When’s The Last Time You Surprise Scored Your Home Break?

I’ve noticed something bizarre lately. 

Long-range surf forecasts have always been hilarious to me. I suppose part of me gets it  — if you have fancy machines and elaborate equations that will supply an intelligent guess at the unknowable, you might as well share it. The other part of me would prefer you accurately predict tomorrow’s conditions before chucking a 21-day hourly outlook in the mix. The latter is the side of me that typically wins. 

Now, the bizarre: Over the past few months, I’ve had multiple days of great waves called correctly from well over a week out. 

I asked some friends if they’ve picked up on this trend and most of them gently conferred. This, in surf journalism, is the equivalent of a peer-reviewed study. It’s the gold standard, the obstacle an idea must face if it ever wants to be taken seriously. 

Maybe we can ask a surf forecaster what’s going on there. I’ll get on that. 

But, for now, I’d like to talk about today. 

Today was supposed to be tiny and clean until a big, rude storm showed up and whipped the ocean into a chaotic mess that would last for days. What the forecasts got wrong — and I check three different sites — was that there would be a few hour windows during which the swell jumped and the wind remained uninterested.  

I was surprised when I checked the cam, more surprised when I checked the waves in person, most surprised when I surfed for two hours. It was head high and rippable, with the occasional almond to slide into. The crowd was minimal. 

It felt special. 

You can surf your whole life. You can know a certain lineup better than you know any other expanse on the planet. You can get a month-long color-coded surf forecast for a star-reviewed wave you can find on Google Maps while remaining entirely unfamiliar with low-pressure systems and their basic functioning. 

And the ocean will still surprise you. 

Ain’t that something? 

Breaking: Gabriel Medina Is Seeking a New Surf Coach

If you don’t mind, I’d like to start an entirely baseless rumor about him hiring Ross Williams. All good with you? 

Nobody Retires Like Josh Kerr

Kerrzy was on the CT for a decade and has been off it for four years. In those four years, he started businesses, sold businesses, launched an air show, surfed very big waves, and still landed some very big airs. Just recently, he released an edit with some of the best surfing we’ve ever seen on a twin fin. It’s not like we were not going to interview him about all this.

This Wave Has Ended Careers, Snapped A Pelvis, And Scalped A Bodyboarder

Right now, the best surfers in the world are stuck inside Australian hotel rooms for a two-week quarantine. We decided to give them a little something to ponder while they’re not busy posting workout videos: Rotto Box, a death slab just around the corner from the newest CT venue. Here’s to hoping we see one of them give it a crack.

Andy Irons and The Radicals, Chapter 3 of 4

Before launching this series, we claimed that Andy changed the way we want to surf more than any other surfer in the past twenty years. This episode, I think, backs that big claim up.

Watch: Julian Wilson Is Back On His Young Boy Shit

I feel like these are an annual occurrence — the ol’ JW on the Sunshine Coast with the wind blowing into the lefts edit. And, year after year, I somehow still get surprised by how good he’s surfing. Julian, surfing’s general populous would appreciate it if you did more of this in heats, please. 

One last thing: 

Putting on a cold, wet wetsuit on a cold, wet day makes you a stronger and more resolute human being.