UPDATE
MEREWETHER mates and rivals Ryan Callinan and Morgan Cibilic will be in the water soon as competition resumes just after 8am.
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They are in the second quarter final, with Brazilians Gabriel Medina and Adriano de Souza in quarter final one.
PREVIOUSLY
ORGANISERS have put the Newcastle Cup on hold until 7.45 after a southerly came through last night and disturbed the lineup.
Swellnet's surf report says it only lasted a few hours and winds have been light and variable all night, tending light westerly this morning.
"So, it's a little lumpy but getting better," says Swellnet.
"Size is around three to four foot (on to 1.2 metres) on the sets still, with direction out of the south east".
Yesterday's sensational surfing was the perfect appetite whetter for the final stages of the tournament.
Newcastle only got the contest because COVID made the traditional Bells Beach Easter contest impossible, and there have been fears the surf would not be enough compared with the extraordinary waves - such as Teahupoo in Tahiti, Cloudbreak in Fiji and the perfect left hand barrels of countless Indonesian spots - to justify a Championship Tour event.
Beachbreaks - Merewether is not really a point in the classic Lennox Head or Crescent Head or Snapper Rocks definition - are more usually found on the step-up Qualifying Series, and not "the Dream Tour', is the argument.
The European legs are often at Beachbreaks - Ericeira, Portugal, or Lacanau in France - are examples, and the Merewether surf can match that.
I might be biased, so these comments from Simon Lerougetel on a hard-core surf fan debate on Swellnet are worth reading:
"The view from inside the ropes over the past couple of days has been pretty bloody impressive," Lerogetel said
"Newy is not a naturally conducive CT venue on 'Dream Tour' standards.
"It is an adequate QS venue and to expect we can luck into five golden days to escalate to CT standard isn't realistic. Same could be said for North Narrabeen next week. It is what we have for now, make the most of it - the pro's are.
"Yes, other banks in the area would have had their shining moments over the past few days, but none would have provided the consistency of the rocks shorebreak.
"It has become a mini coliseum. There is a palatable sense of bravery taking it on that even regular "very, very good" surfers wouldn't even contemplate on any other day.
"In defence of the shorey, I will say that in 35 years of watching from the sand all around the world, The feeling at the beach this afternoon after Carissa's air was unlike anything I have experienced..
"Yes there was the expected roar from our COVID controlled crowd, but for the next 20 minutes, everywhere she want, there was sporadic applause. It was like we all had all been privy to some unique Olympic moment.
"Shame on the only two people on the beach who didn't think it deserved a 10.
"If you have the chance to watch any of the upcoming comps on the sand, do it. It is way better than it looks."
I thought it looked pretty good anyway but the atmosphere on the sand is electric and the enthusiasm contagious - in the nicest possible sense of that right now.
Carissa's big 9.9 wave late in the day was the big talking point, but it wasn't the only one.
Here's some of how the World Surf League had to say about the action.
By the time this event is done, it's now clear we'll have two new ratings leaders. Carissa Moore is set to take the Yellow Jersey back from Tyler Wright, and right now, Medina looks to be in the box seat to secure it from John John Florence, who was knocked out yesterday by Rookie Morgan Cibilic.
But that's not a done deal, with Italo Ferreira also still in the mix if Medina does not progress past the Semifinals, and he can then place second or better.
OUR LATEST:
Young Aussie Isabella Nichols in her first year on tour provided yeserday's 'fairytale moment', taking out seven-time World Champion Stephanie Gilmore, her childhood hero, in the quarters to book a spot in her first Championship Tour semi final.
This is after she's earlier knocked Tatiana Weston-Webb out of the event.
Nichols found the better waves, sat right in the pocket and hit the lip with a confident display of power surfing which shows how much work she's put in during the unexpected extended off-season that was most of 2020.
"I'm pretty speechless at the moment, to be honest," Nichols said after the heat. "Steph is my idol, she always has been, always will be. She was the first person I looked up to and I still do. Having a heat against her was pretty surreal."
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