There are many right-hand point-breaks the world over, but only a handful that can be considered excellent. What makes them excellent? It’s a combination of consistent waves, light winds, barreling sections, length of ride and volume of crowds. Somewhere amongst all of that is perfection, and these are five waves the world over that holds enough of these characteristics to be deemed perfect.
Supertubes, Jeffreys Bay
It is long, it is perfect, and it has many days of the year when it is really flawless. It does suffer a little from crowds and maybe sometimes from the early morning devil winds during the winter months, but on a global scale it is one of the most consistent and perfect waves in the world.
Rincon
California’s iconic point-break, Malibu has forever been the best and most beautiful-looking point-break in America. It is rare and it is crowded, but when it’s on it is one of the longest and most enjoyable right-handers in the known surfing world. The crowds can make in unbearable at times, and often when the swell direction is not ideal the waves are soft and more suited to beginners, but when Rincon turns on it’s a sublime ride.
Discovered by Bruce Brown while filming his legendary Endless Summer movie in 1966, the wave was immediately named after the filmmaker, and turned a generation of surfers into itinerant wave-seekers, excited by the romantic notion of finding another wave like Bruce's. When the wave was discovered, there was very little development in the area, and the consistent southwest winds would sweep across the sand dunes and deposit sand into the sea, which made for the long and flawless sand bar that formed alongside the shoreline rocks.Bruce’s Beauties
These days those sand dunes have been developed on and have been stabilized, and there is less sand along the point. The wave is thus less consistent, and needs a rare east swell and a spring low tide to be any good. Still, it happens a number of times a year and if you’re lucky enough to be in the area then you’ll experience a rare treat.
Lennox Head
South of Byron Bay, Lennox Head is another long and winding sand-bottom right-hand point that runs forever and throws some perfect tube rides as well as delivering open faces perfect for high-class surfing. Popular amongst traveling surfers as well as local professional surfers, Lennox has been a little under the spotlight recently as a result of the frequency of shark sightings in the area.
The Superbank
Formerly a couple of separate waves including Snapper Rocks, Little Marley and Greenmount, the Superbank came about when the local council started pumping sand from the nearby Tweed River mouth to improve vessel access. As a result of the massive redistribution of sand, the sections all joined up and the Superbanks was formed as one of the longest, most perfect and most crowded waves in the world. Up to six hundred people have been counted out there, and it gets even busier when the Quiksilver and the Roxy Pro Championship Tour surfing events are in town, but the wave is so big and so long that it seems that everyone manages to get a few.
After a good wave at the Superbank, much like a few of the other point-breaks, the only way back to the take off zone is to head for shore and walk all the way around, with the walk sometimes taking up to half an hour.
If you’re not that interested in perfect right-hand point-breaks, there are also some pretty crazy lefts out there…
