Words by Ben Horvath

This summer has been a frustrating season in Sydney and surrounds – well below average and not even worthy of a 5 out of 10 pass mark.

Northern Beaches swell chaser Matty Grainger summed up the summer season perfectly, “You have had to be so onto it to even score the occasional session. We’d get a thee-to-four foot northeasterly wind swell then a southerly would charge through and knock it down in hours. If you were on top of it then you could quickly get your quota up in a south corner like Manly or Collaroy. If you missed it you had to sit out a week or two of onshore dribble”.

Above: Footage from south of Sydney by Clarrie Bouma.

Similarly, there have been a few fleeting southerly wind swells, followed by a day or two of howling northeasterly sea breezes that knocked the southerly swell out. If you nestled yourself into a south facing north corner and rode the brief pulse of southern energy well and good, otherwise it was short-period wind chop most days.
Even last Sunday and Monday’s easterly groundswell pulse didn’t live up to its’ full potential. ln a sense, this week’s swell was the prime example of the ‘Fleeting Moments’ kind of summer it has been.

The first solid groundswell of the year was met with enthusiasm as it built across Sydney last Sunday, before the mid-morning onset of a fresh northeasterly seabreeze trashed it. A howling southerly front charged up the coast and finished the job just as the swell was peaking at 7.00AM on Monday morning Febru

Bronte charger Koby Graham summed it up out in the water at a protected point break down south on Monday , “The boys were frothing about the potential to surf Ours on Monday morning, but the southerly howled through at about 7.00AM and killed any prospect of that. I can’t surf it because of my back injury that I suffered out there a few years back, so I came down here to get out of the wind.”

Similar scenarios unfolded up and down the coast. On Sydney’s northern beaches Ben Short said, “The tide was too high for North Narrabeen to be firing on all cylinders at dawn. The swell direction and wind was epic. At first light on Monday morning the wind was light northwesterly, the sun was out and the sets were pulsing in the five-to-six foot range, but by the time the tide dropped and the swell peaked the wind was howling southerly.”
Monday’s east swell and south wind combo did work for a couple of set ups.  Matty Grainger said, “Me and Captain Gribble towed solid eight foot South Narrabeen and Makaha but the wind eventually totaled it.” 

Tim Hanrahan at Aloha Manly said Kai Otton surfed six foot solid chunks in front of The Corso at Manly. Apparently The Bower was the pick, but really crowded.
Similarly several select protected locations both on the South and Central Coasts pumped.

However one swallow does not make a summer. Long-period swells have been an absolute rarity. Sunday and Monday’s episode was as good as it’s been. I’m struggling to rate the summer anything more than four out of ten. It’s been lame. The only good thing about this summer for me is that it hasn’t been hideously hot, but it sure has been wet and onshore. December 2011 was the coldest start to summer for more than half a century.

Last year was the year of two La Nina events with a double-barrelled burst of cold, stormy weather, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s national climate statement.
Almost 70 centimetres of rain dumped across Australia last year, making it the third-wettest year since uniform rain records began in 1900.

The first La Nina, caused by months of cool sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean directly contributed to numerous and significant floods particularly in northern New South Wales and South East Queensland.

The second, weaker La Nina - still active at the start of 2012 - contributed to uncommonly cool November, December and January temps.

While Northern New South Wales and South East Queensland enjoyed a solid easterly swell on Christmas and Boxing Day 2011, Sydney surfers saw only the three-to-five foot wind-effected remnants. This week’s easterly pulse has been the only other noteworthy longer-period pulse to date.

Bring on Autumn.

- Ben Horvath