Words by Tom Freed
Whenever someone utters the phrase “from where you’d rather be,” Stab’s collective mind’s eye immediately focuses on a sand-bottomed setup beneath a smiling sun. We’re talking beachbreaks. Trunks. Bath water. All the finer things! And, since we so adore such things, we’ve decided to team up with our like-minded pals at Coronaextra.com.au to deliver you a new series: The World’s Best Beachbreaks.
We’ll be detailing, visually but also through written text, all our favourite sand setups from around the world. The requirements? Nothing but golden grains beneath, nothing but a warm orb above, trunk temperatures only, and a perfect setup to end the day with a Corona and lime.
No. 2: Duranbah, Gold Coast, Australia
While the true meaning of the place known as
Duranbah seems lost in eons and hidden in mystery, the ancients say that
it’s derived from the indigenous Aboriginal phrase for “Beachie that
gives bitchy goofyfooters rare chance to go left.” Fine…no ancients say
that, but Duranbah (D-bah) does have a hell of left-ramp at times. In
fact, D-bah is possibly our most summery, most versatile, most
quintessentially beachbreaky of beachbreaks, yet. And what the hell
constitutes a claim like that? D-bah, like anyone’s midsummer night
dream of a beachbreak, is an absolute playground. There’s no need for
swell charts, extreme tides or long journeys from the nearest airport —
there’s always waves and you just park and get to, well, surf. We’re
talking playful, random, highly-shred-able peaks, here. No consequence,
no constant broken-boards, no stress. Playground, remember? A playground
even suitable enough for the bitchy goofyfooter complaining about all
those perfect right points around the corner.
Lemme break it down for ya:
Go: Feb-April
Land in: Coolangatta Airport, (aka Gold Coast Airport)
Then: Cab it or drive the whopping 8 minutes from there to Duranbah
Stay: The Komune is pretty much
right in the thick of it and beachside and has backpacker dorm-room
style options, then there’s Calypso next-doorish and if you got a few
mates there’s a ton of apartment holiday rentals
Bring a: Couple standard shortboards that you feel the most comfortable ripping the guts out of a perfect beach break
What’s she like? Can I be Frank?
Fun. Real fucking fun. In all senses of that overused, vaguely poignant
three-letter word. And while over the course of this 12-week list we’ve
given you beach break after beach break,(which for some equates with
semi-closeout tube after semi-closeout tube), D-bah ain’t just a pull-in
over soft-grains type of wave. It’s rippable peaks with punchy, pealing
walls. Gorgeous sections and runway-ramps. An odd barrel or two — or
spitting kegs on the on-days. See: fun. Absurdly consistent, D-bah’s
always got a wave, best at 3-5 ft out of the east, and can hold up to
8ft on the outer bar before she washes through. Running rights on a
southeast swell to epic lefts draining behind the rocks on the rare
northerly swells. A lovely half-mile of dog-friendly beach with warm,
turquoise water and waves that keep ya busy and guessing and out there
all damn day. Wait, Frank’s back: also really fucking crowded. And,
like, always. Frank’s kind of a dick.
What really makes her tick? Swell
direction. While many a beach break (cough, Hossegor, cough) need their
bars in order and sand juuuust so…that ain’t really the case with
D-bah. It’s the bigger east swells ya want that break up the lines and
flash those big A-frame peaks. The long period south swells run down the
beach too hard and give ya a bit of current, while the straight Easts
drive sand into the southern corner of the jetty to give ya them fun
rights. Not to mention, the more east, the more peaks there are to break
up that crowd. But yeah, a shorter period at 6-8ft, 9 seconds, crossed
up and random — ramps galore.
Other options in the area… Ha.
That’s hilarious. Bitch, you on the Gold Coast! Round the cornah from
D-bah are a few, shall we say suitable right pointbreaks like: Snapper
Rocks, Greenmount, Kirra…you get it. Also, even closer are some fun ones
at Fingal Jetty.
For a good time… Real close or
on the way to D-bah, fuel up at Little Mali Café for some good coffee
and healthy fare. Little Lido Café for some epic breakfast, and the rest
of Coolangatta has a new healthy eatery popping up practically each
month. As far as nightlife, summertime in Coolangatta is pretty
gosh-damned busy, so most bars are easy to chat up a babe in. Komune has
the younger crowd, Coolangatta Hotel’s got the older, lil more reckless
crowd, Rattlesnake Motel’s a lil all over the place with some
wildcard’s too. Take your pick!
At all costs, don’t… Don’t get
mouthy with the old local boys out at the bars and clubs. Also,
late-night in Coolangatta during the summer, bikeys and some of the
youngsters like looking for fights, so have your wits about ya.
OK, I hear ya, but what’s a local say? Mitch Crews says,
“D-bah’s one of the easternmost points in the area, so it just sucks in
a lot of swell; I love the place because it’s pretty much a wave magnet
that’s never not breaking. Like, if it’s flat there, it’s flat
everywhere. What I love about D-bah, though, is that unlike a lot of
beach breaks, it doesn’t closeout so much; it’s just so peaky and
rippable. In my opinion it’s all around the friendliest, funnest beach
break that I’ve ever surfed, really. I mean, look at how many champions
come outta that area that surf that wave. Sure, the crowd can suck, so
what I personally love are those swells outta the east because then you
can use the whole beach because of all those broken-up peaks and maybe
have your own little zone.”
