Swellnet

17/12/2025

Ten years ago today!

Expectations vs reality a decade after Slater's mic drop moment at Lemoore.

Video streaming provides a bow wave of constant content, and surfing isn’t immune to the overflow. There’s too much material, too many titles, so cutting through the morass is increasingly difficult.

16/12/2025

This time last year Jules was shaking a clenched fist at Old Father Time, but now the 37-year old has put his CT dream to sleep.

And at first he delivered. Six months after announcing his comeback, Julian Wilson rampaged to a fiery second-placed finish at the Gold Coast Pro. That result came courtesy of a blazing run through the Trials and his form looked good for success in the coming Challenger Series. It didn't pan out t...

10/12/2025

With AI coming down the turnpike, many millions of people are set to be put out of work and a UBI (Universal Basic Income) has been floated. Critics say a UBI will create a nation of dispirited and aimless people, however Australia has already run that experiment - it was called the dole.

Steve Shearer revisits the glory years of the rock 'n' roll, and what it tells us about the future.

Predicting the future is notoriously difficult but there is a significant chance that in the next few decades Artificial Intelligence will reconfigure the social landscape and throw millions, maybe even billions, of people out of work. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain the late-1700...

08/12/2025

Jaws, Teahupoo, Cortes, Nazare: No doubt you've seen Tucker Wooding's drone edits - they're A-grade shoots from A-grade waves. Recently we sat down With Tucker to chat about his art.

First question: How did an Alaskan fisho make it big in the world of surf videography?

A few years back it felt like drone footage was getting stale. What promised so much was going the way of the GoPro with uninspired angles providing little more than novelty. Another fancy tech that delivered little.

14/11/2025

Nik Zanella reports from Hainan Island, where American wavepool technology is turbo-charging Chinese surfing.

October is prime typhoon season in Hainan, and each one of the thirteen left-hand pointbreaks on the island is delivering fun, shoulder-high waves today. Yet the epicentre of the local surf scene is not on the beach, but in an anonymous parking lot 800 metres inland from the main point in Riyue Bay...

13/11/2025

So what's a little foam on the sea surface matter?

It matters a lot if you're a surfer from South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula. This week, some surfers ignored it and wound up with sore eyes and throats as yet another chapter of the everlasting algal bloom opens up.

Eight months after symptoms were first reported at Waiptinga and Parsons Beaches on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, there's been a return of the toxic algal bloom to the region and subsequently an increase in reports of irritation to surfers. 

11/11/2025

Got five fin boxes in your surfboard? So it's not a quad and it's not a Thruster...or perhaps it's a bet each way?

In a new column, veteran shaper Murray Bourton answers reader questions, the first one being the benefit, or otherwise, of having five fin boxes.

Pipedream Surfboards

Are five fin set ups, where your board can be a Thruster or quad fin, worth getting? I can remember when they first started coming out some magazine commenters said they were a compromise of both designs and not worth getting. The message was that you've got to tell the shaper to make the board one...

11/11/2025

Hoping to stop the ongoing erosion of Bribie Island, authorities are dredging sand to block the new breakthroughs. They've been gifted incredible weather for a coastal project, but that's no guarantee Caloundra Bar will ever return to its previous state.

Caloundra is the only beach on the Sunshine Coast with distinct northerly wind protection. This fact, combined with what were shifting tidal sandbanks made Caloundra Bar a regional classic when easterly lines hit the coast and the wind vane swung to the north.

06/11/2025

"All of a sudden, a spark flew around the world," says Simon Jones of the mid-length twin fin, a design that found its way to Torren Martyn, who rode it to acclaim at J'Bay igniting a quiet revolution in board design.

Simon chats with Swellnet about that unsuspecting design.

Simon Jones Designs
needessentials Wetsuits

This week, Torren Martyn and needessentials released a short film, 'Rediscovering an old friend'. The film is built upon a straight-forward premise as Torren is reunited with a board he rode in 2016.

25/10/2025

Waterspouts are not a common occurrence, let alone directly in front of a bunch of surfcams! Check out this beauty captured in West Oz on Friday afternoon, dancing in front of our cams at The Box, Southside, The Bombie and Margaret River.

The last surfcam reel (0:18) shows there was actually a second smaller waterspout further offshore a few minutes before the big one.

21/10/2025

It's been a while, but Russ returns with another film showcasing the shimmering edge of possibility. After a short live premiere run - Freshwater tonight, Milton on Friday - it'll be available online.

Understated as always, Russ had a chat with Swellnet about big waves and...actually that's all we spoke about.

Shortly before Swellnet spoke to Russell Bierke, he'd just recieved the invitation to his second Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational.

09/10/2025

It's been a stratospheric spring of surf in the southern states, all thanks to the Sudden Stratospheric Warming.

'What's that?' I hear you ask.

Click in and let Craigos explain why the surf has been so hot.

As East Coasters continue to grovel in sub-standard spring surf, scanning the long-term forecasts for anything of significance, our much beloved friends in the cold south are reaping the rewards of a prolonged, out of character season of surf.