Friday April 9th 8:30am: A faint pulse of new swell was detected at the Point Nepean waverider buoy around 3am (peak swell periods of 15.4 seconds), but there's not enough size or strength in it to activate the reefs in Torquay. Conditions are perfectly clean with light northerly winds so we've triggered a trip down south to Johanna. Wave heights are only small at Victoria's most reliable swell magnet, but with some luck the banks will have improved from earlier in the week and we'll be able to get underway with the remaining heats of Round 4.

If Johanna doesn't come to the party today, we'll have to reassess the 24hr swell potential of a secondary pulse due to fill into Bass Strait later today, ahead of a slow easing trend throughout Saturday. Winds are expected to pick up from the northwest tomorrow as a cold front advances from the west, so Bells Beach will have clean conditions - it's just a knife-edge call as to whether the new swell will offer enough size for a full day of waves. Let's see what the mid morning call at Johanna brings us. //BEN MATSON