Swellnet

1 month ago | swellnet.com | Stu Nettle

Dim The House Lights: Vale Jack McCoyLights down. Curtains open. “I want to thank you all for coming to see my first surfing film,” said the man on the stage. “My name is Bruce Brown and I’ll be narrating the movie for you with some music I’ve added that will act as the soundtrack.”The year was 1961 and Bruce Brown was touring his first film, Slippery When Wet. The venue on this night was Kailua Intermediate School, on Oahu’s east-side, where 13-year old Jack McCoy was in seventh grade.

1 month ago | swellnet.com | Stu Nettle

It’s not the accent you expect to hear when you make a phone call to this isolated corner of Australia. “Hello Stu,” says Paul Richardson, owner of Gnaraloo Station, in his thick Northern Irish brogue. "Nice to catch up wit' you."The accent may be unexpected yet Paul is also laconic, self-deprecating, and often rough as guts - a fine raconteur in other words. Gnaraloo Station, located in Western Australia's dry north-west, is home to a number of good waves.

1 month ago | swellnet.com | Stu Nettle

Beyond Blue HorizonIn 2002, filmmaker Jack McCoy was on a hot streak. Jack's pivot from indy filmmaker to creator of branded content began with Kong’s Island and The Performers but it was the beautifully-crafted Bunyip Dreaming that established a new era. Bunyip Dreaming was quickly followed by a string of similarly successful titles, plus a revolutionary tilt at competition (the Billabong Challenge and its sequels), while heralding both a new era (Sabotaj) and an old one (The Occumentary).

2 months ago | swellnet.com | Stu Nettle

Gallery: North Shore Boardriders Win The Battle Of BurleighLast weekend, 42 boardriders clubs from around Australia assembled at Burleigh Heads for the finals of the Australian Boardriders Battle. On both days the surf hovered between three and five feet, clean in the mornings, bumpy in the afternoons, but always incredibly consistent. No heats were decided by a lack of waves which made for non-stop entertainment.

Mar 4, 2025 | swellnet.com | Stu Nettle

Photos: Right Said AlfredHe's already been spinning in the Coral Sea for a fortnight, yet the first week of Tropical Cyclone Alfred's existence offered limited surfing opportunities: a few mysto waves north of K'Gari and jumped up beachbreaks on the Sunshine Coast. Once Alfred moved far enough south, however, a new stage began.