Surf’s up at ICMS

Surfers need look no further than the International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS) as the best place to combine a career-focused higher education with surfing some of the best waves in Australia.

Award-winning higher education institution ICMS, located in Northern Beaches, NSW, Sydney, overlooks Manly Beach, rated by Trip Advisor in 2018 as the best beach in Australia. Besides Manly Beach, there are eight other beaches within walking distance of campus.

“The Northern Beaches has some of the best breaks in Sydney. There are 17 main beach breaks and also a variety of other reef and point breaks,” ICMS Surf Club President Riley Cadman said.

“The temperature of the water along the beaches differs depending on the season,” he added. “We are extremely spoilt with warm water during the summer but throughout the other seasons wetsuits are needed for the colder water.”

The ICMS Surf Club welcomes all students who not only want to study a degree that will get them #alreadyhired before graduation, but who also want to get in the water before, after or between lectures to ride epic waves.

“There is a positive surf culture here at ICMS. We (ICMS Surf Club) are a fun group of students, ranging from beginners to advanced, who aim to have as much fun in the water as possible and share the love of surfing,” Cadman said.

Manly beach is a beach break and the quality of waves depends on the swell direction, wind and tides. According to specialist surfing site Covered Summer, Manly is one of the best known surfing spots in Australia and the world. Manly Beach stretches 1.3 kilometres from Fairy Bower on the southern headland to Queenscliff.

Facing directly east, it is one of the most consistent breaks in Sydney on a northeasterly or easterly swell, and one of the few city beaches that handles southerly winds well.

“North Steyne and Queenscliff produce high quality waves when all these factors are aligned. These two breaks are the most popular breaks on the stretch of sand as they provide the best waves, although both get very crowded,” Cadman said.

There are three main breaks on Fairy Bower headland: Winki, Bower and Deadmans.

Bower is the first break on the point and a very popular right hander that runs for about 100-150 meters. It works best on an east or north east swell and is suitable for surfers of all levels of skill.

Winki is the second break further out. As a hollow reef break it works best on a bigger swell and, said Cadman, “it is an incredible tube when it’s working”. This break is best suited for advanced surfers.

Only very experienced surfers should attempt Deadmans, the furthest break which is positioned in front of the cliff. This needs a big swell to break and is very dangerous, Cadman cautioned.

For competitive students, the ICMS Surf Club selects a team to compete in events such as the 2018 UniSports Nationals Div 1 – Surfing competition, which took place at Cabarita point. This was the fourth year that ICMS has been represented on the waves at the competiton which used to be known as the University Games, competing against universities across Australia.

In 2017, ICMS won the teams challenge, Riley Cadman won the long boarding, Tom Bennett was awarded “the best and fairest”, Rohan Fell earned bronze in longboarding and ICMS placed 2nd overall. In 2018, Riley Cadman placed 3rd in the shortboard event and Tom Bennett has also won the long boarding event in previous years.

“We have been very successful in the past at this level of competition and we have enjoyed many achievements for such a small club,” Cadman said.

The ICMS Surf Club is also active in the community and competed in the Lifeline Classic in April last year. The students raised $3000 for mental health and came away with a narrow second place with very tough competition. Riley Cadman, Rohan Fell, Jordan Tremlett and Tom Bennett represented ICMS in this charity event.

“We will be competing in the 2019 Lifeline Classic event and hoping to raise more money!” Cadman said.

Surfers and spectators are also treated to an annual show of surfing excellence as Manly Beach will once again play host to world surfing’s elite when the Vissla Sydney Surf Pro returns from the 16 – 24 March 2019.

The World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS) 6,000 rated event will feature some of the world’s best surfers as they look to launch their 2019 competitive campaigns before the start of the 2019 Championship Tour (CT).

“This is quite a big event for the World Qualifying Series and one of the bigger ones in Australia,” Cadman said.

“Some of the world’s best surfers will be competing in this event and staying in Manly for the week. This is a very exciting event for the surfing community as well as the local community due to the event bringing thousands of visitors and tourists to Manly.”

*Nine out of ten ICMS students graduate with a job in their field, according to the latest Internal Graduate Survey (2018).

For more information on ICMS, click here: https://www.icms.edu.au

Further sources: https://www.coveredsummer.com.au/surf-breaks/; and https://sydneysurfpro.com

Photo: Sprout Daily