Where’s it good for women to surf? Let’s take a tour. Starting somewhere random.
How about … Broome?
In the far north-west of WA, this small pearling town gets 4-5 foot or 6-8 as the locals call it, and barreling.
How? Think cyclone swells
Broome local Jodie Edwards is a member of Broome Surf Sistas and the owner of the local surf shop, Broome Barrels. She surfs through the dry and the wet season. She is on top of surf conditions in Broome.
So is Josh Palmateer, aka Mr Surf and ex-pro surfer. Based in Margaret River during the wet, and Broome for the dry, Josh makes the trip 3000km north into the Kimberley’s to run the local surf school, and has been doing so for the last fifteen years.
“Off of the south west of WA (Margaret River), the continental shelf is very close in and that’s why we get really big surf down here, because it’s deep water, not far out. Up in the north west, in Broome, the continental shelf is a long, long way out, so that’s why they don’t get the swell up there … it has to travel across a lot shallower water before it actually hits the beach.
Generally, what causes the swells up there, in the wet season, is obviously the cylones. That’s when they get the best swell, cyclone season, in the wet season (roughly October to March).” Josh.
Jodie froths over cyclone NICHOLAS, who served up a healthy swell earlier this year.
“This year we had ten days of cyclone NICHOLAS, and we got to between 6 and 8 foot … Generally, it’s out the front at Cable. There’s a flat rock out the back that picks up a bit of swell, right on dead low tide.” Jodie.
“The day of cyclone ROSITA in April 2000 it was just really flat calm, with this cranking good 8ft swells coming through Cable Beach … there was a little bank there, going left and right at 3-4ft, and nobody was surfing it …
There’s heaps of waves in the wet season in Broome. You’ve got more swell happening with the cyclones, you got all the creek mouths, point breaks up from Broome, little bays, and Cable Beach, which picks up a lot of swell during the wet …”
Water temps hover in the 30-33 degree celcius range in the wet season, and the mid twenties in the dry, roughly from April to September.
“It’s too hot for wetties … Sometimes surfing is like trying to climb Mt Everest, you just can’t get enough air in. You don’t go out for a good two, or three-hour session because you’d just be cactus.” Jodie.
So why is it that crowdless, bath-water Broome isn’t a prime surfing destination for cyclone chasing wave hunters?
Crocs, sea lice, tiger sharks, box jellyfish and Irukandji all call Broome home in the wet.
“The nasties come during the wet, when the water get’s really hot and the cyclones come in.” Josh.
Creek mouths are prime real estate. Ten meter tides gushing in and out mean sthat fisherman, divers and the occasional surfer do get nailed by Irukandji, amongst other things.
Irukandji are the thumbnail sized, transparent little guys that will kill you or if treated fast, put you in hospital for the rest of your annual leave.
And crocs? Lots of those living around Broome, especially near the creek mouths.
Jodie’s not phased.
“The ones that you see are the ones that are just passing by because they don’t want to camp on the beach – it’s too open and exposed for them … There’s a guy on the beach who’s always looking out watching crew surf and will warn us if there’s a croc swimming past or whatever, you’re pretty well right.”
That’s reassuring.
Highlights?
“I was out on my stand up paddle-board this year and it was flat calm, the most beautiful day. And about 2 feet away from me was this little baby, tiny Tiger shark. Really awesome. It was only about a foot long, and it had those definite tiger stripes down the back of it, it was so wicked. It was really neat. Just cruising on by.”
“You can be out there on your board sometimes and it will be crystal clear and there can be hundreds and hundreds of sting rays underneath you, then you’ve got the Mantarays … up to 20 feet … and sometimes you’ll have a sea snake swim by and stuff, it’s just unreal.”
Let’s go cyclone chasing?
Josh says don’t risk it in the wet. And in the dry, it’s a great, safe place for learning to surf.
Jodie on the other hand is hardcore – wet or dry season, she suggests just putting on some togs, a long sleeve rashie and getting out there.
Broome Surf Sistas:
The local womens crew is Broome Surf Sistas, who go for a regular surf and paddle fitness sessions, as well as the occasional Sista’s surf trip (Bali this year), can be contacted via broomesurfsistas@yahoo.com.au
If you’re in Broome check out Broome Barrels Surf Shop at broomebarrels.com.au If you’re there in the dry season, see Josh Palmateer at his Surf Academy, or visit mrsurf.com.au
- Kristy Theissling
surflikeagirl.com.au
Broome Cyclone Swell Overview
Australia boasts a total of 10,685 beaches, the vast majority of which are unknown to us.
What follows is an insight into one such beach that generally slips under the radar of all but the most intrepid. Cable Beach is located near Broome on the tropical northwest coast of Western Australia, just a 2,200 kilometre drive north of Perth.
Although it’s a west to northwest facing beach facing out into the Indian Ocean, Cable is heavily shadowed from prevailing SW swell, which is mostly blocked by the vast stretch of Western Australian coast spanning Margaret River to Exmouth.
Hence only a tiny fraction of SW swell will find its way into Cable Beach and only the largest southern Indian Ocean low pressure systems will generate swell large enough to register.
These swells not only need to be large (four metres plus at Margaret River), but swell direction needs to be carrying plenty of west (generally between 235 and 270 degrees) and wave period needs to be strong to make it around the stretch of coast spanning Exmouth and Port Headland.
Even when these elements come together, a good winter swell will only amount to two to three feet, so if you’re starting to think there might be better beaches to target in winter, you’d probably be right.
It’s in the wet season that Cable beach can really come into its own. When a tropical cyclone or depression forms within close range of the northwest coast and stalls offshore, Cable can pump for days at a time and with real size.
A good example was Tropical Cyclone Nicholas, a category 3 storm that formed off the northwest coast on 11 February 2008 before slowly drifting parallel with the Pilbara coast for close to one week.
The close range of the cyclone combined with thirty to fifty knot winds coiling around its centre delivering over a week of swell along the coast, peaking on Cable Beach in the six to eight foot range.
- Ben Macartney
Chief Swell Forecaster
Coastalwatch.com
As published on Coastalwatch.com
