There are way too many highlights to list, but I'm gonna call Nathan Bartlett's 12:45 near make as the climax of the clip. An incredible wave only marginallly reduced by a wipeout.
We can only imagine his view as he comes through the foamball, the wave pitches again yet he's slightly too high and the next section reels away hollow and makeable. A huge effort.
"That board felt like the starting point for a new life."
The inner mechanics of Russell's mind.
Sniffing out the bounty on land and at sea.
From a day with a low wave count yet high consequence.
Like a hundred social media clips joined together but not on social media.
Seeking darkness on a sunny day.
And Matahi lifts the bar yet again.
Bite size humans in king size waves.
Comments
Serious waves with serious consequences. Make it and your overwhelmed with joy blow it and you get worst beating in your life. Heavy waves wherever you call it.
Loved the pull back pussies comment. It looked pretty wild around 11:10 with everyone bailing their boards, no wonder the Hawaiians are wearing gaths again. Good to see the locals like Morgs, nathan and byron and russ charging.
@ 11.10 clean up set people bailing 10' 0s everywhere
Tim is that LT in the background saying cmon go someone ?
if you dont want a crowd on it, why promote the shit outa it?
+1000
Nathan Bartlett definitely MVP! What a day he had...
S.A sounded pretty frustrated, cant blame him though it seems like every clip of that joint is more crowded than the last.
just did a bit of research on SA. he is next level on how he paddles big waves. no bouyancy, and no ski... check out this podcast on him describing his wipeout at the right. only one trying to paddle it. hats of to him.. definitely inspired me..
https://www.diariesofthewildones.com/episode-42-fearless-shane-ackerman
Good to see the lidders giving it a crack.
Shane A not holding back.
I cannot think of a better way to wake up in the morning really...
Great vision.
Incredible footage and surfing. Well done guys.
That last part with SA and Russ B was hilarious. You could tell that RB was spewing, but he's so mellow and humble and seemed to be fighting to not show his resentment.
I'm still curious about the right. You could see a few skis parked over there, and it's obviously surfed. Stu said it was less hollow, and more of a big drop. No wall? (Interesting comment from Russel B btw re this swell and the lack of wall. Some different shooting angles would be really good, just to get an idea of the wave).
Re the right, have towed out there many years ago, from memory you got caught by the next wave pushing wider even if you made the wave goin right
Yeah you can the surf the right IB, but it has nothing on the left, little bit like going to black rock to surf the right, you can do it, but its not what you go there for, the left is so much better. The right breaks into deep water much quicker, so a much shorter ride. Been a good 30yrs since I surfed it, this was before the days of skis and boats, paddle out all the way from shore and paddle to catch waves.
Thirty years, eh?
If you can talk about it, what was the feeling when it was first exposed it to the world under the Hammerheads pseudonym?
A bit longer than 30yrs ago the first time Stu. There was a different name for it back then, but I did hear about the "Hammerhead" title. The first time I seen it exposed was around 'the mid or late nineties or thereabouts, I think it was some of Ganey's footage. Surprise and a bit of shock at first seeing it exposed. However the world we have come to live in has seen many spots exposed, it was probably just a matter of time. Back then no one used to surf it, it wasn't considered a wave you would hunt, you probably know the area, there's so many choices for good waves, we used to surf the other big wave spot on the big swells, we never went out that bombie when it was as big as in this vid, back then there was no need to or inclination really, the big wave surfing phenomenon in Australia has grown in leaps and bounds in the last couple of decades.
Cheers, and yeah, know the area fairly well.
Sometimes I think to myself that I should've chased this bommie more, but like you say, there simply wasn't the crowd pressure to drive surfers further afield, especially when the other local big wave spots aren't shabby either.
Amazing that it was called Hammerheads, as on the first day (part1) me and Laurie Towner were about to come in on his boat and BANG, there was small 4/5 foot long Hammerhead swimming past us. I couldn't get to my small B Roll camera quick enough. It actually headed towards the last few guys in the pack. But we didn't think it was big enough to scream shark! So we headed back in..
id only know it as hammerheads. i think was via an old bodyboarding vid or mag.
The old man used to drive us up n down coast in 90's when we were teenagers, we lived 30 mins south of here, first seen it in 93 maybe, I never seen anyone out there
Heard whispers that it was being towed by some locals in early 2000's
Finally had chance in mid 2011 to get out there,not a person anywhere,looked 4-6, probably 6-10!!! But my mate piked it and since it was his car we were forced to go elsewhere for our fix
I know 2 guys were out there last year and when paddling back(well after dark) were both hit from behind by something, about 400m from rocks
They scored it 8-10 empty for halfa til it got too dark after all the skis n cameras booted off after they were offered a lift
I’d love to know who you really are Jamyardy!
You’ve been around for a while and have surfed some impressive waves
As a teenager in the 90's my best and I spent a lot of time in this area. We were boogers and that coastline was a dream with all the rock ledges. We'd watch this wave but never even considered surfing it. Instead, it was just a good indicator of a coming set.
I remember one time asking the local park ranger if anyone surfed it. He chuckled, shaking his head and replied "It's claimed a few!"
A couple of years went by and my mate and I bumped into the same park ranger. He remembered us and said "Y'know that new big wave spot that's been on the cover of all the mags recently..?" and nodded out to sea "You should've seen it. The whole circus was here!"
That must have been 20 years ago.
I've been living in Bali the past 10 years and it's a long while since I've got back there. Yet, I think of that coastline often. Such a beautiful part of the world. White sand, kangaroos on the beaches. Whales and dolphins in the water. A lot of great memories. And current crowds aside, I do enjoy watching footage of this spot.
ohhh yeah bro
good examples of how to, and how not to come across like a knob when talking about the same thing
great clip loved the colours of the wave. so different to the west side
My brother stole a navy map of the south coast from his uni back in 1994 or 95 and this bombie was marked as "breaks heavily" it was about 4 years before we checked it out. If it wasn't so bush fire hazard area and not much work going id love to live there. So many waves but i saw a fatal accident there once on the highway. think he fell asleep at the wheel and had a head on.
I feel for SA. Even more so at a place like that. I cheered when he he spat that out. Some people need it spelled out. Wonder how many more the cameras drew in?
Same here
Notice how many lips were pushed down?
the interviews at the end - I wish every big wave clip had these honest thoughts on it.
yeah great footage, but again absoloutly terrible, unlistenable soundtrack -
cant even call that music.
If you cant do anything decent, then dont do anything at all.
the ocean and surfer sounds are all you need.
resist the robot garbage sounds
I fall asleep watching big wave surfing. Sure there is skill but in the end it's just an adrenaline hit for people who need it and the attention from voyeurs wanting to see the pain. Kind of like formula one and base jumping in salt water.
I love to see skilled surfers reading and working a wave as it unfolds. More art and style. More the true zen of surfing.
And as for the kneeboarder in this vid dropping 10 ft every time without any hope of getting a rail to work -EVER- well, let's just say he could have equally taken a barrel over niagara falls. Same difference. Still, everybody has a choice in how they dislocate their limbs I guess.
Agreed.
Good effort Tim. Thank you, but your choice of tunes?
I've heard rusted out mufflers sound better.
I reckon Tim might have been the full psychedelic raver back in his heyday hence the 'music' that comes with his clips.
How long did everyone else last before they hit mute? Shit soundtrack. Some sick waves for sure but wow that guy at the end made himself look like a macho dick.
Two contrasting interviews. One guy showing the class he is known for both in the water and out. The other guy, not so much.
Who's the balding hero calling people pussies?
Shane Ackerman, absolutely fearless body boarder.
Didn't Tim get a bit of a talking to by the locals down there a few years ago?
Done a lot for the career of Russ though
Be great if everyone pulled back where i surf. Problem is everyone takes off.
the large amount of great whites and tiger sharks in that area doesn't seem to phase the crowd.
What a complete clusterfarck that crowd looked to be. 40 of em on a heavy shifting takeoff, that's worse than Pipe! Imagine having to paddle thru or over them to get in the right spot when you're up.
For every Russ B or Shane A pointing out the obvious about the crowds and the piking out there would be another 25 local surfers just shaking their heads. They're entitled to curse the people who pull back or get in the way, but it is a bit rich to complain abut crowds when your whole schtick has been pushed along by exposing spots and being part of the machine. Some people don't seem to get the reap what you sow message. If you don't want crowds then simply shut up and don't post photos. Just like it used to be.
i live near there , , one thing for sure , yeah the sheep are out of control , plus , spewing the footage out to the masses does not help eather .
fark that first lip push down at 1:14 on SA - thats such a fucked thing to do in waves of that heaviness. forces him to straighten out and nearly cop a big lip in the back. why even paddle for it when you know the person inside is going? hate people like that. may as well drop in at least the wave wasnt wasted and then everyone can see what a true cockhead you are