Brad Hampson and Brian Cunningham at work in one of the seasons first NE and some small waves, looking very summery though!

Short answer Canon 300mm f2.8 IS USM II, with a 1.4 series III Extender, on a 5D3, which gives a reach of 420mm @F4.

Additional info, most of the shots are at F4, I shot using TV (shutter speed) and set at 1/1600th, so the buckets and every drop is frozen and sharp. Sometimes there was enough light and the camera adjusted the Aperture to 6.3/7.1 and even one shot was F9.
You'll be able to get shots at F5.6 and 1/1600th on bright days no problems, but on overcast days you will not, fast glass is the answer. I used a monopod on all these shots, with the lens IS set to IS option 2, centre focal point only, so I have to follow the rider and make sure the centre point is on them and then shoot. I hardly get any badly OOF shots, most are keeper quality, but of course not every shot has the rider and the water blinging! :-)
Leo's "office" video was shot on this lens too. All functions of the lens work with series II telephoto primes a series III extenders. The EF 100-400 will give you great results, AND has IS, whereas the 400 f5.6 has no image stabilisation, not ideal for shooting hand held and at slower than 1/1000th shutter speeds, and the slower the shutter speed the more your images will suffer from blur, unless you always use a very sturdy tripod. I've owned a 100-400, really rate it, only sold it to fund purchase of the telephoto primes I've managed to find second hand.

Great shots Steve!

Nuking said..

I've been using the 100-400mm for a few years also and is the best lens in my bag. I have it on a 50D which doesn't track as well as the 5D and I do get some OOF when shooting at the K due to difference in contrast in the background.
I highly rate this lens for the versatility in having a zoom with minimal sacrifice. I've tried primes but wasn't for me as frustrated from missing shots that were too close.
Nice shots Steve. Looks as if they are kiting just of Jibbon.

If you can select a single focus point on the 50D try that for shooting action, also helps if you can separate the metering and focus from the shutter, which I've done on my 7D and 5D3, this will eliminate most of the OOF shots. If you don't understand google custom functions for your camera and see if you can split the metering and focus off the shutter button, otherwise each time you press the shutter, your camera is very busy trying to meter and focus, and things like the waters surface on a wave in front will grab the focus.
These shots were taken right on the waters edge in front of the Elouera surf club, the angle and the lens compression make it look like they were shot a lot further south or something.
These tips, including shooting as close to the water as possible were given to me by Patrick Rebstock last summer, and I've been shooting and learning since.
When you use primes your legs are the zoom! Primes, especially Canon's L telephotos are just the best for sharpness and color contrast, for shorter work I'm using zooms a lot, but for surf and kitesurf as well as birds, the large aperture primes rule for me, because I can shoot at high shutter speeds, at low ISO and poor light and still be able to freeze the action.

that link isn't working for me Steve.
i am using a crop sensor dslr (canon 60d), will the 1.4 extender and 100-400mm lens work well with this combo???
cheers.

Far out, took me a while to find you on Facebook! lol.