Just one day after the storm of the century ripped through Sydney and the surrounding regions, surfers were back in the water carving through dazzlingly blue breaks and frothy crests.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The severe weather spawned record-breaking monster waves up to 14.9 metres high and ate away Sydney's iconic coastline, but there was no keeping surfers on land once the worst had passed on Thursday.
Avalon was the only beach, among 82 in the affected regions, that Beachwatch deemed unlikely to be polluted after three days of damaging winds and heavy rainfall.
Many patrolled beaches in Sydney, Hunter, Central Coast & Illawarra closed this afternoon due to dangerous surf conditions.— Beachwatch NSW (@BeachwatchNSW) April 23, 2015
But the lure of fresh new breaks moulded by the epic storms was too strong for surfers at Bronte Beach.
"Surfers get excited after those huge swells because they totally change the underwater landscape of the breaks that determine the qualities of the waves," surfer and Fairfax Media photographer Dallas Kilponen, who was at Bronte Beach on Thursday morning, said.
"It's like surfing a brand new beach. You get to know the banks all over again."
Watching Richard Carter surf the new breaks at Bronte on Thursday morning, you would never have known that the coastline had been hammered by damaging waves less than 12 hours earlier.
"I've been cooped up indoors for the last couple of days waiting for all this weather to die down so I was pretty happy to get out there today and dust off the cobwebs," Mr Carter said.
"Today was really fun, actually. There was a bank there I'm keeping an eye on … I think it might get a bit better," he said.
Surfers further south were less lucky at Maroubra beach.
"The banks were pretty straight. They had no shape at all so I think they'll need a bit of time to settle down," Kilponnen said.
