My last two surfs haven't been much to write home about (Ed's note: They never are!). I've lapsed back into thinking far too much and getting worked up by the crowds, when I should just be doing. Still, yesterday, at Sennen Cove, I did manage to suspend the thought processes enough to have one fast and powerful right-hander. It was a foot or two over head high and clobbered me fairly severely when my third turn left me with nowhere to go but into the pitching lip. Before that, it was lovely the way the wall of water sat up ahead of me, making me think "Wouldn't it be good to be on a serious 10-12ft wave, pulling in and racing down the line. In fact, wouldn't it be amazing to ride an even bigger wave than that, something truly outsize. Imagine the speed and adrenaline!" And then I got home and read this account of insane Australian big-wave riding by Cassandra Murnieks. I'll be grateful for the Cove later, when Harry finishes school, at 2-3ft on the push...
Alex ‘Alfy’ Cater knows that big wave surfing is a risky sport, but has that ever stopped him? Even after the big waves of Western Australia nearly claimed his life last month, he is already looking forward to his next epic session. The West Australian has been surfing for 18 years, and six of those have been conquering the big waves. Cater was a finalist at the 2007 Oakley/ASL Big Wave Awards for the biggest wave surfed. He put his life on the line at secret break ‘Cow Bombie’ and caught a monster 40 foot wave. The $30,000AUD prize money ended up going to fellow West Australian Damon Eastaugh. Cater tried his luck recently at a break called ‘Xbox’, but it all went horribly wrong for the dare devil.
The big wave surfer and a small crew who go by the name ‘Homegrown Maniacs’ (www.homegrownmaniacs.com) had been tracking the swell for a week. After discovering a massive storm had formed off the coast of South Africa and was making its way towards Western Australia, they knew that they were going to get some big waves.
waves measuring up to 35 feet breaking 4kms from shore, Cater and his
tow partner Jeremy ‘Eagles’ Eagleton decided to check out what could be
possibly the biggest waves of the year. Hoping to get a dose of
adrenalin and possibly break a world record in the process, they were
soon in trouble. With a massive set on the way, Eagleton tried to start
the jetski to tow Cater into the wave of the morning, but the jetski
wouldn’t start.
They had just a couple of seconds to try and secure a tow rope to
the second jet ski before certain disaster and possible death descended
on them. After nearly pulling it off, a 30 foot wave smashed through
and Cater was sucked over the wave and without any warning, another two
monster waves rolled through, and Cater came close to drowning.
“I
had reached a point where I gave up and thought that I was dead,” Cater
said. “When I finally came up, I was seeing stars and couldn’t focus on
anything. That was the heaviest situation I have ever been in.” With
one jetski completely demolished, and the men stranded 4kms offshore in
huge seas, help wasn’t an immediate option. It would have been at least
a 4 hour wait for a rescue operation to take place.
The other
jetski was fortunately still working, and they mentioned to get back
onto shore. The injury count was only one small cut, a blue bottle
sting and a $13,000 jetski. For Cater, this wasn’t his first close call
with a big wave.
‘Cyclops’, another wild and wicked break in
Western Australia also nearly claimed his life. The wave isn’t as big
as ‘Xbox’, but it’s still a thick wave and breaks on a dry barnacle
rock ledge. When you think of big wave surfing, one would think of
Hawaii and South Africa, but Australia is steadily becoming the next
destination to visit for big wave surfers.
Big wave surfing in
Australia is mostly prominent in Western Australia, and a lot of the
breaks are kept under secret by the locals. “The big wave deal in
Australia is a weird one,” Cater said. “We have some of the best in the
world here and especially in WA, with guys like Damon Eastaugh and
Damien Warr who are constantly pushing the boundaries.
“Big wave
surfing is still a bit of a new thing in Australia and is slowly
growing.... A lot of these guys do it off their own back and not for
the money. Big companies are now getting involved with big wave surfing
as they can see that it is a legitimate sport and creating some major
attention.”
Pictures by kind courtesy of Homegrown Manaics
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