Boiling point - video

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
Swellnet Dispatch

What can look perfect from ground level assumes a diiferent complexion with elevation. Case in point being the drone angle in this clip which captures the boils and steps of a north-west reef.

Comments

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Monday, 21 Aug 2017 at 10:35am

Still looks perfect to me (didn't say easy). You should see the boils, steps and dry rocks we deal with around here :-P

Spuddups's picture
Spuddups's picture
Spuddups Tuesday, 22 Aug 2017 at 10:41am

I concur Island Bay. That wave looks super heavy and dangerous no doubt, but it is pretty much rock free by our standards!

fraser-gordon's picture
fraser-gordon's picture
fraser-gordon Monday, 21 Aug 2017 at 11:08am

Takes some time getting used to that first section.The first real proper one I got out there is still etched in my mind. Such a heavy wave.

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Monday, 21 Aug 2017 at 11:27am

Oh man, that was sick.
That one at about 1:30... freakin nutss

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Monday, 21 Aug 2017 at 11:44am

Love the acid drop second wave. Shame he didn't make the last section.

sunlover199's picture
sunlover199's picture
sunlover199 Monday, 21 Aug 2017 at 12:25pm

Filth, some real surfing for a change, instead a bunch of kiddies doin airs on every wave
and not making the sections

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Monday, 21 Aug 2017 at 1:28pm

People have died surfing this place.

When professional surfers that grew up surfing similar spots to this are getting legs and arms broken , then you know it's a heavy wave.

Indo is cheaper , warmer , easier and with way more chicks.

talkingturkey's picture
talkingturkey's picture
talkingturkey Thursday, 24 Aug 2017 at 6:47pm

I've seen and experienced some of the weirdest things at that wave. Gnarly and weird.

One time, solid and a solid crowd. Weird period. Up and down wave heights. People getting antsy. Eventually you could get suckered into sitting deep and inside and trying to pick-up the ones that missed the outer pack. Of course the inevitable is on the cards. Not a place to get caught inside. FARK! A SET! A BIG SET! Paddle like a maniac looking at this slab of pain bearing down. JUST get under the breaking lip and duck-dive and battle underwater like a loon. Emerge on the other side and paddle like crazy to avoid the suck-back. Man, made it! I've got this. THEN unbeknownst to me I've surfaced in a boil. A boil that suddenly turns into a whirlpool! And it literally sucks me down like something out of a Disney flick. Sucked down and destroyed.

Another time, first trip. Surfing at pretty low tide. Must have been. The slab is a multi-lipped cacophony. Being an adrenalised idiot, first solid wave, I pull into this. Mate paddling wide and back out says I got somehow blown out the top of the wave like something out of Moby Dick/Jonah and the whale. Out of nowhere. On my back. On top of the wave/s. Then obliviated. Didn't hit the reef though.

Oh, and there's the time a very solid chandeleired lip blew my arm completely out of its socket. And I had to scramble in and then get driven to town and get my fucked shoulder re-located. Happy daze!

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Monday, 21 Aug 2017 at 7:17pm

first wave I ever rode out there, I totally took the wrong line on that first suck-out ledge out and got backslammed on that big mushroom head. Thought I'd broke my back. Just lay there floating in the lagoon like a cane toad that got poleaxed by a ten iron.

nicko74's picture
nicko74's picture
nicko74 Monday, 21 Aug 2017 at 11:46pm

Even fishing in these parts can kill ya

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Wednesday, 23 Aug 2017 at 8:22pm

This is what can happen if you chase the low tide session -http://stabmag.com/news/recount-of-a-near-death-experience-at-gnaraloo-l...

I've had a taste of the temporary paralysis from spinal shock as mentioned in the story. Got dumped on my arse straight onto the reef at a spot very close to this one and couldn't move my legs for a little while. Not much fun.

Legrope's picture
Legrope's picture
Legrope Friday, 25 Aug 2017 at 6:24pm

This wave is not for the faint hearted. One of the heaviest waves in all of OZ when big. I have had the biggest and best tube of my life out here on a dropping tide. Paddling back out and looking into these things when it's 4-6 with 8 foot bombs is really intimidating at water level. Looks nice from the drone view but still super gnarly sections which WILL mess you up bad if you come unstuck. Don't be fooled. And these are the 4-6 foot waves.

talkingturkey's picture
talkingturkey's picture
talkingturkey Friday, 25 Aug 2017 at 6:49pm

Ouch!

Legrope's picture
Legrope's picture
Legrope Friday, 25 Aug 2017 at 6:58pm

Is that someone in front of the lip about to get thrashed? It's a fully loaded freight train when on.

talkingturkey's picture
talkingturkey's picture
talkingturkey Thursday, 31 Aug 2017 at 10:59am

Same day I got my shoulder dislocated. Drug train. Woo hoo!