5/31/2013

Waiting For A Break, Snapper Rocks, New South Wales, Fine Art Limited Edition Print From Australia

By Colin Smith


Years ago, Snapper Rocks was really a pretty ordinary Gold Coast point break surviving in the shadow of it's famous relative Kirra. The truth is it was more well known being a fishing location (and so the name) than it was being a surf break.

However, in April 1995 the Tweed River Entry Sand Bypassing Project (TRESBP) commenced moving sand out of the river mouth and getting rid of it just east of Snapper Rocks. Very quickly an excellent sand bank had developed in Rainbow Bay as soon as the swells commenced striking, local surfers noticed they had one of several world's longest, and most steady point breaks on the front door.

One particular wave along at the The Superbank has reportedly also been ridden for a distance of 1.97 km, entirely from Snapper Rocks to Kirra, although for this to happen on a single wave is very extraordinary.

At present the Snapper Rocks superbank is just about the congested wave in Australia, however on any given day you'll see among the best surfers on this planet ripping it up like there is no tomorrow. In the event the swell and wind combine together, it is possible to ride the wave down to Kirra - well over a kilometre away, and for the grateful few who maintain such a journey, it's a really unique part of surfing history. The sheer quality of the man-made wave has considerably increased the amount of surf tourism in the area, which has also resulted in extreme crowding of the wave. On a good day, anything up to 200 surfers can be counted over the 2 km distance, with multiple drop-ins, and an aggressive atmosphere.

In 1956 Jack Evans built the Snapper Rocks Sea Baths, with an adjacent shark pool for public viewing. Later that year the Boyd brothers, local fishermen, caught two bottlenose dolphins in the Terranora Creek which Evans took and put in the pool for the Jack Evans Porpoise Show (which moved around to Duranbah in 1961). Only remnants of the pools remain today.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment