THE RIPCURL PRO AT BELLS BEACH KICKS OFF MARCH 27TH, IS YOUR FANTASY TEAM READY?
The world’s oldest surfing event since 1962, the Rip Curl Pro turned professional in 1973 and this year marks it 52nd year of creating surf history. The Event kicks off March 27th and runs till April 7th.
The Rip Curl Pro is one of the most sought after titles on surfing’s ASP World Championship Tour and holds a proud place in surfing folklore. Bells Beach is renowned for booming swells and the natural amphitheatre, where red clay cliffs drop into the powerful Great Southern Ocean, making an atmosphere unmatched anywhere in the world.
The iconic event boasts an Honour Roll of Champions that includes surfing legends from Mark Richards to Mick Fanning and Layne Beachley to Stephanie Gilmore. Only the world’s best win the Rip Curl Pro. “No kook has ever won at Bells,’ Hawaiian surfer Shane Dorian declared after ringing the coveted bell trophy in 1999, and no kook ever will.
Bells Beach is an A-grade surf break & one of the world’s most famous beaches. It is a high performance right-hand reef break that features two unique reef sections: ‘Rincon’ & ‘The Bowl’. The Bowl feeds on big Southern Ocean swells and will hold waves up to the 15ft range (which it delivered at the unforgettable 1981 event). Long drawn-out carves and steep turns are the way to tame the Bowl’s powerful walls. Rincon sees most of its action when the surf is in the 2-4ft range. Look out for the ‘Ford Expression Sessions’ when conditions are small, because the pros will be taking flight and chasing cash prizes.
Forecasting for the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach is a unique proposition. For Bells to do its thing it generally needs long lines of south-west groundswell to wrap in as winds blow from the west north-west. The more southerly the swell direction and the longer the intervals, the easier it is for swell to penetrate the break. This is in stark contrast to somewhere like Snapper Rocks, where just a sniff of easterly swell can produce good contestable surf.
If the swell isn’t large enough for Bells to turn on the focus shifts to the primary back up venue, Johanna Beach, located about 100 kilometers south-west of Torquay in the Cape Otway National Park. Johanna pulls in every skerrick of SW swell arriving out of the Southern Ocean making it so capable of producing solid three to six feet surf when Bells is virtually flat.
As you can imagine, when Bells is only producing a two foot wave, the swell at Johanna can still be closing out in the four to eight foot range – a feast or famine scenario that can throw a spanner into the forecast works – particularly when there’s plenty of west in swell direction. So it’s a case of waiting for swell large enough for Bells or waiting for the swell to drop sufficiently (and the winds to turn north) to justify venturing down the coast to Johanna – it’s a forecaster’s potential delight or dilemma.
Current models show small waves at Bells during the beginning of the waiting period with potential for some larger and longer range Southerly swell for the middle of the waiting period and beyond.
Now as far as picking your Fantasy Team for Bells goes there are a bunch of things to consider and frankly after my 75th place finish at Snapper you might just want to stop reading here and do your own thing….. But if your still with me power surfers with some experience at Bells always shine….. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the semi finals consist of Kelly, Mick, Joel, and John John (if his ankle is better). So think about that when picking your squad…. Now if Bells never turns on and the boys surf Johanna then it’s really could be anyone’s game and the more progressive aerial surfers could shine. My best advise here is to watch the forecast closely and adjust your team based on the conditions.
Winner of the Pioneers Fantasy Club for Bells takes home a Ripcurl wet/dry bag and some vouchers for a couple of Burritos for Las Olas!