Bondi Beach - 900 metres long and one of the most popular beaches in Australia

Contrast

This morning at Bondi, the light was in a constant state of flux. It would flick between overcast, flat light to uber contrasty golden rays (my favourite flavour). I feel it was leftover volatility from the rain and storms that passed through before sunrise.

Right now, as I write this riveting editorial in Aquabumps headquarters, I can see nothing but glorious sunshine. A beach day! There’s a cool slight onshore breeze around 4 knots, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting the surf conditions too much. There’s dribbly, fat, waist to shoulder high waves. It’s not as good as it’s been, but still surfable/contestable. Bondi Beach – the most consistently average breaking wave in the southern hemisphere! There’s always something for a paddle.

The Aquabumps Gallery is open again after 4 months of hibernation. I’ve put up heaps of new work and completed a mild makeover of the space. Come see us! Open 10am to 6pm, 151 Curlewis Street Bondi Beach Telephone 02 9130 7788

Muchos Gracias. Ugios

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Felix Ettelson - sparks

High Performance

The surf was on so all of Bondi’s finest shredders were up for the early. It was quite a display of high-performance surfing. I was busy today, reos on the rights, airs on the shorey, carves on the lefts. It was a very active lineup with consistent waves around head-high. At dawn I began in […]
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Training group, first light

High Key

Velvety gold rays strung out across the bay this morning; the kinda light I love to shoot. Everything looks good, draped in gold. It’s even more of a treat when I was expecting a fully clouded sky and junkie ocean this morning. It’s clean and head-high, that howling southerly has passed on by. Both sandbanks were […]
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Solid sunrise this morning at Bondi

On it.

I think you already know (as the beach was packed this a.m.), there were some pretty fun surf conditions. Bondi was operating on two sandbanks, and hundreds of frothers flocked to the water for their salty dose. I saw plenty of waves over head-high, some wash through sets. I wore a steamer as I find […]
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Icebergs had a lotta water moving in the pool today

Semi-normal

Sydney is feeling semi-normal as we open up a bit more. A delightful weekend of spring weather and a thundering south swell that arrived on Sunday morning and continues today. It is fools gold out there; you probably ran down with your board thinking you’re going to score some four-footers…if you like close outs and surfing straight, […]
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Gee, it's busy in the water

Bustling

We’ve had another morning of sunshine, north winds and north swell. Everyone was up early, hitting the beach… it was busy. Walkers, surfers, people carry rocks, boot camps, outdoor gyms, doof doof…a hive of activity in the wee hours. The surf looks much cleaner than in previous days. The water is SUPER CHILLY after the […]
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Bondi puddles

Hiatus

FINALLY, it’s stopped raining, and the sunshine has broken through. Nice to see everybody out and about, doing their morning rituals. Waves were breaking on two sandbanks, a left and a right, but only around waist high and very fat. You need a high volume surf vehicle today and plenty of patience. With the North […]
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Oh that light

Dank

d a n k adjective,dank·er,dank·est.unpleasantly moist or humid; damp and, often, chilly:a dank cellar. Well, Sydney is having one helluva wet freedom week. It’s been raining for days. Probably best stay indoors for a while longer, nah, not in the concrete bunkers again. Wait for the storm to pass. The wind has kicked around from the dead […]
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Beach wagon

Clouded

Another grey, rainy, onshore start to today. The beaches were busy earlier before the rain hit. There’s a tiny mushball waist to shoulder high wave with a handful of optimistic surfers hunting – it looked very average. Need those onshores to stop before you score anything decent to ride. Hopefully, tomorrow we will see some cleansing […]
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A new day in Sydney

Unlocked*

Whilst it’s an ugly day, weatherwise in Sydney, it’s a beautiful day for Sydney-siders as the shackles come off from a 106-day lockdown. Freedom day, some call it, that day a lot of people have been hoping for. Get a haircut – that mullet ain’t looking great! We’d run out of food in our bunker, so […]
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Clean lines

Opening up…

Well, after so damn long, we finally have a timeframe for opening up. Alle-freaking-luia.  From 11th October, our salubrious Bondi establishment, inside an old mechanics yard with pretty beach artworks, will swing the doors open to the public – THE AQUABUMPS GALLERY WILL BE OPEN, yes, OPEN! After 4 months of hibernation, humans will roam our […]
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Kinetic, if only these were 4 foot bigger

Wednesday Catchup

It’s Wednesday, time for our catchup. A pictorial pick-me-up to connect you all to the ocean, even if you live further than five clicks away from the coast. Melbourne, oh boy, Melburnians, hang in there. What a crazy wild patch of events you’re in down there; protests, delta and now a flaming earthquake! You all know we’re […]
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10 years ago, when Gabriel Medina surfing Bondi one morning

Carissa + Gabs

Overnight, after a weird year on the WSL tour, we have two new world champions for 2021 – Carissa and Gabs. Both dominated the unusual tour stops in this difficult year. Running a world tour with a pandemic raging wouldn’t have been easy – well done WSL. I’ll never forget meeting Gabs at Bondi, 10 […]
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