ADVERTISEMENT

Is the drought about to break?

Tropical Cyclone Oma is headed this way.

It’s been a dismal few months for surfers along Australia’s east coast. The nor-easter has been blowing day and night and bringing with it nothing but cold water, bluebottles, and a brand of wind-slop so bad that even the groms have been turning their noses up at it.

But things have started to shift a little in the last week. A southerly finally broke through the rank of all those high pressure systems sat over the Tasman and delivered a few waves. The temperature dropped. Surfers got wet again. Life returned to a more liveable state.

Now we have a cyclone marching towards us. Mother Nature sure doesn’t do things in halves.

Tropical Cyclone Oma has already destroyed homes and crops in Vanuatu, and according to numerous meteorology sites, will track closer to the Australian coast next week and likely upgrade from a category two cyclone to a category three.

Coastalwatch’s chief surf forecaster Ben Macartney says there is little doubt that it’ll emerge as a major source of swell for the east coast, claiming it could be a whopper right up there with the biggest tropical cyclone swells of the last decade.

Swellnet forecaster Craig Brokensha agrees that a good swell is on its way but isn’t so sure about the winds.

While us average folk should leave it to the experts to debate the particulars, a quick glance at a synoptic chart shows a pretty intense-looking onion ring spinning towards the lower Queensland coast this week. The mind can’t help but get ahead of itself when confronted with a sight like that. Every righthand point along the east coast (and there’s a lot of them) has the potential to fire up, and it’s likely that this time next week when we’re scrolling through our Instagram feeds, it won’t be clips from Hawaii or California we’re looking at, but rather stuff from our very own backyards.

In the meantime, stay off the piss, get in the water as much as you can to get your fitness up, and prepare yourself. You could score the wave of your life in a few days.

Oh yeah, and there’s a silver lining to all those nor-easters we’ve had to put up with. Sand. The stuff is packed in there good and hard.

Fingers crossed Huey delivers.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
SUBSCRIBE TO TRACKS
A bi-monthly eclectic tome of tangible surfing goodness that celebrates all things surfing, delivered to your door!
SUBSCRIBE NOW
HAPPENINGS
Your portal to cultural events happening in and around the surfing sphere.
Find Events
SUBSCRIBE TO TRACKS
A bi-monthly eclectic tome of tangible surfing goodness that celebrates all things surfing, delivered to your door!
SUBSCRIBE NOW
HAPPENINGS
Your portal to cultural events happening in and around the surfing sphere.
Find Events

LATEST

The Goons of Doom and DJ Eddy are firing up again after the Easter weekend carnage in Torquay.

Tributes have poured in for the Australian whose boards had been ridden by many top professionals.

URBNSURF is bringing wave garden technology to the city's Olympic Park.

A look at the victims of the mid year cut and which nations are left on tour.

ADVERTISEMENT

PREMIUM FEATURES

The distilled surfing memories of Dave Sparkes.

Peter Townsend with G&S

"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."

TRACKS PREMIUM

Get full access to every feature from our print issues, read classic Tracks issues from the 70s, 80s and 90’s, watch all of our classic films & more …

TRACKS PREMIUM

Get full access to every feature from our print issues, read classic Tracks issues from the 70s, 80s and 90’s, watch all of our classic films & more …

CLASSIC ISSUES

A threat to Angourie, the death of vibes, and a tongue in cheek guide on how to become a surf star.

PREMIUM FILM

YEAR: 2008
STARRING: JOEL PARKINSON, MICK FANNING AND DEAN MORRISON

This is the last time the original cooly kids were captured together and features some of their best surfing.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

PRINT STORE

Unmistakable and iconic, the Tracks covers from the 70s & 80s are now ready for your walls.

Tracks
Kandui Resort Interstitial