I heart WOTD
Good work by Neil Wackett (legend) in todays Wave of the day. And good work Swellnet for spotting him.
No way we could tell. Thank Russ for the ID.
Speaking of, Ordy appears to be making good on his promise never to shoot the Right again. Pumping waves in WA yesterday, the Right was well patronised, yet Russ was surfing around Margs then climbing the hills getting shots.
But ordy doesn't ever shoot unless its really epic at the right .
He is a awesome surfer that wackett
TimB - great photo for WOTD
Full sequence of todays WOTD please?
Looks like he is not afraid to break that thing in half...again!
At least he's got the volume to get into it nice and early...
Hows his body positioning to control it - amazing
Is it same guy that caught the North Av XXL wave early this year?
Yep. Same board too. You can see the fix job from where he snapped it late in that June swell.
thats one of the most amazing surf shots I've ever seen
Amazing alright!
What happened next?
Yeah, it's a crazy shot- wonder if he stuck it?
If that's the 12ft board it is a great sized wave as well, Tuesday morning on the South Coast NSW I assume...picked up some similar sized waves, amazing morning
If that's the 12ft board it is a great sized wave as well, Tuesday morning on the South Coast NSW I assume...picked up some similar sized waves, amazing morning
jeez,i'm gettin' teary.makes me proud to be a longboarder
So how late were the guys on 'regular' equipment taking off? ;-)
Seriously, did he make that. If so, 11/10.
Photog Matt Hipsley said he made it. I tried to call Lachie a few times today but got voicemail.
It's an amazing shot, and such good form to fit that board in that wave, but it just looks wrong on so many levels. :-)
That photo of Lachie is like a metaphor for Gary's life.
Blessed with oversized equipment that he often struggles to pack into the curves available. Long after the cameras stop flashing, Gary has to find somewhere to house that monster stick.
*sigh*
More a blessing than a curse, but Gary understands lachie's struggles.
Floater.
Floater to snap femur combo
Late to the day but I absolutely love today's pic. That wave has so much texture, it looks like a thick resin or gel rather than water. The steps and lumps in it are mind blowing to me. Sometimes I get all spun out and this is one of those times, I'd love to dive into the wave if it could move in slow motion and feel it from underwater just moving around the energy and experience it in totality.
I dunno it's really tripping me out.
Solid commitment from Pete. Beautiful thick shallow beast. Nice photo.
how much distance and speed do they get on that sunset bottom turn. full-on.
Sunset speed is up there with the highest its certainly the fastest ive ever gone with really
fast moving waves giant drops on long spear type boards, on the bottom turns same thing
applies and depends how strong your legs are. Videos and movies just dont do sunset justice
on the power and speed of that wave infact when I was young dumb and just plain stupid
it was easily my favourite wave. Still would be its just I got old and broken.
Yes, the speed you get at Sunset is something special, maybe even unique.
It would have to be more than just the size and power.
This could be yet another topic for analysis for those in the know.
probably the spear type guns made especially for sunset. who made yours evo? How's the heart rate when you are finally -in the zone-
hows the heart rate when surfing mainly north swell and rogue west swell comes out of left field and hammers you!!
was never comfortable out there over 10 foot. Sunset point on small days however is fun.
My heart rate was exploding when west clean up sets poured thru. A lot of the time I paddled
over giant left handers sometimes I would take off on lefts just to get the hell out of there I reakon
it saved my life on a few occasions,its also the place I came the closest to death. Your brain is really
clear and you think survival. I am dammed to know how surfers ride Jaws , Mavs etc there on the next
10 levels to what I was a million years ago.
Great topic fellas. Waaaaaay out of my league but I love imagining it all so cheers for this.
hope you had a leg-rope evo, after a flogging that rip must have caused problems. who was Parrish?
Care to fill us in on the near death Sunset story Evo?
Heh, SN, time for a full article on Sunset. As Evo states, there is a story(s) about this place.
It's unique, I'm sure. A bucket list for all.
Looks like zen has the wave of the day heading for him. :-o
Dunno what there is to say that hasn't already been said TB. Sunset is an 'old world' wave, and I say that with full respect, it's one of my all time fave waves, yet the style of surfing out there was fashionable 40 year ago. Never again will new ground be broken out there the way it is at, say, Jaws, Mavs, or Chopes. Hell, even Waimea has been relegated to second or third tier these days.
The attractions of Sunset: a big shifting lineup, unbridled open-ocean power, and four-to-the-floor speed simply cant be captured by photo or video and so the allure is more intimate. Man vs wave...and who gives a fuck what the rest of the world is doing.
The only new stories out of Sunset would be anonymous surfers pushing their own limits. Not to say that isn't worthy, I'd love to hear Evo's tale, knowing a bit about his past it's sure to be epic, but that's about it. Sunset will never cut across the culture the way it did in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
Yeah, I get what you are saying Stu. I was thinking if there was something special / unusual re the geography which makes this wave so fast, powerful, etc. just as Pipe is an unusual setup. SN has had great articles on bathymetry, etc. For the locals, it's an important place for them in many ways. The local grommets get their feet at that place and as you say, it has a long history and part of folklore.
When you're working with hawaiian groundswell up in the 20s range, the power & speed behind it feels immense. My take is that the 'roll-in' entry just as it lurches provides the real sensation of speed. Its super steep and the only direction you can take is straight down, so you are often forced into a big bottom turn rather than being able to catch a line across the face.
Unique take off at Sunset, you paddle into it and your going over a huge steep ledge and then it feels like you only dropped a few feet and then your on this huge slope where you can set something up, then if all is good the thickest gnarliest section you could imagine is ahead of you and the speed and the noise is incredible.
I haven't had my worst wipeouts there but they have been the longest, imagine getting towed by speed boat 10ft underwater :-))
Sunset is quite exposed to swell and wind. Often both west and north swell operate together forcing a staggering uplifting peak at the apex and the combo of water moving up the face and if wind is strong with bump on face, one effectively gets held in suspension and even if you take those extra strokes and get into it can feel like your driving straight down the face but really only matching the speed of the uplift until it eventually release you into a full bore run down and out in front with a leg burning low bottom turn the only escape.
Hence any other method of trying to angle your take off is usually rewarded with the thrashing of your life.
As Stu says it is a time tested wave that almost demands more serious equipment and an approach that is somewhat old school. The Mr Sunsets of the past have not really been replaced in the same way various Pipe Masters have been. Guts is only part of the amoury required to rise to Sunset.
PS I learnt very early the sheer terror of indecision and inexperience compared pure enjoyment of being a spectator with a bud in hand
I have many memories of the place from the seventies. Lots of great waves but even then it wasn't considered a high performance wave. The progressive surfing was down at Kodak Reef. One of its advantages was that, with those shifting peaks, it couldn't be dominated by a small group. It was the kind of place where, when your wave came, it was absolutely yours. It was also a very respectful crew with very few serious drop ins and minimal aggro. Serious thrashings were inevitable. Sit deep, wait, try to swim up, get thrown back down, hang on, try again, reach the surface and try to get your head high enough above the foam to get a breath to two before the next wave. Then swimming in, no leg ropes in those years, trying to stay out of the rip, then seeing your board floating way out in the rip behind the main peak and trying to swim fast enough to catch it.
the whole line up was snaked for this man to be on that wave
Hahah yes!
Who is it
Morehead. First syllable is interchangeable
Soild effort by Tommy Doyle in todays shot. You don't often see it that big. It looks more like a photos from Sunset Beach than Hollow Trees.
I'm still doing my physio and lots of walking hoping to avoid the knife. All good so far.
Potentially Serious consequences if you blow it at that size.
Good luck with the hips BB.
Fuck surgery.
The photographer of today's Morocco line up sent me this info when I asked about the session:
"It was triple overhead and wally like Bells for the first couple km and then for the rest of the wave it was a mix of super fast, almondy tubes mixed with whackable sections... Day for the memory books, just me and three mates. Current was insane so after we finished the wave we hitch hiked back up the road to paddle out again."
I had a maye who was in morocco couplee years back and sent us a photo of what looks to be this wave except a bit more straight on and up from a higher vantage. Looked better in mates photo. Hollower yet the photo only captured maybe half the wave.
The wave of the day does it for me big time. Nice work Steen Barnes , Shaun Anderson and Swellnet.
In one photo you've encompassed everything nice about surfing. If I was a wanker I'd say that it was perfect except for the fact he is in a wetsuit. Which it is , it's perfect .....except for the fact he's in a wetsuit.