Photography by Rambo Estrada, Kane Everson, Daniel Davie, CPL, Jean Guillotin and Andrea Scheres
I was so heavily invested in this swell, but I was never actually going to surf it.
Of course luck would see an annual fishing competition in the far North line up with the biggest east coast swell for 2024 to date. All I could do was forecast its approach here and manage the anxiety levels. We had to be on the water during the peak of the swell, so not only had my surfing dreams been crushed, the swell was also threatening to crush my fishing dreams.
Whether I liked it or not, I was forced to live this one out through my friends’ experiences back home and the dozens of incredible photos that slowly flowed into my inbox.
Image number one to put some sting into the wound. Coromandel on fire. Photo: Everson
Braedon Williams looking comfortable with a few hollow days under his belt through the back half of Autumn. Photo: Guillotin
One of Northland’s go to beaches looking pretty lined up on Wednesday. Photo: CPL
Wednesday May 1st there was no shortage of swell in the water as we motored out to a small offshore island group. The curve of the land was sheltering a lot of the energy, but as we became more exposed the sea state got a lot bigger. Idling through a small deep water channel between two islands flanked with reef, I cast port side and retrieved quickly, a little uneasy about the situation, looking back over my shoulder to see a heavy right-hander go completely square. Everyone on the boat was a bit shocked, we questioned whether it’d been surfed before because it was certainly a wave.
There’s plenty of quality inshore spots in that area to keep surfers happily occupied, so our crew couldn’t help but wonder if anyone had ventured out that far to look around in a big swell.
Enough action to warrant pulling out the iPhone for a shot. Photo: Davie
The same place we found Sam McCaw last swell, locked in the tube. Photo: Guillotin
Enough of my torment, what was it like for those that actually got a foot to board? Alex Dive was on call back in Mount Maunganui, ready to put me out of my misery as gently as possible. Even though I’d seen this particular video the moment I stepped off the boat, I still needed to hear every detail.
Alex goes on to say: “Well to be honest it was actually terrible at first light, confused, wobbly and raw. Too big for most of the Bay really, but once the tide pushed in, the wind cleaned things up and the swell started to fade. Wow, I’d have to say I got one of the top three waves (video link above) I’ve ever had at home. There was like a short hour where it was as good as it gets. Just really perfect, super thick four-to-six feet A-frames, then it dropped so fast through the afternoon. The local harbour buoy hit 5.5m at 11.6s in the morning and by 9pm that night it was all the way down to 1m.”
By Thursday morning the swell had almost disappeared through the NE coast. Photo: Scheres
Above and below: Megan McHale keeping the stoke high even though the waves were tiny.
Megan, happy as. Photos: Scheres
Rambo Estrada predicted this. With the speed the system was moving, it was only going to allow for a short window of good surf through the BOP, so he opted to search below the East Cape where it was a fair bit bigger and the swell should at least last through another day or so. Coming off a fairly good run two weeks prior, he wanted to do something different, rather than take photos close to home again.
“Yea you’ll probably laugh,” Estrada says. “Wednesday at the zone I hit was a perfect combo of too big, too high, too low, too small all in one go. Early morning was maxing conditions for a lot of the photogenic waves I usually target. There is a spot that can handle any size but it wasn’t ultra big, so although it was working it was performing slightly under the monumental level. Blair Stewart, Nigel Abercrombie and Jacob Kohn were having some fun paddling out there.”
A lot bigger than it looks and likely not even a wave when the swell is small. Photo: Estrada
Nigel Abercrombie getting after it on Wednesday morning. Photo: Estrada
The tail end of the swell below the cape stayed pretty fun for two days. The full suit, hood and booties is a bit of a worry though right? Winter is almost here. Photo: Estrada
The peak of the swell at midday also coincided with the high tide so most of the reefs were too full. Everyone had big dreams and high froth for the tide to drop out but unfortunately much like the NE coast the swell dropped out quickly with it.
Estrada stayed on to milk the back end of the swell, which played out in the very fun size range for a few more days in Gisborne. “Yea it’s probably slightly unrelated to this story, but as soon as the east swell finally faded out they were hit with a nice south swell straight away, so I didn’t come home for another week!”
Above and below: The surfing fundamentals run deep in the Quinn family. Holly laying into a solid bottom turn.
And older brother Maz showing no sign at all of losing any steam post-injury. Photos: Estrada
Their home town Gizzy looking spectacular during this late autumn swell. Photo: Estrada
What’s next? Check out the regional forecasts ahead: Auckland West | Raglan | Taranaki | Northland East | Coromandel | Bay Of Plenty | Gisborne | Hawkes Bay | Christchurch | Dunedin