February 24th 2026: Scramble

Last week's east swell was certainly a lolly scramble, albeit a little unpredictable. At some stage during its arc from arriving to abating, nearly every North Coast break held some amazing waves. We ran around like headless chickens trying to find the sweet spot between out of control huge and clean enough to offer some quality. 

The Spit was our first port of call as we'd heard that the swell was filling in during Monday. By the time we got there, the swell had certainly arrived. Two ambitious dots way down the beach turned out to be Jimi Crooks and Tom Bracegirdle. They were hunting in a very big arena with sets pushing through at about eight-foot maybe bigger. 

Sam Charlesworth was hunting just past first rock and was pulling into some frothy caverns. Unfortunately, even at high tide, the outer shoals were breaking – indicating too much Otago Harbour-dredged sand has been dropped in the wrong place. While the shoals help steer the swell energy toward the beach, when they break, they take a lot of energy out of the swell. 

We ended up finding a novelty wave breaking inside the harbour. It was the cleanest and most user-friendly of the options. 

The next day saw the swell oscillate as it shifted from the northeast to a southeast angle. A river bar up north was almost as good as it gets, but it seemed everyone knew it was on – it was one of the worst crowds I've seen in Dunedin. It only takes a few rude people to ruin the whole buzz. 

Most surfers were surfed out by mid-week. That's a lot of happy content people roaming around with grins on their faces. More of that, please, Huey ...

See you at the beach, Derek

PS Autumn is a great time to get some new artwork on your walls to refresh your space. We're offering free hanging Otago-wide for any framed art (valued at $1000 or more) that is bought from now until the end of March 2026. Here's a link to get you started.