Hawaii comes to Australian East Coast

Mon, 10 Apr 2006

Cyclones off Queensland and Western Australia...its that time of year and now its the turn of the southern coasts. A giant southern ocean low pressure system delivered the largest waves in 30 years on Sydney beaches yesterday. Naturally Andrea Francolini was there.

Here is how the day unfolded.

I got a call Sunday around lunch time from a friend saying: 'Bring all your lenses, memory cards, batteries and jumper and come over to South Coogee. Oh and good luck with parking!'

So I jumped in the car and suddenly remembered that this time of year is when the King Tides come in.

I arrived in Coogee just in time to see at least 100 people looking out at
the ocean.

Now, to have so many people looking at the sea means two things:

1. The ocean is huge and ....

2. Some fool is trying to surf.

Parking as expected was impossible. There I think my crazy Italian driving background helped as I managed to put the car in such a position that I believed even the police would not give me a fine, because they would have appreciated the creativeness in fitting the car up a hill between a tree and wall - without touching or scratching it. Did I forget to mention that is was also on a sidewalk?

So down I go to the beach and get a spot on the rock. Everyone one was there; kids, adults, TV and photographers.

I soon bumped into a photographer friend of mine from the Sydney Morning Herald and sat next to him just in time to see a wave like you only see in Hawaii. The crowd was cheering like mad and suddenly I could see a little black dot racing down a wave.



Oh my, that guy is going to get the wipe out of his life. Soon enough it happened. By then the cameras were out and the game began!

Two surfers helped by a jet ski were challenging the conditions.

These images say it all, and a couple more will be on www.afrancolini.com




















Keyword: surf

by Sail-World/Andrea Francolini