Swellnet

Swellnet was founded in 1998 when Ben started sharing his surf forecasts with a small group via fax and email. By March 2002, this service transitioned to an online platform. Today, many World Championship Tour (WCT) events, such as the Quiksilver Pro at locations like the Gold Coast, Fiji, Japan, and France, along with the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach and the Billabong Pro at Teahupoo, rely on Swellnet for their forecasts. In addition, several other competitions, including the Salomon Masters in Margaret River, the O'Neill Deep Blue Classic in the Maldives, and the Rip Curl Cup in Indonesia, also benefit from Swellnet's long-term surf outlook.

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Beyond Blue Horizon

6 days 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).
Gallery: North Shore Boardriders Win The Battle Of Burleigh

1 month 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.
Photos: Right Said Alfred

2 months ago | 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.
Kyron Rathbone: Where The Wild Things Are

2 months ago | swellnet.com | Stu Nettle

Kyron Rathbone: Where The Wild Things AreOutside of his home state of Tasmania, Kyron Rathbone first came to attention as a carefree charger at Shippies and Govs - one wave at the latter made two international magazine covers and still stands as the most picturesque wave shot there. More recently, Kyron has switched to the other side of the lens and began making downhome surf films, plus other projects that showcase the Tasmanian outdoors.
Behind The Shot: Josh Bystrom

2 months ago | swellnet.com | Stu Nettle

Behind The Shot: Josh BystromGenerally speaking, I'm not inclined to superstitions or irrational beliefs, so I can only chalk up the WSL's timing of the Lexus Pipe Pro as bad luck. Nothing more, nothing less. With Hawaii pumping since early December, including numerous mid-size west days perfect for Pipe and Backdoor, the storms suddenly stopped.
Fantasy Atlas: The Darling Coast

Jan 19, 2025 | swellnet.com | Stu Nettle

Fantasy Atlas: The Darling CoastAs the world turns away from the internet and picks up books again, Swellnet has decided to move with the times and publish a surf atlas. The following excerpt is taken from Swellnet's Fantasy Surf Atlas which will be published next month - see details below. This chapter documents one of Australia's favourite surf destinations. A thirty-kilometre stetch of coast that's home to almost as many waves.
Photos: 2025 Single Fin Festival

Jan 14, 2025 | swellnet.com | Stu Nettle |Vaughan Blakey

Words by Vaughan Blakey, photos by Swilly, captions by someone who wasn't even there. There's no better way to ease yourself into a new competitive surfing season than by marinating for an entire weekend in coconut oil, melanomas, bush buds, and pissed Queenslanders. That’s essentially what the Burleigh Single Fin Festival is: a time capsule of Australian surf culture dug up from under Dwayne Harris’s front verandah and poured out onto Burleigh Headland.
Kipp Caddy: Lost And Found At Jaws

Jan 8, 2025 | swellnet.com | Stu Nettle

'Paddling you can get lost in the lineup, towing you can get lost on the wave' Photo: Tim Bonython Kipp Caddy: Lost And Found At JawsHe's surfed every serious slab around Australia, now Kipp Caddy - who's 27-years old and comes from Ulladulla by way of Cronulla - is spreading his wings.
Review: 'When The Ocean Awakens' by Marti Paradisis

Dec 4, 2024 | swellnet.com | Stu Nettle

Review: 'When The Ocean Awakens' by Marti ParadisisThe digital age promotes rapid sharing of information, and yet whatever it is we’re sharing, it’s not meaningful stories. They seem rarer than ever. Even when someone finds the time or place to type and send, where can we find it a year later when we want to reread it? Stories are meant to endure, to be revisited, by you and by others, and a world without them exists in a permanent ‘now’ with no link to its history.
Heavy Water Thoughts

Sep 12, 2024 | swellnet.com | Stu Nettle

Back in July, Australia's East Coast was hit by a long period south swell. It wasn’t an exceptional winter for waves, but the season was punctuated by a couple of belters and this swell was one of them. For days the swell hovered in the ten-to-fifteen feet mark, but the onshore winds drove everyone into protected corners. On the fourth day of the swell the wind turned offshore, and, putting old habits aside, I drove past the local and paddled out at a reefbreak thirty minutes further south.