Watch: The best of Cloudbreak
Following on from a longstanding tradition started just last week, the recent swell at Cloudbreak shall henceforth be known as 'The Ramon Swell'.
Aside from Ramon, many other surfers felled a beast at CB, and though they're not named in this vid I can see Luke Sheppardson (surely the best paddle in of the swell - green wetty second wave), Kohl Christenson, Laurie Towner, the 2019 injury wildcard recipient, Zac Haynes, Makuakai Rothman, and of course Ramon.
Not sure who old mate doing the paddle in air drop, and sticking it, at 2:17 is but he deserves to be named.
Comments
Mental.
The Ramon wave and one other (Makua’s?) are a world apart from the rest. They’re all beasts but those two stand out for sheer size and volume
read this on the surfer mag forums, bloke named Rickoray put up an epic first hand account of sizey cloudbreak. Love reading stuff like this, really highlights the difference between a weekend warrior (myself) and someone willing to go all in;
"Early 90's I was a boatman on Tavi... about 2 months into my 4 month trip a large size swell hit. Them days there were no ski's, if you put yourself in a situation you had to get yourself out.
First light we loaded up two boats with a bunch of eager surfers. Once we pulled up those eager surfers turned hungry for breakfast... we did a shuffle of surfers so one boat could go back with guys that wanted no part of it. I stayed with the crew that wanted to surf. We watched it for a good 20 mins and a couple guys decided to give it a go. I jumped in with them.
My fitness was high and my surf confidence was as well. The guests followed me into the line up. We sat spread out to be able to cover ground for the shifting line up on the outside shelf. I had surfed a ton of 8' foot plus days out there but very few over 10' foot. The first wave of a solid 12'+ set came around the corner right to me. All the guests were screaming at me to GO! The wave capped and about 3-4' of white water was rolling on a mellow sloped face... I thought perfect, this will be an easy chip shot in... as the white water hit me my hand slipped off the rail so belly rode for a fair bit longer than I planned I had to reset my getting to my feet. As I popped to my feet the bottom dropped out of the wave so i kicked my board away and tried to land feet first to go deep to let the wave pass me by.
No luck... I skipped once and body surfed in a sitting position looking at a monster wall stretch out... then got sucked up the face still looking out the huge cave. Time stood still and I remember getting a good breath and thinking dive deep... The lip hit well in front of my dive and I didn't get rag-dolled or anything... I just went down deep... still going down I cleared my ears and finally came to rest. Looking up I was easy 25' feet under water... I was a couple feet from the reef which was completely flat. It was surreal to look up at my 7'6" gun straight above me about 1/2 to the surface. I started climbing my leash and grabbed my tail about the time my board hit the surface. I popped up with about 2 feet of froth on the surface... sat on my board and watched the next wave barrel down the reef... I told myself to relax and stay calm... I got about 5 big breaths before the next whitewater got to me. I slipped off my board and swam down as deep as I could... with open eyes I could see the white water coming fast... I was below the turbulence but the energy of the wave pushed me with a crazy amount of force... my leashed was stretching and I didn't want to try to climb it because I figured the leash would break... getting to surface after the second wave was a challenge and I felt panic creep in.... I couldn't get to my board before the third whitewater hit and I couldn't dive deep enough to get under the whitewater... this one thrashed me around and I couldn't tell which way was up and I was starting to run out of air... I decide to climb my leash but it didn't really help much I was just getting pushed in... I got to my board and figured it was best not to bail on the next whitewater... the fourth wave's whitewater hit me with force but wasn't more than 5-6' feet. I just held on with all my energy I had left and popped out in front of it and rode it as far as I could... I was up the reef from the tower laying on my belly completely exhausted knowing I had to paddle back around to the channel. It took me around 45 mins to get back to the boat and by that time everyone was in the boat and had given up on trying to catch anything. I could barely climb back in the boat. I didn't say much as I didn't want to let on how panicked and scared I was... a couple of the guests saw me go though the cycle but didn't think I was in trouble. I will never forget the fijian boat driver look me in the eye with crazy eyes and yell as loud as he could with a wild laugh... "Cloudbreak, YOU CAN DIE!!!" The rides that are posting up make it look doable but knowing what could and would happen if you made a mistake... I would sit in the boat, take pictures and mind surf!"
"I told myself relax and stay calm" .... you be Yoda to pull that off.
Rickoray is a fiction writer
Jesus that was heavy.
Sheeessh.....That made my stomach turn. I liked the fact they showed it warts and all - with the half half make to fall ratio. Snaps you out of that "Yea....maybe I could have a dig at that size..." mentality. As did that awesome writing. Having copped a piffling 8 foot clean up set on the head and done "the tour" the thought of those things detonating in front of me is ugly!
You can't help but hoot and scream from the safety of the keyboard. Insane!
"Following on from a longstanding tradition started just last week, the recent swell at Cloudbreak shall henceforth be known as 'The Ramon Swell'. "
Had a good laugh reading this Stu.
It sits alongside the Dandandan Swell of...what year was it?
They'll never be forgotten.
I had a chuckle too :)
Pittsy, that about sums up Cloudbreak, it can be the wave of your life or the worst wipe out you can imagine.... i had a similar experience some 10 years ago...... climb that leggy mate and guess what, you shit yourself when you realize you're climbing sideways or worse to the bottom because your board is lower than you are.... f'ing scary... but can also be so rewarding.
I'm to old for that shit now, give me 4ft....
Who is that at 1:46? That thing is horrendous!
Makua Rothman ?
Full Screen at 1/4 speed shows just how Fuckin Evil it was...Double cartwheel or more ..faark !
Wonder what old mate was thinking as that stray board disrupted proceedings.
That takeoff at 2:20 is one of the best things I’ve ever seen!
Yes 2:17 , i would love to see footage from further inside or from front on . Almost looked like he may have made the wave , atleast the first section anyway . Anyway want to interview Makua and Nathan Fletcher? and ask who had the heaviest wipeout ? Rothman at CB or Fletch at Chopes .?
Wait a few days for Makua.
Surfline has Makua interview up .
No shortage of controversy , especially in the comments .
Wonder what old mates was thinking as that stray board ruined one of the best moments of his life.
Yeah you’d be devastated huh
Yeah at 2 min crazy.
Slow mo at 2:53 - 2 bail one maybe both get sucked over..
Horrible.
So there was only those two super thick ones come through, watching those come down the reef must have been an OH NO whats next moment.
Rather watch this than the tour all day long, more please........Giddyup
Just mesmerising...kudos to everyone involved
Where is Kelly? Did he surf?
1: 10 frog
Amazing vid - absolute freight trains. Loved watching this on Ramon as well - makes me stoked for the bloke based on where he's come from. Check this video out on where he's come from, huey smiling down on him for sure!
They're all MAD!
saismiley 808 insta
A pit filmed from a Drone and a Hell ride that Tim Bonython filmed.
I think Dan Ross may have Ridden one of the Biggest Waves ....A Monster
Shit he didn't get me but thats because I wasn't there. Sick waves respect to all who were out there.
This one..
Yep thats the one.