
Burrow’s definitely needed some local support after de Souza had opened the final with an eight point ride nailing an air reverse on his very first turn.
“I was freaking after Adriano’s first ride, it’s quite an exclamation mark to come out on the first wave and try an air on your first turn,” explained Burrow later. “He did a sick turn and got eight (points) for just that one turn which is quite intimidating for sure but I knew I could get those scores too, if not better, if I could pick the right waves, but he (de Souza) sure makes it hard for you.”
Adriano de Souza, who had avoided a lot of the contest hype that focused on Joel Parkinson, Kelly Slater and Jordy Smith has come second in this event and would have dearly liked to have won, but Burrow got the better of him again today.
“We’ve met about 10 times now and Taj has won about six times,” said de Souza as he watched Burrow being mobbed by a massive media scrum. “I had the heat of my life against Taj last year and I would have really liked to have had a win today. What can I say, he belongs in the top three or four in the world and he has been knocking on the door (of a world title) for pretty much like 10 years. I’m sure we’ll met again and maybe next time it will be different.”
Both third place getters, Josh Kerr and Jordy Smith would have liked to have the results go differently too.
“If you’d told me a week ago I was going to get a third I would have told you I’d be stoked, “ said Kerr as he watched Burrow and de Souza battle out the final. “I really wish I was out in the final right now,” he continued with a shrug. “I had that heat this morning against Adriano and I really wanted to get through so I’m really disappointed right now, but I’ll take a third.”
Jordy Smith had his own reasons for wanting a win at Snapper Rocks after the news last week of the downgrading of the World Tour event at Jeffreys Bay (to a six star); Smith would have been the defending champion.
“I had an added incentive to win here because they’ve taken JBay (Jeffreys Bay, South Africa) away and I wanted to win one of the right hand point breaks this year.”
Smith was runner up two years ago at the Quik Pro and made the semis twice in the last three years so he was more than a little disappointed about his result.
“@#%*, I’m just really bummed, I wanted to make the final so bad. If you want to win a world title you’ve got to win finals,” he said. “I guess it’s a really good start to the year and now I hope to go and do really well at Bells, hopefully win or make the final at least.”
When asked about the conditions today he answered with a smile, “It wasn’t perfect Snapper but I’m happy to have beaten Parko out here (Joel Parkinson’s home break). He’s probably beaten me 10 times and I’ve only beaten him three, so I don’t think I’ve got it over him yet, (laughing) but those three times are all out here at Snapper.”
The 2012 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast didn’t have perfect waves and for a lot of the Top 34 surfers it was a nervous start to the year. The tour rookies didn’t really get a chance to shine with the seasoned pros filling the final top eight spots.
Taj Burrow has led the world tour ratings at this stage of the year before, but it’s another long year ahead. He just laughed when asked how he felt about his World Title chances this year?
“Right now, it’s all about rating points and having a few beers with my mates.”
It's the last day of April and the surf has returned to the Gold Coast after a week of tiny waves. Cool south westerly winds early and an easterly swell made for some fun conditions this morning. I figure it caught a lot of people by surprise as the line ups were fairly sparsely packed early. The dropping tide made a bit of difference and the news of the 'weekend' swell arriving a day early started to filter out. We've got a long weekend here in Queensland for May Day so today could be a little entre for the next few days. Get out there and enjoy it. Cheers Joli
Here's a little update from the west. The 'situation' of the day were the last minute gasps. A bit like last night when I was stopped for a random breath test by the local cops. I passed and so did a lot of guys today. So many last gasp waves. Adrian Buchan nailed one in the last seconds and Josh Kerr snuck past Mick Fanning in their Round of 16. The funny thing is that Josh has beaten Mick twice in this contest; once in the 4 man heats of the Round of 96 and again in the man on man rounds. Air specialist Kerr was joking that Mick beat him in the Boost Air Show last weekend in Sydney and now he's beating him in a 'straight' WQS contest. Maybe it was the local red wine coursing through his veins courtesy of a Rusty sponsors dinner that helped scrap through.
Today was a morning of convoys. The word went out that North Point was sure to be going off...a bit like St Patricks day. Hire cars in packs of 4 or 5 were darting all over the place. North Point was packed at first light but the little dirt car park was jammed with locals utes and 4WD's. No hire cars, they were still on the roads looking for a decent wave. The swell was definitely 'pumping', somewhere in the 12' range, but way too south for most of the breaks. A lot of the crew ended up back at the contest watching the action and in the words of one of the surfers... "when the Gudangs (Gudauskas Bros) can't find waves then there aren't any around.'
Cory Lopez got everyone 'moo'ing' today. He caught a triple overhead bomb and proceeded to try to emulate Tom Curren's mid 80's wave. Margs was huge when Curren caught a wave and rode it over 250 yards to the river mouth of Margaret River. Cory came very close today, pumping his board at the end but with about 30 yards to go the wave backed off and he had to kick out. The surfers in the competitors tent were all up and riding the wave with him and the event commentators were yelling and laughing as Cory tried to make the river mouth.
While Cory was going for glory Sunny Garcia was hiding from the public. He'd tried to pull in on a huge right and got blasted for his trouble. The resulting wipeout disrobed him and tore two fins out of his board. Sunny was stuck in the channel calling for the jet ski while scrambling to get his trunks back from the end of his leg rope. He was joking about it later and laughed when the cold water jokes came out.
Who's on form... CJ, Taj, Bede and Cory. Heat of the Round on paper was Josh Kerr and Mick Fanning while the heat to watch was Sunny Garcai and Neco Padaratz. They hadn't met since Pipeline in 2008. This time it was Sunny coming out on top. The swell's dropping and they'll crown a champ tomorrow.
Well we’re half way through the year and Parko is the runaway leader on the ASP World Tour. This is probably stating the obvious and if you applied the same scenario to Kelly Slater this time last year then Parko’s first world title would be a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’.
Bounce this around the number crunches who follow the ASP world tour and the word is that Parko’s title is not necessarily a certainty. Basically there are five World tour events to go, four back to back over the next eight weeks and ‘anything could happen’.
When Joel won in J-Bay one of the first guys to congratulate him after all the media had disappeared was his good mate Mick Fanning. Mick had been in a similar position to Joel two years earlier and he just gave his friend a big hug and said. “Just one step closer mate.” It was almost as if Mick had conceded that this was going to be another of the ‘Cooly Kids’ chance to hold up the World Title trophy even though Mick, who is rated at #7, is still in the mix for this years title race.
The main contenders are probably the Hobgood twins, Taj Burrow and Adriano de Souza. Bobby Martinez would have to be considered an outsider and Kelly who is in the Top 10, but I his own words figures he could be still in the race with a ‘…. mathematical outside chance.’, but not a lot of people are giving him this chance. Beware of the underdog you ask? Well he’s definitely that but the wheels would really have to fall off a few guys’ campaigns ahead of him to even give him a sniff.
Will this be Parko’s year? There was an injury scare out of Bali with Parko hurting his ankle. Team Parko have down played the injury via Twitter and blogs on his website but there haven’t been many sightings for the past few weeks. Could have a lot to do with the lack of surf on the Gold Coast. We’ve been getting summer Northerlies in winter. It’s a few days into Spring but the surf hasn’t improved much. There have been almost no waves since the end of July on the Gold Coast. Other Ct surfers have been around but they have also been going stir crazy because of the conditions.
The Hurly Pro, Event #6 on this years tour, is only four days away and you can bet a lot of the Gold Coast crew are already in California trying to get a few waves at Trestles because they haven’t been getting any at home. Will this be Parko’s year? It certainly seems like it at the moment. He’s being in such consistent form since late last year. The 2008 Triple Crown is testament to that and three wins out of five events is nothing to be sneezed at. I’m hitting the road in a few days time with six weeks of contests through Europe on the itinerary. Will I get a shot of Parko holding that world title trophy above his head in the next six weeks… I certainly hope so.
Just returned from a successful trip to Jeffrey's Bay in South Africa. Great surf for the Billabong Pro with a strong win for Joel Parkinson but not a lot of great free surfing. Missed a swell by a few days and then hung around after the contest waiting for two bumps on the Surfline swell maps. One came and went without much activity while the second bump provided plenty of surf in the 2 metre range with over 60mm of rain. Not ideal shooting weather. ShaunTomson was on hand for the second swell but with overcast skies and more rain I ended up heading to the game reserves of Shamwari and Pumba to shoot four legged animals instead of the usual two legged surfing variety. Got nice and close to lots of animals including hippos, elephants, rhinos and lions. The scary thing was that a lioness took a liking to our open Landrover and charged us. Came within a metre of leaping into the truck. Scared the hell out of everyone including our ranger, who hightailed it through the bush to get away.
One of the elephants got nice and friendly too. Gave us a little 'don't argue' when we got a bit close but it all makes for some interesting photos.
Arrived home to Coolangatta to beautiful winter days and no decent surf. Bells Beach pumped on the weekend but my bags need to stay unpacked for a few days.
Kirra Point is the northern limit of the fabled Coolangatta, Queensland's most southeastern town and the home of a long line of "Coolie" surfing legends such as Rabbit Bartholomew, Peter ‘PT’ Townsend, Michael ‘MP’ Peterson and the new Coolie Kids, Mick Fanning, Dean Morrison and Joel Parkinson.
On Australia’s National Day, January 26th2009, more than 1500 surfers gathered for a protest paddle out. Their mission was to bring public awareness to the fact that the fabled Kirra Point had all but disappeared due to sand pumping from the mouth of the Tweed River just a few kilometers south.
The protesting surfers formed the outline of a map of Australia and drew media recognition from all around the world for their plight.
In days gone by a long lethal ribbon of sand was responsible for Kirra's supertube magic. Swells used to hit the sandbar at a 45-degree angle and suck their way with increasing intensity toward a small groyne off the Surf club and sometimes even past it.
When the sand was right it was literally sectionless, the barrel forming and reforming like some sort of incredible moving version of a wave machine. Large volumes of water ran down the outside rim of the sandbar, which made paddling back out a grueling proposition; many experienced Kirra surfers just got out of the water at a ride's finish and jogged back along the rim of the point to the jump-off point.
The loss of Kirra Point has been caused by an excessive build-up of sand that has been pumped and dredged into the Coolangatta Bay over the past 12 years. In this time there have been relatively low levels of storm activity and the sand has not naturally made its way north at the same speed at which it was placed in the bay.
An increase in the level of sand in the bay by 3–4 metres on average has resulted in a significant widening of the beaches, in some cases by over 150m, the loss of surf quality and an increase in rips
Currently the sand flow has moved slowly from Coolangatta Bay and into Kirra Beach, which now resembles a desert oasis and a 400-metre walk to the waters edge. After 6 years of sand pumping only 1/8 of the volume has moved north along Gold Coast beaches with the majority of sand volume lodged at Coolangatta and more so at Kirra and especially North Kirra. It’s the biggest pile-up of sand ever seen from Kirra to North Kirra, yet the sand continues to be pumped from the main outlet at Lovers Rock, Point Danger just north of D-bah beach.
This sand pumping issue is not one caused by Climate Change but a man made problem which current ASP world # 1 Joel Parkinson considers to be the main environmental issue facing his hometown beaches.
‘Sand pumping,’ says Joel, ‘they’re dammed if they do it and dammed if they don’t. We’ll never have Kirra and Snapper working at the same time while they continue to pump sand. Why are they even pumping sand?’ he asks.
The original reason sand pumping was put in place was to keep the Tweed River mouth clear of sand so that the local fishing fleet and pleasure craft could cross the sandbar safely. Despite nearly 12 years of dredging and pumping the bar has never been completely clear.Joel jokes that he saw Occy score one of the best barrels he’s ever seen ridden at the bar earlier this year.
Despite Parko considering the sand pumping as the major environmental threat to his surf breaks Climate Change has had an effect on the southern Gold Coast beaches. In late May this year a massive storm ripped apart the beaches causing some of the worst beach erosion in 40-50 years.
Gold Coast beaches from D-Bah in the south all the way to Surfers Paradise in the north suffered massive erosion. The ironic thing was that Kirra and Coolangatta had little damage and the massive sand build up from the sand pumping refused to budge. In the aftermath of the storm the local council used the Kirra sand to replenish some of the destroyed beaches.
‘It was cool they were able to use some of the excess sand to replenish the other beaches after that big storm hit, commented Parko, ‘… but I reckon at some stage they will run out of sand to pump.’
‘They’ve dumped a shit load of sand at D-bah and it hasn’t helped the erosion one little bit. It’s the worst I’ve seen it in all the time I’ve lived there.’
The May storm destroyed the bank at Snapper, exposing rocks and causing deep holes just off the beach.
‘There’s a hole the size of an Olympic swimming pool out the back of Snapper right now that will take a lot of sand to fill up,’ says Joel. ‘We wont even get Snapper back until that fills up.Climate Change is having a huge effect on our beaches and I don’t know what’s going to happen … they’re going to run out of sand to pump pretty soon. The beaches to the south of the sand pumping jetty are eroding too. What are they going to do? Pump sand south?’
As Joel said earlier there doesn’t seem to be one solution to the environmental damage being caused to the Coolangatta beaches. The authorities are dammed if the do pump sand or dammed if they don’t.
Parko reckons, ‘They just need to stop pumping for awhile and let nature settle things down, but we are either going to have Kirra or Snapper but we are never going to have both breaks at the same time.’
AS this piece was being written, during the Euro leg of the WCT world tour, Parko got news that, ‘The boys were scoring little low tide barrels behind the Rock at Snapper’. He just laughed when he heard the claim because he reckons it’ll take a long time before either bank, Kirra or Snapper is back to it’s best after the May storm.
