Quiky Pro spectators make most of day at beach with or without surfable waves at Snapper Rocks
LOCAL surf greats mix with school kids, travellers and curious locals in the water on the shore at Snapper Rocks during World Surf League contest.
Surfing
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TUESDAYITIS doesn’t exist for the punters on the balcony of the Rainbow Bay Surf Life Saving Club overlooking the Quiksilver Pro.
Local surf legends, travellers and workers in high-visibility vests pack out some of the best seats over the surfing arena on the beach in Coolangatta.
They keep their eyes on the event that has flooded local roads with traffic for almost a week now.
A constant flow of spectators from the highrises watching the competition has not slowed since Monday – it doesn’t seem like many people have to work.
RAINBOW BAY SURF CAM
Statisticians wandering through the crowd for Surfing Queensland and the World Surfing League say about 30,000 people visit the free event every day.
Average home crowds for the Gold Coast Suns and Titans were about 12,000 last year.
South American food truck owner Kevin Perez said his staff had made more than 3500 serves of nachos in six days.
He said he had also gone through a whopping five tonnes of oranges and two tonnes of watermelon for their freshly squeezed juice.
“I would say 50 per cent of the people who come are tourists,” he says.
“We’ve had a lot of Brazilians and mums and dads also but then the kids come in the afternoons.”
TOP SHOTS FROM THE QUIKY, ROXY PROS
While commentator Bruce Lee’s booming voice describes the action, groups dressed in board shorts and bikinis filter in to watch from the sand, on a boulder or climb up to the Bank of Queensland’s VIP area.
At one stage, 33 telephoto lenses were trained on the action in the water.
“The crowds are almost double last year,” says Surfing Queensland’s Dev Lahey.
Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks. Photo: Jerad Williams.
Even the athletes’ viewing deck is packed with the offspring of famous surfers, who run around oblivious to the fact that a Joel Parkinson or a Carissa Moore is about to run out before a heat.
The kids seem to be getting impatient as the World Surf League runs the event until 6pm.
They are determined to make the most of the pumping mid-sized easterly swell which is forecast to drop off after today.
Good waves will always draw the crowds to Snapper Rocks, says Lahey.
“It just shows, everyone loves the pumping waves – Saturday was the biggest day but the crowds have been up around 30,000.”
Today the crowds will have six hours to enjoy before a king and queen of Snapper Rocks are crowned for 2016.
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