Kirra Surf Guide

Kirra is Australia's and probably the world's best righthand point that breaks over sand. Air drops into various tube sections, which seem to suck out below sea level, adding sand to the already ridiculously powerful and thick lips. Super long, slabby sections need breakneck speed to negotiate while praying the inevitable drop-in wont happen on the deepest tube of your life. After the First Groyne was built in the early Seventies, Kirra went into coma for a couple of years before re-awakening better than ever when the sand returned. Second Groyne was built in 1980 and gets just as dredgy as big brother. Kirra holds major swells plus crowds that all other crowds can be measured by! It all depends on the sand and these days with all the pumping and re-nourishment projects going on, the set up is prone to change. Many mourned the 2nd passing of Kirra in the Noughties when the Second (Little) Groyne got buried, the sand piled up and even lefts started breaking, but it has slowly recovered and breaks at about a third to a half the size of the prevailing swell. Big, solid SE groundswell is the preferred element, while E and even NE cyclone swells can also produce epic barrels if the sand is right.

Since the advent of the Superbank, you would expect crowd pressure to have tailed off a bit, but if Kirra wakes up, so does most of Coolangatta's huge surf population and its not a question of if it will be a hundred crowd, more of a matter of how many hundreds! The sweep down the point is legendary, so when you are trying to count the numbers, don't forget the many running back up the point after every ride. Getting a good one without being dropped in on is usually the reserve of the many pros and skilled locals that live in this area, who co-incidently seem to have problems looking over their left shoulder.