With North Point announced as the official venue for day one of The Drug Aware Pro, WSL fans are currently pinching themselves and wondering if this is really happening – the world’s best finally slinging on singlets at one of WA's blue ribbon waves.
The forecast is showing primo North Point conditions, but its capricious nature means we probably won’t get to see much more than the first day of competition held at the fabled right that offers multiple pit sections and ramps that will let those who know how tickle the sun.
An auspicious medley of swell is looming on the horizon and we could see competition run at all three venues over the course of the event.
Where the contest is run will drastically alter the playing field, and one man who knows the distinct idiosyncrasies of each venue better than most is long time visitor Kelly Slater. Tracks caught Kelly in a chatty mood after a warm up surf. Below he gives his exclusive guide on the three waves that could feature in the Drug Aware Pro.
North Point
North Point is the jewel in Western Australia’s crown.
It comes to life only on large swells, powerful enough to bend around the adjacent bay, and long, winding right-handers throw up freight train barrels and wild air sections.
“It’s such a good wave,” Kelly says.
“I found the ones the best ones don’t gurgle out too much on that end, you know, it seems like the later you get in the set the more the wave splits and it does weird contortions."
This is the first time ever the Drug Aware Pro has been hosted at North Point, and with most of the top 34 having only surfed out here a handful of times, some will have a distinct advantage over others.
“We’re not going to have any time to get out there and free surf and figure out which are the good waves,” Kelly says.
“It’s more about kinda relying on what feels right when you’re paddling for one. If you’re in a later heat you get to watch from the beach and start to pick which ones are the good ones.”
Mainbreak
“There’s so many good waves here, but Mainbreak isn’t one of them,” Kelly says.
“It’s kind of a tease, you know, it’s like you get invited to this party with all this great food but you get some Cheetos when you walk in and you can’t touch the other stuff, it just looks pretty.
“Mainbreak is a really tricky wave. It’s so dependent on what the wave does at the end, you know if it backs off kinda mid-way through, or if it holds its line and goes across the front of the reef, or closes out and pushes you onto the dry rock. A lot of them will look good and it’ll sort of be too big for the reef, and then other ones look like there gunna hug it but they don’t have much wall on the end, there too peaky. It’s a really tricky sort of wave to decide if it’s going to be good.
“If it’s going to be head high it makes it pretty easy to figure out the usual suspects. But then if it turns into 10-12 foot lefts it’s a completely different ball game; it might be a lot of heats ridden with one or two big swooping turns.”
The Box
The Box is a hulking slab of a wave. Open ocean swells detonate on a button of reef some 500m from shore, and even the paddle out is enough to incite fear in the hearts of most men, let alone the wave itself.
“Last time we had the contest there it was really tricky; I ate shit on a couple, it was a little rugged and it wasn’t a real clean lined swell, maybe a bit big for it,” Kelly says.
“There were heats won with really low point scores, and it changes the possibilities for everyone.
“You want like a good clean six footer with a nice line on it, and I don’t think you want too much interval. When the interval gets really fast on any kinda ledgy, a sucky wave it does weird stuff. It already gurgles on the easiest of waves there so I don’t think you want too much energy and speed in the swell.
“You just really pay attention to the wave and turn off any questioning of what you’re doing. You just look at it and go, ‘I think I can go this one, I’ll go’.”
