Big Wave News
Maroubra's Mark Mathews tackles giant West Oz beast
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 30 June, 2009 : - - Last
week in Western Australia Mark Mathews surely rode one of the heaviest
waves ever ridden in Aussie waters. Mark (26/Maroubra) made it,
thankfully..
Film maker Tim Bonython tells the story of this epic session:
After get just getting back & recuperating from epic filming
trip at Choppes in Tahiti. I glazed onto the LOLA swell map that shows
a storm that has a spread as big as half the planet. Not so much a
monster super storm but a storm that grew from below South Africa that
continued to mutate across the Indian Ocean that went from Pakistan all
the way to New Zealand. And right in the middle of its path was my new
favorite new spot on the globe, the Right - right in the middle of its
path!
So as per usual I was hot on the phone to all the usual
suspects & all of them were all eying off the potential. Great
minds think alike! So after a late night booking to Perth we were all
on morning flights to WA. Cars & skis were picked up and we were
on our way. After a 10-hour drive we arrive to our destination &
tuck in semi early so we could be ready at first light.
Up at 5 am, its dark & cold - there is still a bit of rain
about but there are plenty of clear spots. Skis are loaded up, tanks
were full & we are on our way. The crew consisted of Mark Mathews
the admiral, Ryan Hipwood the captain and Richie the ultimate warrior
plus myself & great surf photographer Andrew Buckley as acting as
press, set out though a mind field of bombora's to our ultimate
destination.
On our way out eyes are searching for rouge waves that seem to
lift & feather out of nowhere - but all seems ok especially with
rainbows & the whale that cruised past us as we got closer. The
winds are from the right direction - the sun is out & the ocean is
well and truly alive. We pull up & there is Paul Patterson and
Alfie Cater in the line up with body board ledge Mitch Rawlins. Then
Mark Visser & Brazilian Pato Teixeira.
IT'S ON!
Richie drops into some bombs & he doesn't take long to
adjust although the wave at one time did have its on way without mercy
& let him know who is boss. Paul Patterson & Alfie get a
couple. Antman got a sick one. Hippo who has never surfed the wave gets
his turn. Finding the challenging wave incredibly fast & so was his
quad finned board. He was working on his speed, wanting to get deeper.
In the line up there was some crazy jet ski/wake boarder -
drops into a big one & almost collects Mitch as he gets towed into
a monster. That was pretty heavy as he & his ski was so close to
going over it reminding me of the Riamana Teahupo'o jet incident. God
knows how he would end up if that had happen. Although it would have
made some crazy vision!
Mark was as always waiting for the optimum moment after he
spent the first hour & a half towing in Richie & Hippo the wind
had actually turned into a semi strong West north west which made it a
choppy side shore. But as soon as Mark took the rope a bomb came
through that sucked any lump off the face. He makes it look so good,
perfect big wave style. If it's the bomb of the day he will make look
so.
The two negatives were the wind that blew spray into my lens
& the inconsistency. There such big gaps between ridable sets due
to the fact the swell came from a long distance away. By lunchtime
photographer Russel Ord & couple of the tow teams headed back. We
too were thinking of it but I am glad we didn't cause the bombs were
bigger in the arvo.
In that time Mark picked up two of the best bombs one was
massive, thick as the size of it. Like I recon a 25-foot face. It had
XXL all over it! Richie also got a couple. By 4 pm a big black front
appeared in the west with plenty of rain attached so we decided to pack
everything up and end the session. It was truly a memorable day &
one for the records. Classic to think that this place is just starting
to get documented.
Day two we started early but the ocean was in between two new
swells. The boys decided to go to a different spot a place that can be
filmed from the beach.
In transit driving to the spot I got well
and truly bogged. Stuck out in the sticks for hours. The two things I
had going for me (5 kilometers away from civilization) , was I got a
mobile phone signal & the second thing was the local sea rescue
bloke Alec had a big new tractor that could put me out. By the time I
got out I missed the best part of the day. And worst thing of all was I
missed some serious action. That kind of stuff kills me.
Day three it was perfect off shore but too small for the right
but there were a couple of rouge bombs at the left early but it wasn't
enough for the boys so we packed up & headed back to Perth.
FOR the RIGHT reasons - WE'LL BE BACK!-
The Right - WA June 09 'For all - the RIGHT reasons' from Tim Bonython Productions on Vimeo.
Tim Bonython/ASMF 09.Mark Mathews tells his story:
I had been out for 6 hours before I got this wave. It had been
really slow all day and i hadn't had any good ones yet. Then this
mountain just blacked out the horizon. I got tingles (goose bumps) all
over as soon as i saw it. I looked up at Hippo (Ryan Hipwood) who was
on the ski and he didn't even smile he just said "this things huge."
It actually wasn't my turn when this wave came. It was Mitch
Rawlin's go. He's the craziest lid rider i've ever surfed with. He's
ridden then biggest waves at this break i have ever seen. His partner
started towing him in. They took a more straight on line into the wave
coming from directly behind to avoid the bumps you hit if you come
across from the left.
I didn't really even think, i just yelled out to Hippo go go!
ill go behind him! Hippo just took off. We were coming into the wave
from left to right and Rawlin's and his driver were coming straight in
behind the wave. It put me on the inside and i thought id just try and
pull into the barrel behind Mitch and we'd both get barreled and make
it out. Ive done this before a couple of times but on way smaller
waves. Hippo was yelling out to them go go go!
Luckily for me, Mitch didn't end up going. He said after that
he wasn't in a real good position so he just let me go (owe you one!).
The wave sucked so hard off the reef that i don't think that we both
could of ridden different lines without colliding. In this shot i've
got the full wing span going, just trying not to get sucked up the face
and into that lip above my head.
It was really hard to read the wave at this point. Once a wave
gets over 1o - 12ft, you can't really see the top of the wave in you
peripheral vision. You have have to really turn your head and look up
to be able to see what's going to happen next. I was way to scared of
falling to turn and look up at the top of the wave here. there was
still so much water sucking of the reef.
I just kept my eyes right in front of me and hoped the corner
of the barrel wasn't about to lip me in the head. Luckily it didn't! I
think it was about here that i could here the boys screaming in the
channel. Big barrels feel like they are alive. They suck all the air
inside. Thats what surfers mean when they say they felt the wave take a
breath.
This is the moment that you just don't want too end you feel
like your surrounded by the whole ocean. All the hard work is done. The
air has no where left to go and just gets spat out into the channel,
taking you with it. This is the feeling that keeps coming back over and
over and over again.
This all happened in about 10 or 15 sec!
Check the Full Sequence
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