Kirra!

I headed up The Gold Coast Highway from Burleigh Heads with the intent of checking out Coolangatta as I figured sitting on Point Danger and facing a northerly direction would give the best chance of shelter from the remaining storminess and provide some surfable conditions.

As I drove up The Gold Coast Highway through Tugun I approached Kirra. Looking out to sea I was greeted with the vision of over head rights, spinning down the point. I stopped at the car park at Kirra Beach Club and watched for a while.

Kirra is made up of two points, Big Groyne and Second Groyne starting at Coolangatta. Kirra is a legendary spot that was considered one of the top waves in Australia (and the world) until the dredging and installation of a sand pump at Tweed Heads added 3.7 million cubic meters of sand up the point at Coolangatta, creating Snapper Rocks in the process but robbing Kirra of it's sand and degrading it's perfect sandbars down the coast. There is a large grass roots effort here to extend one of the Groyne's and install a second pump to catch more sand at Kirra and return it to its past glory and therefore also spreading out the intense crowds that plague the point. Occasionally with the right swell and sand it gets very, very good but it is rare.

By just my luck I happened to catch it pretty good, and when I mean good I mean breaking at probably half of it's potential which is still pretty darn good.

The conditions had improved considerably down the coast and with none of the massive runoff and debris that littered Burleigh Heads. The water was murky but clean and 4-7 foot rights were reeling off of Second Groyne into the bay. The winds were slightly on shore and most waves were sectiony but the odd wave would showcase what a good sandbar can be like with a 150 meter long barrel, perfectly marching down the line.
I got there early and the crowd was relatively light letting my get into a couple of decent waves however by nine a.m. it was a zoo with a hundred guys out and some of the worse surf etiquette I have ever witnessed.
About ten am, the winds shifted to slight off shore, the sun came out and there was an hour that Kirra looked perfect with a lightly scalloped surface and big beautiful barrels screaming past. I sat on the shoulder to watch as some of Australia's best got some all time tube rides like I have never seen in person. With the drop ins and power struggles and high level performance surfing, it was quite a show.
The current running down the point is immense and after three and a half hours of paddling against the "the conveyor belt" I was sun burnt and tired and caught an inside drainer to get me in. It was by far the most interesting surfing experience I have ever had. The good news is that with me surfing more my arms are coming back from their atrophy, and if I surf places like these a couple times a week I will be a paddling machine in no time. I have been impressed at how many Aussie surfers are in excellent shape and after surfing some of the spots here I can really see why. It involves considerable effort.