Nearly 300 surfers took to the waves at Crescent Head over the last week for the annual Malibu Classic surfing competition.
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Kicking off on Thursday, May 25, and running for three days, surfers competed across 14 divisions in a competition which attracted participants from both the Macleay and around the state.
Competitors ranged from grommets to weathered surf veterans.
Both those in the water and watching on were greeted by balmy conditions on land and in the ocean over the majority of the three days.
Running in conjunction with the water events was a surf art competition in the Crescent Head Surf Club which boasted nearly 200 entrants.
The presence of a shark, which at one point swam under surfers and caused a brief suspension of competition, caused no long-term delays.
Competitor Mark Fuller was one of four surfers in the midst of a semi-final heat on Friday when they spotted a shark swimming underneath them.
He said he was taken aback by the size of the creature.
“I couldn’t believe it, my mate said ‘there’s a shark next to you’, and I thought it didn’t look that big,” Mr Fuller said.
“Then next minute I paddled closer to it and the back fin popped up out and I thought ‘that’s two and a half metres, I think I’ll go in.”
The competitors waved to get the attention of the jet ski before paddling to shore.
According to the Dorsal app, which crowd sources information about shark sightings, as well as receiving information from authorities such as the Department of Primary Industries, a tagged great white shark was detected on Friday and Saturday at Crescent Head beach.
However the sightings didn’t hinder a strong turn out over the three days, with a large crowd lining the Crescent Head shore for the majority of the competition.
The 2017 competition was the latest installment in the surf competition’s proud history, which has now run for 29 years.
