How time flies. It’s been 142 days since we last slid a Telo trip report into your in-tray! Thanks for allowing us to drop you a line occasionally, and we hope these transmissions  help brighten your days in 2023.

Wave wise, it’s generally been a mellow start to the season, with enough swell for us to call upon a number of our favourite breaks. Dropping anchor off Kindys, Max’s Left, The E.R and Le Ba is like running into a good friend you haven’t seen in a while.

Speaking of good friends, here’s a dozen stellar humans we’ve had the good fortune to take surfing over the last couple of weeks.

Bruno Graatz: Hailing from New Caledonia, and blessed with a smooth surfing style, Bruno’s infectious positivity and sense of humour made every surf session a thing of laughter and good vibes – especially on his birthday!

Daisuke Ichiki: Also from New Cal, by way of Japan, Daisuke ripped, and was always frothing for a surf – even when the waves were small. Whether waves or post-surf beers, it doesn’t take much to give this fella a buzz!

Fred Cesa: Third member of the brilliant New Cal posse, wave magnet extraordinaire, taking special joy in mugging for the camera. Never a dull moment when Fred’s up and riding!

Sebastian Remoissonnet: From – yep, you guessed it – New Caledonia. Seb’s extremely patient in the water, putting quality over quantity, and always sitting in the right spot for the bomb sets. Seb also celebrated his birthday with us.

Tim Has: Hailing from Holland, Tim slotted in seamlessly with the guest group, and had the happy knack of finding the purest speed lines at any break he surfed – all set up with an enviable bottom turn.

And that was it for Trip One. With birthday bonfires and an exuberant cast of characters, we couldn’t think of a better way to kick off the season.

Trip two saw the Indian Ocean take a breather, and deliver mellow, longboard/fish-friendly sessions. No complaints from our guest group, an all-star (in some cases, quite literally) cast from California, ably supported by a few Aussies from Victoria. With no further ado:

Rene Acuna and Sofie Howard: Hailing from Venice. The Energiser Bunnies of the group!: Forever smiling, laughing and most of all, absolutely pumped to go surfing.

David and Laura Doss-Hertz: David’s a multi-skilled architect/inventor who’s designed both the WSL World Champ trophy AND Kelly Slater’s Hawaii beach house, and Laura is one of the kindest people you’ll meet, with a surfing style that makes you smile.

John Philbin: John’s an absolute gem. And, look. We promised ourselves we going to be cool about this, but too bad … People, it is our honour to announce that actor John played the role of  – wait for it – TURTLE in the seminal 1987 surf film “North Shore”. It’d be too cheesy to pull out our favourite Turtle quote from the film, but if we did, it’d probably be “Nobody listens to Turtle.” Cheers John!

Matt Adler: Wait … hang on! As surf film buffs will know, ‘North Shore’ cruiser Turtle became fast friends with Rick Kane, the central character of ‘North Shore’. Turns out, Matt, (who plays Rick Kane) and John have been best of friends ever since that film. Matt – a thoughtful fella who rips by the way – and John kept us all entertained by their fun banter.

Andrew and Carolyn Carrington. A beautiful Aussie couple from Victoria: Andy’s a laid back fella who rips the best and biggest waves every session. Carol – who owns an organic store – wasn’t surfing but had a wonderful time relaxing, doing yoga, getting a massage every day and exploring the rockpools.

And that’s it for our first delightful dozen guests for 2023. Here’s a few more snaps from both trips, shot by one of our EPIC new photographers, Elise Thompson. (Give her a follow at @elise.thompson2).  It was an absolute pleasure having you here guys! Aperol!!! (If you know, you know.)

And finally, the Pinnacles “with friends like these…” award goes to Daisuke (foreground), for cheering Bruno’s graceful dismount with unabashed glee. Well played all!