south-coast-2017-028January 17 delivered a south swell well south of Sydney

Words and photos by Ben Horvath
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The sun in Sydney and surrounds (The Perfect Wave’s Aussie home town) has just made its annual move over the northern hemisphere and our beaches won’t get it back for another six months.
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The evening of March 20 in Australia marked the autumnal equinox, when the sun passes directly over the equator heading north.
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Australia is now on the downhill run into winter as days become shorter than nights.
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To compound matters, daylight savings will also soon come to an end on Sunday April 2 meaning there won’t be much time for that quick after-work surf fix anymore.
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The sun will venture back over the equator on September 23, but we have a winter to get through before then.
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Autumn and winter are, of course, the surfers’ season in Australia. We generally experience our best waves from March through August, and for those who dislike the cold there are, of course, The Perfect Wave’s favourite destinations – Indonesia and the Maldives – to escape to.
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Time to head to Indo?Time to head to Indonesia?

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So far, the autumn in NSW has been all over the shop.
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We have had no shortage of swell, but persistent onshore winds have limited the highlight days to just one or two (Saturday and Sunday, March 11 and 12) rather than the days, sometimes even weeks of perfection we have become accustomed to in March.
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As I write this on March 23, Sydney and surrounds is well on track to recording the wettest March in Sydney’s recent history with rain falling on 20 of 23 days so far this month.
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To emphasize how much Sydney and Australia in general is a country of contrasting and extreme climate, all the recent autumn rain comes hot on the heels of the hottest Summer in Australia’s history.
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The hottest summer ever came on the back of the hottest year ever – 2016.
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021-taboo-jan-17Hot January day and no one out? Hmmm, well, the shark plane did warn us

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Summer 2016/17 in Sydney had 11 days with maximum temperatures recorded over 35 degrees and almost a whole month with temps over 30.
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All the heat was caused by persistent hot north winds and a series of what felt like stationary, blocking high pressure systems.
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Whilst the surf in Sydney for much of summer rarely exceeded 2-3ft, the NSW south coast, where most of these photos were taken, was lucky enough to pick up a few fleeting south pulses in Jan and Feb.
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Since then, it has felt like someone flicked the rain switch on straight, after the heat wave ended in late February.

Words and photos by Ben Horvath
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thumb_img_0806_1024Time to head to the Maldives?

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more-jan-17-021Dawn line up

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more-jan-17-015Pre-dawn froth

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Southern NSW nativesSouthern NSW natives

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Southern NSW shellsSouthern NSW shells

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Southern NSW stopSouthern NSW stop

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Nice bank, nice hot January dayNice bank, nice hot January day

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Written by:
Ben Horvath

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