A lot of people think we just hang out at the beach all day. Not all day…like to…anyway… I’d thought we’d go through a pretty standard day here in Aquabumps. 6am: Roll over and check cloud content above Ben Buckler – it’s pretty dark. Thin cloud with a gap along the horizon – bingo – […]

The swell has finally swung south and Bondi is squeezing the most of a micro swell. You could catch frosty 2 footers this morning…with just you and 3 mates out along the whole beach… the extra low tide and lack of sand bank formations pushed many waves into closeouts. High tide 2pm, low tide 7:38am. […]

The remnants of this week-long ENE swell continues to provide entertainment for surfers today. Exposed beaches are enjoying clean 2-3 footers, but Bondi is smaller facing the wrong way – 1-2 footers (great for beginners – no one around). I still haven’t seen many decent waves break – in fact all week the banks haven’t […]

There are plenty of decent waves around Sydney this morning. We are currently well stocked with ENE swell…which will be dropping back a tad later today and smaller tomorrow. The sunshine is out and its WNW offshore. That’s really about all you need to know right now…so best not be sitting behind desks reading rambling […]

There is a lot of talk going around how good the waves are…few people getting pretty excited. Well I did a big drive around, and yep, there is plenty of ENE swell hitting and perfect offshores from the West. Hell even the sun is shining….but I didn’t really see anything between Bondi to Maroubra that […]

On Thursday, 12th February 2009 around 7:50pm, 34 year old Glenn Orgias was attacked by a Great White Shark whilst surfing at Bondi Beach. He was paddling back to the line up when he was bitten on his left arm. As he pulled his arm back onto his board – blood poured out into the […]

This whole week we have a ENE swell. ENE swell direction doesn’t favour Bondi, so you will have to drive to other beaches like Maroubra, Manly, Wedge, Narra etc. Even though waves are 3-4 foot today, I saw nothing really worthy of surfing this morning (drove from Bondi to Maroubra). The Bra was pretty much […]

Still no relief from the easterly onshore winds, which are currently blowing 10 knots. Bondi was a junkie 3 foot and I am struggling to come up with anything else to write about – yawn… From today the swell will tweak around to the east and the weekend will have a new ENE swell. The […]

There is plenty of stock in the swell department but wave quality is poor (3-4 footers). Bumpy, lumpy, wonky and onshore. In saying that I just saw 2 guys get decent (Bondi) barrels, and then no one got a wave for 30 mins. Go figure. Perhaps wait for the new NNE swell hitting this weekend. […]

After a short burst of golden light its toned back to greydom. Stormy conditions and a medium range swell hitting from the south. Bondi is harnessing the favourable swell direction and breaking 4-5 foot out the back. Even though the wind has dropped and its semi-clean, its still unsettled and random. A few guys paddled […]

The forecasted swell increase has greeted us, but so has the southerly… South Bondi was a junkie 3 foot. Long waits between decent sets. Not very inviting as the rain has set in and you’ve probably got something more pressing to do. The great news is that today’s junkie windswell will eventuate into a groundswell […]

There are no waves…really…and if you are planning a surf I would delay until later ron. See, the charts are hinting a south swell increase late today…quite a decent one…and tomorrow and Wednesday we’re back on the job with 3-4 footers. South swell +  WNW winds – that’s good news. It’s still quite frosty, only […]

I was hoping this rogue swell would settle and line up better by now…which is has to some extent…but not enough. Most beaches around the Eastern Suburbs are still hard work with a large wobbly swell hitting. Bondi was large – 4-6 footers, mostly closing out. Bronte was fat and breaking right out the back […]

As promised the swell went from nought to hundred overnight. Yesterday’s Lake Bondi is now a cracking 6 foot solid with the odd stand up barrel. It’s not perfect…many waves are shuttin’ down and some are very wonky with new-swell-morning-sickness…but at least you’ll get the blood pumping on this freezing Thursday morning. If are lucky […]

There is something special about this time of year. June is the best month to be shooting Bondi. The winter solstice is in full swing and the sun now rises side on to the beach, blanketing rich golden light. Bondi is also quiet and calm with only a hand full braving the 7 degrees this […]

Hope you had a good long weekend and enjoyed the surprise swells of yesterday. There is nothing better than fronting up to your local beach discovering its 3 foot when the forecast is for dead flat. Where did that swell come from? Well today is back to tiny surf conditions. Bondi was struggling to produce […]

The swell has gone ENE and winds offshore (W). Bondi was tiny and 1 foot – neglecting the swell source. The Bra was loving the new direction and attracting 3 footers. Sadly it’s going to drop dramatically before lunchtime, and right now is the best wave for about 5-6 days…the long weekend will be tiny…so […]

Its offshore – tick. Small ESE swell running – tick. Good banks? – nup, nada, zip. Consistent 2 footers this morning, with the occasional 3 foot set. No sand banks making most bumps fold into a straight-hander-closeouts. Wow. Foggy morning, cloudy with a shower of two. (max 20) Psillakis I think everyone has a favourite […]

A nice arvo with the sth africans at Maccas. A world Class wave.

Yesterday afternoon’s 4-5 footers at Bondi defied the swell chart predictions (was meant to be around 2-3 foot and dropping fast). Was quite good on night fall. You know you’ve got a sneaky good session at Bondi when all the surfing website authors are out for a few. I asked Ben from Coastalwatch where the […]

Dead quiet down the beach this morning. Nice time to be around Bondi, you can get car park where ever you want (well kinda)…and even surf a wave without the threat of a loose mini mal sending you to hospital for the week. Despite the lack of humans present, there were waves this morning – […]

A bad mix of small wind-chop-come-swell and onshore winds early. Unfortunately it’s only going to get worse with a 30 knot blast later this afternoon. Difficult to shoot in the morning when it’s so damn dark. Even after cranking the ISO up to 1600+ on the Mark 3 and you’re still too slow to capture […]

Not a very inspiring morning down the beach. Bondi was 2 foot and messy…the banks are totally shot. I’m hoping that the bulldozer moving sand back in the water may create something…anything…cause surely its gotta be better than what we’ve currently got. The swell is from the ESE, so Tama/Bra would show more size (maybe […]

Meet Blake, Blake Thornton. He’s a good surfer and good bloke from Maroubra who’s doin’ well on the WQS at the moment. Like a 5th in The Margaret River Masters, 25th in the Quiky Pro (Durban) and a 3rd in the O’Neill Highland Open in Scotland. 24 year old Blake’s dream is to make the […]

What great conditions we have this morning. Super clean, smooth surfaces…decent supply of ESE swell (9.1 sec period)…and the sunshine has even come out to join the party. How disappointing are the banks though? The weekend’s storms have robbed Bondi of any decent sand formations – especially that tubing left in the corner – which […]

After days of onshore bashing finally the winds are offshore at Bondi (NW/NE). Yes… offshore! So you don’t have to hide out at novelty harbour surf breaks and brave the exposed beaches. There is still very few options on the cards though…Bronte was all over the shop, Tama same same, South Bondi was very random […]

Not much to talk about this morning. I mean, Sydney is still being bashed by rain and onshore winds. The only surfers out are at North Bondi – not sure if I’d call that surfing. With all this wind the ocean swells are rising. Tomorrow is the peak of it and 10 foot plus waves […]

Seen better days that’s for sure… The wind and rain are taking over this town. Last night I thought my windows were going to cave in. At least the salt has been washed off the car, momentarily. The winds are howling easterly, which pretty much give you no options for surfing today. The swell is […]

Surfing shouldn’t be high on your ‘list to do’ today. It’s probably tucked in there under ‘wash the car’ or ‘alphabetically sort your cd collection’. Pouring rain at daybreak, howling winds and 3 foot mush-slush. Not pretty. Usually storms at this time of year come from the south, but this one is from the NE […]

A little 2-3 footer was breaking in the southern corner of Bondi, in front of The Icebergs, short-lived though…as a 15-20 knot Easterly made a mess of things early today. Large crew out early enjoying the shallow sand bank that is throwing a lip (rare), making the head dip the manoeuvre of choice. Not much […]

That swell arrived Saturday afternoon and is continuing to grow. Bondi was 3-4 foot today and a lil’ junky (gettin’ bigger). The left in the corner randomly threw a wide lip whilst most closed out on the bigger sets. Cold morning, brrr, and very few people out. The water remains a balmy 21 degrees though…quite […]

If you were up for the early you would have found some fun little 2 footers down at Bondi. Bondi loves these SSE swells, squeezing every ounce of a dying bump. Todays waves are short lived –  by lunchtime there will be nothing left and flatness will prevail this afternoon. Most other beaches would have […]

Today’s update concludes our 10th annual pilgrimage to the Mentawai Islands off Sumatra (sigh of relief I hear from some of you). It always amazes me how perfect and consistent the waves are up here. Out of all my travels, not many destinations offer good waves…every day – with such variety. Even when the swell […]

Sumatra is famous for storms being so close to the equator. (We’re currently 1 degree south of it) It can be perfectly sunny one minute, then horrendously stormy the next. Today a storm rolled through the Mentawai Islands – but didn’t leave. Makes getting a wave quite difficult as the dead calm glass turns into […]

Yep – we’re still up here in Indonesia cruising around the group of islands off Sumatra called the Mentawais. We’ve been on the boat for 8 days now, and only set foot on land once. Today’s surf break is a long righthander that grinds down the side of a picturesque tropical island – probably one […]

After surfing a mechanical left all morning the crowds got a bit heavy so we headed north. 1hr of motoring and we came across a remote idyllic paradise island with a 300 metre right hander down one side and a short left down the other. (not a soul in sight). The kind of setup you […]

The swell came back today up here in the Mentawai Islands. (Thankfully). The 25 boats in the area travelled overnight to their favourite breaks spread out in the archipelago. We arrived at dawn to a 3 foot mechanical left which is so perfect, it’s as if it was engineered specifically for practising your backhand whacks. […]

It doesn’t happen often…but today the Mentawais have gone all quiet. After a few days of hollow bliss it is time to rest and watch a whole season of Underbelly. Not much else to do in a 20 square metre cabin with 6 surfers. Swell charts show a small pulse arriving tomorrow…and we’re at the […]

The weather in the Mentawai islands is highly unstable – normally, but we’ve had a good run of clear skies and relatively little wind. This combination makes for clear underwater visibility – great for shooting chargers flying down the line – from behind. It all happens quickly, focussing can be tricky as fins thrash before […]

Welcome to the Mentawais…for the next 12 days Aquabumps will be drifting in the Indonesia archipelago searching for decent waves. Based 90 miles off Sumatra, these islands host some of the best waves in the world. Not much else out here…plenty of coconut trees, razor sharp coral reefs and warm water. Our first day was […]