I was cycling along at Kirra on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, a beach which is known around the world, for having some of the best board riding waves. It was 9.30 in the morning on Friday the 13th, 2013, would this be a bad day? I saw 4 swans on the ocean just behind the small surf break. I dashed down to the waters edge and started taking lots of photos of the swans, which were about 50 metres from the waters edge. This has never been seen in my lifetime of involvement of swimming and surfing the area. I was amazed, so were all the people on the beach. I thought I would take some video showing the Kirra Surf Lifesavers Club, I panned around to show the wonderful white sandy beach and the people watching the swans and the beautiful view across the ocean to Surfers Paradise in the distance. We often see dolphins in the water and also the Humpback Whales when they migrate past the Gold Coast from May to November. But I then zoomed in on something never seen before, the 4 swans, beautiful, amazing. I stopped filming and spoke to other people watching this unusual happening and sensed something special might occur. I started recording again, and then, wow, it happened. I take a lot of amateur photos and video for myself and my family, so I just tried to capture the moment as best I could. In the heat of the moment, do I zoom in, do I open it out to view the whole beach, what do I do? In the end, I just tried to set the scene, I stayed with the first 2 swans as they paddled and caught the wave. They weren't hit by the wave and washed towards the shore, they paddled and caught it. One was spat out the back of the wave whilst the other surfed it through to the beach.He started to go back out to the others, then he saw another broken wave and turned around and caught it all the way to the sand, an incredible piece of surfing. The family on the waters edge couldn't believe what was happening around them. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some action and turned the camera around, just in time to see the other three swans PADDLING onto the wave and surfing it towards the beach, wow. All were now near the shore, what a surf session they had put on to entertain their audience on the beach. One decided that's enough and headed off, with its mates in hot pursuit. They headed towards Coolangatta, passing a rock groyne that our Gold Coast City Council is currently spending around $1,000,000 on, to extend the length to provide for the legendary barrel or tube rides that used to happen more often in the past. Eight months ago, world champion surfers Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, Kelly Slater and others surfed a competition in the same area in 4 metre waves. We will see these men again next year. I don't believe we will ever see again the skills shown by our surfing novices, the swans. I was so happy that I was able to keep calm and capture those beautiful creatures on video. This particular Friday the 13th was incredible, mind blowing, what a performance by our friends, for all of us.
Enjoy,
Kel Mills.