For surfers, Bells Beach at Easter conjures images of cold Southern Ocean, long lines of swell, and fresh northwest offshores blowing off the adjacent farmland and through the moonah trees.
Well not so much this year.
The opening day of the Rip Curl Pro at Bells felt positively sub-tropical. Walking down the hill toward Bells, the sea breeze had a warm wash to it and the sun, when it caught you, bit hard. Even the water temp is currently sitting around 18 degrees – boardshorts for the brave, three-two full suits for the rest. If you weren’t facing due south staring out at the Antarctic sub latitudes, you could swear you were back on the North Coast.
Bells Beach has been known as Djarrak for tens of thousands of years to the Waddawurrung people, Djarrak meaning ‘elbow’, the headland appearing as a bend in the coastline. It was a place to gather shellfish and gather, generally. In more modern times, the small beach today known as Bells has been held in reverence by surfers who travel here to surf its icy lines.
That reverence rings out on Good Friday morning, shortly after first light as the bell tolls and the first notes of AC/DC’s Hells Bells echo around the beach. The ceremonial playing of Hells Bells to start the morning’s first heat at Bells began a couple of decades ago and has become iconic in its own right. An ancient landscape, a modern dance in the elements, a killer riff played by a grown man from Adelaide dressed as a schoolboy. Surfers in the water when it’s played have spoken about being lost out there in a powerful moment, forgetting they’re even surfing a heat.
The reality of course is that the annual Easter contest is a big deal, a stop on the world tour and a major sporting event that draws thousands of people from all over Victoria and beyond. Over the Easter weekend, Bells hums.
After parking on the adjacent farmland, you walk down the hill past the grandstands, coffee vans, the big screen and the gift shop, the air filled with the smell of deep fryers working overtime.
A full house will see 5000 Victorians fill the place. Many of them don’t know much about the sport of surfing, but as Victorians they know sport and they love sport, and they understand that Bells is the saltwater equivalent of an AFL final. They’ll sit on the beach all day, or at least until the high tide washes them away, applauding each wave and cheering on local favourites.
The difference however is that at an AFL game you can’t run onto the ground and start kicking your own ball around. You can here. While the contest runs at Bells, a couple of hundred metres to the east the reef at Winkipop serves as a practise pitch. Punters can paddle out and mix it with the pros warming up for their heats.
On Good Friday, just before lunch, Jordy Smith took off up the top of the point at Winki. He soon hit top speed, pushing hard on his rails as he chicanes down the line, running a slalom course around several surfers watching the show and drifting into his line. No stress. Jordy is cool. On the way back up the point several people congratulate him on winning the last tour event, over in El Salvador. “Thanks, bru.”
After lunch, the crowds on the hill at Bells kick back.
It’s the first year Stone and Wood have come on as the official beer of the WSL world tour in Australia, but in their own relaxed way have billed themselves as the tour’s “unofficial” official beer. The open-air Stone & Wood bar sits halfway up the hill and feels unofficial. Surf fans from Prahran, Preston, Nunawading and Fitzroy tilt Pacific Ale cans as the sun drops lazily into the farm paddocks behind the contest.
Out in the Bells Bowl, the high tide has seen the contest go on hold but on the hill, nobody seems too bothered. It’s Friday afternoon with a full Easter weekend ahead. In place of contest heats, they’ve sent out a Stone & Wood “Afternoon Delight” twin-fin expression session. It’s supposed to be some lo-fi fun, but the reality is the modern twin is perfectly suited to the sloping walls of Bells, and some hi-fi surfing goes down. Some of it would win heats in the contest.
Bells is between weather systems right now, so the waves disappeared on Easter Saturday, and nobody seems to know when they’re due to return. Again, with a full Easter weekend in prospect, and a full town, nobody seems too concerned for now. The waves will turn up when they’re ready.
Words by Sean Doherty.
