Standout Sessions: Fun Waves 'Round The Obstacle Course

Edit by Criag Halstead

Report by JC

The Not so Extreme Cyclone Freda swell

Swell Alerts were posted, the TV stations were issuing warnings of big waves that were going to pound our coastline in the evening news and newspapers were punching out headlines about it. The big fuss was all in of account of Cyclone Freda that had spun up in the northern Coral Sea and was predicted to track south.

Well, the predicted big swell event never happened, but there were some very nice smaller sized waves to be had on the points in South East Queensland. For the first couple of days the swell was from the ESE coming off a long fetch as a result of a squeeze between a big high pressure system to the south and Cyclone Freda in the north.

After a couple of days as Freda dropped further south it came into our “swell window” and the swell direction swung to the NE. Although there were not giant seas, there was a lot of water moving around with waves on the points in the 3-5ft range at the peak of it. The open beaches were not coping with the swell and the crowds on the points were huge, with Noosa, Burleigh and from Snapper to Kirra handling conditions the best.

Although far from “all time”, there were plenty of fun waves to be had if you could weave your way through the obstacle course.