Stab Magazine | Stay Woke: Bells Is A Good Air Wave

Live Now — Episode 3 Of Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico

99 Views

Stay Woke: Bells Is A Good Air Wave

It’s time to turn a chapter.

news // Mar 28, 2018
Words by Stab
Reading Time: 2 minutes

You can’t talk about Bells Beach without talking history.

Like, you actually can’t — or at least it seems that way.

Go to any other surf website on the wide web right now. You’ll find retrospective pieces. How Bells is classic, iconic, legendary, etc.

How the Thruster was born there. How Occy VS Tom Curren happened there.

Enough history there to build a house in Matt Warshaw’s britches.

That’s all fine and cliche, but can’t we just take a moment to talk about Now?

Now is the time to ditch the antiquated Bells rhetoric.

And Now is the time to start thinking about Bells as a good air wave.

There are only three ingredients in a good air wave.

1) You need to be able to get speed.

2) You need a steep enough ramp.

3) You need a reasonable landing.

John Calvert Bell’s Beach checks all three boxes, and with ACDC presumably playing in the background.

Oh, you want proof?

How about Kelly in 2012 (HISTORIC!)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/E3G3Id3ucuE

Or John John In 2014

https://www.youtube.com/embed/7g0_N34cJCk

Or John John Last Year

https://www.youtube.com/embed/r0X7nkVMGUI

Or Filipe Toledo Last Year

https://www.youtube.com/embed/xUxhf3gUUuw

Sure, you can make the argument that every wave on the CT is an air wave Now. Mick Fanning lost the 2015 World Title thanks to Gabriel Medina’s air at Pipe. Pat Gudauskas stuck a rodeo in a heat at Teahupo’o a few years ago. Filipe Toledo found two ramps on a Supertubes runner last year, and Medina has stomped big alley-oops at Cloudbreak…

But the point is that Bells is a better air wave than most.

I’ve maintained this opinion for a while, so I decided to ask Troy Brooks, who grew up surfing Bells, and is a former CT surfer and current surfing mastermind for his opinion.

“Bells? It’s a sick air wave,” he said. “You get so many ramps out there.”

Surfing has progressed to a point where Bells no longer has to be referred to in the past tense. Just as John John redeemed Main Break Margaret River last year. 

This year, someone will land an air that finally starts a new chapter for Bells.

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

Matty McG Skydives Into CT Heat, But Jordy’s Still The Main Event

A full day of heats at J-Bay, and only one shark warning.

Jul 12, 2025

Controversial Opinion: No One Needs To Yoga In Boardshorts

12 Trunks for the traditionalist.

Jul 12, 2025

Correction: J-Bay All Foreplay, No Climax

Slim pickings on Day 1 of the Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025.

Jul 11, 2025

What Do Hollywood, Surf Lessons, Michael Jackson And Traction Pads Have In Common?

A Stab Interview with Teva Dexter, the man behind surfing's hardest new hardware brand —…

Jul 10, 2025

Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico: Episode 3

"The tribe has spoken," Dane Reynolds pronounced, and a surfer's torch was snuffed.

Jul 10, 2025

How Josh Ku Nearly Died Trying To Cross From Ulus to G Land by Hydrofoil

“If someone finds me dead at least they can find my phone and know what…

Jul 10, 2025

Expect No Kiss, All Climax At The “World’s Most Perfect Pointbreak”

A Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025 preview.

Jul 9, 2025

SEOTY: Liam O’Brien stars in ‘Friction of Perception’

"Hopefully I don’t come across like too much of a peanut."

Jul 8, 2025

10 Shapers To Watch In The Next 10 Years — Part One

“It’s like a drug empire, man. Cut the head off the snakes, and more will…

Jul 7, 2025

Mason Ho Joins Ritual Vision, Releases Remix Of Greatest Hits

Dion Agius riffs on the eyewear brand’s U.S. expansion, Ritualistic Tendencies, and the new stars…

Jul 7, 2025

Is It Time For A New Judging Format?

We have a modest proposal — a WSL head judge disagrees.

Jul 7, 2025

Luke Thompson Turns Last Year’s Priority Disaster Into Ballito Gold

+ earns himself a wildcard into Jbay.

Jul 7, 2025

Fiji Has Its First Professional Surfer, And He’s Unbelievable

16-year-old James Kusitino’s incomprehensible tube lounging leads to a deal with Former.

Jul 6, 2025

Laird Hamilton on The Limitations of Being a Purist, Invention vs. Ownership + Why He Never Had a Sticker Deal 

Untold stories from his How Surfers Get Paid interview.

Jul 4, 2025

When Surfer’s Eye Is Actually Cancer

Erin Campbell's brutal journey from surf camp dreams to chemo drops, cryotherapy, and surgical horror.

Jul 3, 2025

Surfing’s 2025 Q2 Report

An assessment of surfing's vital signs throughout the second quarter of 2025.

Jul 2, 2025

What Actually Happened to Occy’s Mad Max Plunger Pool In Yeppoon?

Surf Lakes’ brass talks: internet hecklers, the unplugging of the plunger, and the Tom Curren…

Jul 2, 2025

Poor Goofy Foots 

Data shows that the world is stacked against goofs — they even make 15% less money than…

Jul 1, 2025
Advertisement