Wednesday 18th May
Local surfers, Tully (above) and Declan, were through to the next round on Wednesday. I had work commitments in the morning and afternoon with a window of opportunity around my Lunch break. It's pretty neat having a world class event, so close. I literally, nipped down to the beach with my camera. I'd had the WSL on in the background (on 7plus of course) and I could see some of the final heats were due to start. I didn't get to see all of the men's heats before I had to return and to my desk and resume the last calls of the day.
Still you can't beat a lunch break, on the beach, watching the best surfers in the world compete.
Tuesday 24th May
Finals day. After the previous Wednesday, the Challenger series started and ran through a number of consecutive days until the men and women were into the finals rounds. I'd taken the day off as leave, I wanted to watch the finals actions and support the local surfers Tully White and Declan Wyton.
The forecast wasn't great, plenty of stormy rain and dark clouds - rather than deal with having to lug around a telephoto lens, I decided that I'd take some smaller lenses that I could fit easily under my rain coat, and capture a different perspective than I would normally.
It was a pretty dark start to the morning and it didn't get any better throughout the day, with the sun holding out and only making an appearance for the awards.
I really thought that combining the CS and Longboard Tour was a great event, and worked really well in making the most of the variable conditions that you get during the waiting period.