By Hollie Harris
IT may not mean a lot to the happy beach goers who swoon over Laguna Bay being a shimmering lagoon for quite some time, but those whose passion and sport is surfing, the long wait for waves is agonising.
Noosa surfers have been patiently waiting and religiously checking surf cameras for anything board-worthy for the last few months.
That wait was finally over last Monday when the E/NE swell from a Coral Sea trough created a swell event which really brought Noosa back to the iconic and world famous surfing destination once again.
There were lines across the bay for three days straight with solid sets remaining consistent from dawn ’til dusk.
The points were packed, but there were waves for everyone as they just kept coming and coming and coming.
First Point remained a fairly solid three foot from Monday to Wednesday, and gave the usual busy crowd of locals and school kids a few days of fun.
There were some impressive short boarders surfing First Point who really stood out from the typical bevy of talented Noosa’s nose riders.
One surfer nailed those old school S-turns, turning his waves into works of art.
Some of the young kids were making mince-meat of their waves and it was interesting to see so many regulars out in the water with brand new boards.
Johnsons was absolutely packed, and with good reason; Nationals was rideable all the way into the beach on a few occasions.
Up and coming 18-year-old local, Connor Lyons, who is about to join the pro rankings, was getting some big airs.
Tea Tree was double overhead with some truly spectacular female surfing on display; many of the gals tackling huge waves and out shredding the guys.
Kids took days off school, sickies were rung in and the carparks were bedlam as lovers of our famous surfing reserve scrambled to make up for months of waiting.
The general consensus was echoed by one local who said “You have to make the most of it while it’s here. You never know how long it will before it comes back, so I’m pretty much going to surf until it’s gone. You just have to rearrange everything.” Lucky for some.
The E/NE swell from the Coral Sea trough brought South East Queensland up to 5 or 6 foot by last Wednesday which remained nice and clean on our Noosa Points.
The fetch responsible for the swell event began to subside on Thursday and continued to drop off leaving the region seasonally small once again.
Although the parking was a sport in itself, Noosa really felt alive last week with surfers in all directions, boards piled up around the trees, huge smiles and glowing cheeks, spectators all along the rocks and exhausted bodies coming out of the water only to run around the point for one more wave … just in case it’s all gone tomorrow.
