Yamba's favourite tiler downed tools last week and placed himself in the path of the biggest swell to hit Fiji in many years. Helped along by his sponsor needESSENTIALS, Laurie flew over with mates Dan Ross, Nav Fox and filmer Gary Parker.
There'll be a longer clip released next week but here's a teaser: Laurie knifing in late from way up the reef as the channel salutes his bravura.
Go fullscreen for the full chicken skin effect.
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Comments
That drop....
*applause*
Chicken skin alright, would love to have seen the footage of him turn and paddle into take off too.
The lateness but total casualness and style reminds me off that drop by Andy at Chopes only bigger. Epic Mr. Towner.
Total mastery.
Sick drop to ridiculous pit - all the while looking casual as you like. Awesome ride.
Epic!
Yes Epic
But to add to it Dear Old Dad was in channel watching...unfucking real
Best footage of the Ramon swell Ive seen so far....epic ride.
Shit the bed!
Watching that takeoff in slo motion, playing with it and the end too.
Saw him surf his area on a solid day and was another level to the local shredders.
He is someone to click and watch, not enough.
Good to see he has a sponsor. When his edit dropped around bells time I could not tell you who itallio rode for but knew in a heartbeat who Towners previous sponsor was. Maybe the bean counters at the bong need to reassess.
Given Need Essential helped out Laurie I'll give them a plug. I bought a wettie for cold water surfing off them two years ago cause it was so low cost I thought I could not go far wrong if it was not that good and to my surprise it is the warmest, best wetsuit I have ever owned. Being my first chest zip it is hard to get off with cold hands but that is to be expected. Lots of black neoprene with no nylon on the back is nice as the sun hits that and warms up well. Last winter I was sure global warming had hit my area as I was not feeling the cold in the water. Then one day I checked out the sea temperature data and realised it was the wetsuit!
Second that frog. I got mine last week. Used it once and it was great. Love the zero branding and lack of tags/stickers that just end up in a bin. First suit with an in-built hood and I love it, even if I feel like a goose in it and nearly have a panic attack trying to get out of it at the end of a session.
just had a look at web site, quite reasonable prices
Advertising is about association and NeedEssential have hit the jackpot here. To associate themselves with someone like Laurie Towner doing shit like this is going to boost their bottom line bigtime!!! Maybe the big players in the industry need to take note that it's not only individuals on the WSL tour that sell product!!! Be interesting to see the stats on how many hits they had on their webpage after this article. I'm off to buy a 6/5/4!!
Laurie at Cloudbreak in 2010 and a different outcome to the wave above.
But then he was only riding a 6'8"...
Apparently he was only on a 8'2 during the Ramon Swell - according to Dylan Longbottom's insta:
Full commitment on an ugly entry!
Not to mention the conditions, them totally different variables, that could maybe make a difference to them degrees of difficulty then but... even in the desert. But then...
Showing how its done Lozza style !
Backhanding is very difficult in tubes at size so that makes it even more incredible a ride.
That takeoff is super insane, the smaller board helped go late and deep inside the takeoff zone. Benefits of a sensitive gun in critical waves. Great combination of surfer n his shaper schooling the world where its at .
Which board is he riding ..A Dylan Shape or the Borrowed FCD ?
Dylan on his insta says it's an 8'2 Big Gun model.
Hmm... an 8'6 gets mentioned elsewhere...
With the adrenaline pumping after a ride like that followed by a round of applause by the whole lineup of paddlers on the paddle back, he would have felt on top of the world.
Can't think of a better wave I've seen surfed than this one.
Itching to see the paddle in ...in Full...Mr Bonython what footage you got ?
Any Drones out there at all for this swell ?
Tim was further down the line when Laurie took off. He missed the drop but got the rest.
A deep inside /outsider wave and thickened lip just peels off perfectly without a flaw . Lozza seems to be way inside of the crew and thats one of the reason it was such a freaking sick ride .
Also takes a lot of skill and some risks involved to be in that heavy zone outside / insider.
Some nice words from Loz to All on his insta
Fuck he’s taken off deep hasn’t he
Risk = reward there goofyfoot
gotta risk it to get da biscuit
Wow, smooth as dropping from the lip no wobble epic drop
"'On Monday there were some absolutely perfect ones coming through, it was sort of 12, maybe 15 foot on the sets, still hitting that ledge, and there was a couple of nuts ones. Laurie Towner was absolutely ripping. On the big day he actually let me have a really nice one. He was towing into it and he pulled back, because he saw me paddling and shouted for me to go which was cool. He was a real standout, as was Nathan Florence."'
https://www.wavelengthmag.com/tom-lowe-xxl-cloudbreak/
Cracker photo of Laurie!
That looks real angry behind him too.....good shot.
Great pic insane.
Next stop Puerto Escondido please Mr Needs..
yeah MR Needs........
https://instagram.com/p/Bjkhc7IHHi-/
Kohl Christenson talking about if it’s possible to paddle into one of “those” waves in Fiji. Good comments from those in the know too.
From GF's link, Kelly explains why he sat out the 2012 swell.
"With a ski. Only way imo. Great description. I had just waxed up a new board and put a float vest one when I saw that set (and the next couple) roll thru that nobody rode. I put my board down and decided I just wasn’t prepared to die that day and had a beer. Those were the best waves I’ll likely ever see break in the ocean during my lifetime."
Even GOAT’s get scared
Even GOAT’s get scared
I agree with Fitz - I want to see the 8-10 seconds before they take the drop. Just watching them get in position and then paddle in would be unreal. Way more context for the drop itself, if not for the whole wave. Doing it from the drop onwards misses half of it.
Wave surfing with laurie towner film by gary parker april 2018....
Thats a really sweet clip.....especially the tandem longboarding.....
Laurie Towner mega late takeoff at cloudbreak photo; is steep and deep!
What a takeoff that is , big and steep. He could paddle "the right" his positioning is so perfect