When the swell is building on the Gold Coast, the wind often is too. Sure, the waves are still firing, but a windless day is relatively rare, especially as the day wears on. But every now and then, you’ll get one of those magical 24-hour periods where the wind is dead calm and the waves peel endlessly down the point.
But since it is Coolangatta, even when it’s windy and the swell isn’t cranking, it can get a little… peopley. So when a day like the one you see in the video above rolls around, you can be sure that you’ll be fighting for waves.
Still, even with the crowd, waves like these would prove far too tempting for any surfer who laid eyes on them. When the banks are right and the conditions line up, it’s just a barrel factory, churning out tube after tube after tube, none of which go unridden.
There’s that old saying, “there will always be another wave,” that’s supposed to keep us from raging at crowds. Looking at the sea of humanity here, however, that might prove to be difficult. But just one of these waves would probably make all the frustration worth it.