Surfing Waves

Hi Guys,

New guy here with 1 month longboard experience. Any tips you can give me on how's surfing in Bondi? It seems that the waves in Bondi right now is getting bigger(3ft-4ft?) and I'm not sure if these waves are suitable for beginners like me.


Thanks and Happy new year to all.

As long as you can handle crowds, Bondi will be fine.
Bondi is fairly forgiving for a newbie longboarder. A good rule of thumb at Bondi is that if you can get out back (without using the freight train rip at the south end), you should be fine, but if you can't, then just have a play in the whitewater where the lifeguards can see you.

Watch out for the rocks and rips at the Icebergs end of Bondi. The north end is usually more gentle, but the lifeguards usually won't let you take a hard board out at the very north end

Long period south swell as is showing at Bondi right now (I just had a look at the cams) can be deceptively powerful but makes for good surf. Enjoy

Edit: It's picked up a lot since I looked at the cams....

Why Bondi......the most populated beach in Sydney, the water is an absolute crowded nightmare of all sorts of levels of surfers and drowning tourist.
The major rip on the beach is called the Backpacker Express. There is almost a conveyor belt of rescues required.
On any southerly swell the beach gets dangerous.

I agree with Jaffa, the swell picked up BIG time today, I just got back from annihilation of some 6 - 8ft barrels bombs... I didnt get to ride any of them, but I was commited to the paddle out back and watching how some of the surfers managed it out there. It didnt stop me trying

I was in the wrong spot at the wrong time and just got sent to the bottom by a thick lipped dropping tide barrel for 10+ seconds with only another 5 - 8 seconds to get back on my board and duck dive the incoming sets..

Swell is currently 1.6m @ 14seconds (5ft), Unless your a boss surfer, I would say its totally shortboard waves for next few days..

Not only was I completely taken back by the ATLEAST overhead+ bomb sets and capable of duck diving, I was SCARED.

Go rent a foamie and surf north corner if you are desperate

EDIT: Bondi is going to be receiving south swell @ 1.2+ meters for atleast the next 7 days btw

jaffa1949 wrote:Why Bondi......the most populated beach in Sydney, the water is an absolute crowded nightmare of all sorts of levels of surfers and drowning tourist.
On any southerly swell the beach gets dangerous.

..We recently moved in Sydney and plan to stay here in Bondi. So far I'm enjoying my surfing experience here(when the waves are not huge).

peazz wrote:Go rent a foamie and surf north corner if you are desperate
EDIT: Bondi is going to be receiving south swell @ 1.2+ meters for atleast the next 7 days btw

yeah. that's what I did today, rented a foamie just to surf in north bondi even tho I have a hard board. You living in Bondi, Peazz?

Nope not living in Bondi, bloody wish I was thou! Im here for another 14 days and then Im off back to hong kong , Beeni in aus 7 weeks now traveling up and down the east coast

If the swell continues like this I think Ill go and rent a foamie myself to keep up my wave count haha. Didn't catch a single thing today but paddling out in it, making it out back barley out of breathe felt good, just being in the wrong spot at the wrong time when the wave of the day come through ended up with me in the spin cycle.

Now just need to get my explosive paddles up to scratch so I can start catching some of the big'uns, I just dont have the paddle speed to catch them ground swell sets

liveloveandsurf wrote:..We recently moved in Sydney and plan to stay here in Bondi. So far I'm enjoying my surfing experience here(when the waves are not huge).

You gotta love the summer in Bondi
I love the place... hate the crowds... but love the wave and just watching the world go by in Bondi.

Where did you move from?
I was just down the road in Coogee until a month ago, and now I'm living on the gold coast... there's still crowds

drowningbitbybit wrote:

liveloveandsurf wrote:Where did you move from?
I was just down the road in Coogee until a month ago, and now I'm living on the gold coast... there's still crowds

From Philippines. Tried surfing for the first time and I'm stoked! Love the feeling of standing on a longboard, proud to say that I'm addicted to it.

Long boarders in bondi need to learn some respect and not be selfish.

After the day out at Bondi today, every single short board on the peak was struggling to get waves because the same group of 10 longboarders kept paddling out back and catch ANYTHING that moved... Constant for at least 3 hours, anytime someone wanted to drop it we got whistled, wat a waste of a day and my energy.

Lol for people like that I would just drop in on them.

I would of panda, but I wasn't having a very good day myself to be fair... anytime I managed to paddle into a wave I was whistled, Already had a bust up with 2 people nearly today and couldn't really be arsed with another one..

That really stinks , and that build frustration, in the end being inside is not the only criteria taking turns can be a factor too.
These guys have build a team act to preserve their "patch" against the tourist hordes, very hard to break through. I last surfed Bondi in the 70s, it was crowded then now is ridiculous, sneak away somewhere else!

Unless you are seriously capable, the only waves you will get are by harassing those further down the food chain.

Tourists read this NOW, Bondi is not going to be the amazing experience surfing should be

Very true Jaffa, I have found the only time I can get a good session is in the evening, I managed to get friendly with a few locals who are out around that time so helps me a bit.

Tourists dont bother with bondi if theres more then 1000+ people on the beach. There must of been easily 5,000+ today, with a tight knit group of locals taking high volume boards and sitting out back U dont stand a chance.

There was one dude on a red fish, EVERY single time I managed to get into one of the high time lumps, he was there right in front of me spraying me and making sure I didnt have a chance..

Is it anything like this?

WORSE, multiply by 35,000 on the beach for a hot day,


This a medium crowded day!!!