By Anthony Pancia
AN American website predicted it, the weather maps showed it and the weekend proved it there's just no better place to be a surfer than Margaret River in August.
The entire cape was bombarded with perfectly groomed massive waves up to 30 feet for the second consecutive weekend, but seasoned locals are calling last weekend the best yet.
World-renowned local surf photographers Rus sell Ord and Jamie Scott found themselves right in the thick of the action on both days, with Ord surfing the peak of the swell on Saturday and Scott photographing a landmark session at Gracetown's Cow Bombie.
"It was pretty big," Scott said. "North Point was pretty much unsurfable but further out the swell was clean and there were light offshore winds with blue skies. It was up there with one of the best sessions out there yet."
Scott was joined at the open ocean break by surfers Mick Corbett, Brad Norris, Jarryd Foster, Rohan Annesley, Sam Kinney and James Hick.
Ord ventured out to Boatramps, a reef break off Gnarabup on Saturday morning with lifeguard Mick Short and soon found himself paddling over waves he estimated to be "about 18 feet".
"There were some crazy waves being ridden," Ord said.
"John 'Duttsy' Dutton fell on a big one, ripped out his leg rope plug, swam to shore, repaired his board and paddled back out in the afternoon great effort that one."
There was also an as yet unsubstantiated report of a large great white shark circling surfers at Gnarabup later that day.
Sunday proved slightly smaller but cleaner and the week continues to look promising for surfers.
US website Surfline nominated Margaret River for its monthly "Best Bet" feature for August, predicting a month of large, clean surf conditions.