Ian Cairns book launch at Force Nine surfboards

It was standing room only at Surf World Gold Coast last week when Aussie surf legend Ian Cairns and writer Wayne Murphy did the first of their book launches to an appreciative and surf star studded audience.

Cronulla surfers get their chance this week when the Kanga book show land at Force Nine Surfboards  at 43 Captain Cook Drive Caringbah, on Saturday at 1.30 pm- I don’t think Ian will have run out of things to say so bring some cash to buy his 2 book autobiography ( because like Winston Churchill it takes two volumes)

While we are up the Gold Coast,Brazilian Italo Ferreira  and Caroline Marks (USA) won the Quiksilver Pro and Boost Mobile Pro Gold Coast, the opening stop on the World Surf League  Championship Tour .

The result was not without controversy and Ferreira after having last year proved himself to be one of the most exciting surfers, won three CT events and finished the year in fourth place on the Jeep Leaderboard.

The 24-year-old got his World Title campaign off to a perfect start with a come-from-behind victory over Californian Kolohe Andino (USA). Ferreira will now sport the Jeep Leader Jersey and focus his attention to Stop No. 2 of 11 on the men’s CT at Bells.

Slashing: This mornings surf conditions at North Cronulla.Picture John Veage

Cronulla has had a  week of pretty good waves with nice swell and favourable winds keeping almost everybody happy.

Boardriders contest’s were held in good conditions on the weekend but the banks are slowly starting to deteriorate into closeouts so if you can pick your tides you’re one step ahead.

Yesterday a southerly blew through which has increased the size of the swell today to 3-4 ft but hasn’t done much for the surface conditions.

This south swell is going to stick around for the week but it’s only going to get smaller day by day,leaving us with 1-2 ft of wind chop-the winds will be variable until early next Monday when another southerly swell is due .

Pumping conditions in the Gulf-Oman on a good day.Picture Maynard Ringer

You know surfing is going mad when the International Surfing Association (ISA) welcomed the Oman Surfing Association and the Mongolian Surfing Federation as new Member Nations, bringing the International Federation’s total membership to 106 nations across all five continents.

The addition of Oman and Mongolia highlights the ISA’s continued strategy to grow the sport of Surfing in all its disciplines across non-traditional surfing regions – and particularly in Asia ahead of the sport’s historic debut at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Earlier this month, Surfing was confirmed on the sports programme for the 2020 Asian Beach Games, in Sanya, China, further evidence of the success of this growth strategy-Mongolia does not have access to the sea, so ISA membership will create a platform to cater to disciplines that can be practiced on flat water, such as StandUp Paddle, or indoors with wave pool technology.

And you think we have average surf !