Hydraulic power show goes off Down Under
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One place not to be is at the foot of this wave having lost control and the reef barely a metre away. Kerby Brown managed all this, came away with some torn shoulder muscles and some photographic evidence to support his claim to the top spot at the next awards.
Not only that, getting to that spot off the SW coast of Australia is a tricky enough affair. Photographer Andrew Buckley said, “It’s a half hour ski ride and there’s bombies (large waves similar to the one ridden) everywhere and it has to be big to break…massive…so you’re pounding through swell and wind.”
Like the spot near Tafelberg off SA, this place is unknown and only breaks when the conditions are right and heavy. Although with six tow teams there that day, one suspects it won't remain a secret for too long.
The ride and unique shape of the wave makes it a front-runner for the Oakley Surfing Life Big Wave Awards, for the biggest waves ridden in Australian and NZ waters until 1st Feb 2009.
Another big wave competition website now open for business is the annual Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards, already bursting at the seams with rides from Grant 'Twiggy' Baker and Greg Long for a particularly long tube ride. If the competition is anything like last year's, we're in for some big mommas.
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Hydraulic power show goes off Down Under (text) by Steph Pomphrey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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