Swellnet

29/05/2026

As you read this, Christopher Anderson - Australia's bodysurfing world champ - is on his way to Brazil to compete at the mecca of bodywhomping, Itocaitaoira - a crazed beachie at one end, the slab known as Shock at the other.

Among other things, Chris recounted a big session near home - see the photo attached.

Like a lot of surfers, I keep a handplane and flippers in the back of my car. I don't expect much when I'm swimming about: a little bit of vision, a few drop ins, a lot of underwater somersaults.

28/05/2026

The El Sal Pro forecast is stacked with swell, but will local winds cooperate?

Oh, and a sneak peek at our soon-to-be-revealed WAMs.

2026 Surf City El Salvador Pro June 5th - 15th (Friday to Monday) 8am Friday in El Salvador is: 12 midnight AEST 10pm AWST 2am NZST 4am HST 7am PDT

24/05/2026

New Zealand Pro on hold as photographer Ed Sloane is taken to hospital.

This morning, as Yago Dora and Italo Ferreira contested their Semi-Final of the New Zealand Pro, a WSL water photographer had his own battles.

14/05/2026

Surfers are gonna need less weights, more speedwork as the swell drops out before the New Zealand Pro.

Full details here:

With the early forecast pushing past 400 comments, we've never seen so much interest in a WSL event, let alone one with such a dire forecast.

11/05/2026

"Trust me, your next one will be a gem," said the surfboard shaper to the customer.

Gra Murdoch sits down with the honest and honorable Phil Myers to chat about something other than surfboards.

Enjoy!

Surfers know Phil Myers as a veteran shaper from the Northern Rivers. And not just any old shaper, but one who specialises in the art of channel bottoms - those sharply furrowed boards coveted by speed demons. From a crude block of polyurethane foam, scuffed and crusty on the outside, Phil whittl...

08/05/2026

If you're familiar with the movies sitting in needessentials back catalogue, you'd be aware they're fans of slow travel. Yachts, kayaks, and motorbikes are just three types of transport used to reach the waves.

In their latest film, 'Spaces In Between', Johanna Brebner chooses arguably the slowest means of all - the trusty old treadly. Pushes that thing from one end of Aotearoa to the other.

Click for a funny yarn about Jo's treadly surf trip.

If you're familiar with the movies sitting in Needessentials' back catalogue, you'd be aware they're fans of slow travel. Yachts, kayaks, and motorbikes are just three types of transport used to reach the waves.

07/05/2026

The 2026 New Zealand Pro starts next Friday, which is a few days after a clean XL swell hits the points. Will there be anything left for the contest..?

Four days on the trot. That's all it took to run the recent Gold Coast Pro. The ho**er sounded on the first morning of the waiting period, winners were decided on the fourth.

30/04/2026

Let's hear it for the always-smilin' shaka-throwin' forever-grom from Gerroa!

Zombie TV series The Walking Dead made its debut on the night of Halloween – October 31, 2010 – on ’merica’s AMC network. By then, 19-year-old Sally Fitzgibbons already had a sh*tload of surfing and athletic trophies on the shelf at the Gerroa family home.

28/04/2026

It's been a dreamy run of waves in Queensland, and the Noosa points are still delivering the goods.

Watch it live here: https://www.swellnet.com/surfcams/noosa-heads

14/04/2026

Will the WSL make the same mistake twice?

The second event of the Championship Tour starts this Thursday. Check the latest forecast.

Served up a patchy Bells Beach forecast, on Day One they woke to a clean head-high Winkipop lineup and looked that gift horse in the mouth. Canned it. Replaced a whole day of waves with a fistful of heats and half-days run over the following week.