Retracing history at Queenscliff Bombora
The young bucks can have their slabs, they'll get no fight from me. I'll move my middle-aged frame aside while they launch over yet another triple-sucking Shipsterns nightmare. Later, I'll watch the footage on the internet with emotions switching between malicious glee and aching jealousy.
Heavy water slabs are a young mans game and reality has recently been borne home: If I ever thought I was at the forward edge of history I now know the inexorable march is continuing without me. Each new swell leaves my generation further behind.
But while the chase may be over I ain't buying a noserider just yet.
On Saturday, Queenscliff Bombora broke and I had my second session out there. The bommie is arguably the most visible wave in all of Australia – sitting in the line-up you can see high-density housing stretching from North Curl Curl to South Manly – and yet three of us paddled out to surf it alone. A few crew joined us later, but the rising tide had already done its damage.
Before that though we had an uncrowded big wave session in the centre of Sydney. It wasn't huge yet it had all the requisite elements for delivering a hearty dose of contained fear: a pitch-black paddle out, ten-foot clean up sets, heart-in-the-mouth takeoffs and hands-in-the-air drops. It's a shame it only lasted an hour.
(Pic Joel Coleman/Saltmotion)
It was only the second time I'd surfed the bommie. The first time being a month ago under big east swell conditions. Since I moved to the Northern Beaches a year ago I've only seen it break properly three times and I'm yet to see it surfed at real size.
Lack of attendance hasn't always been the case. Paul Burnett wrote about the bommie in a mid-80's issue of Big Surf, a periodical published by Tracks. The article was titled Big Waves: Manly Style and in it he said the bommie had "the best drop outside of Hawaii" while recalling some of the best sessions he'd had out there. Barton Lynch also spoke highly of the bommie in a later issue of Big Surf. Names that appeared in both those articles include Jason Garling, Justin Cook, Doug Lees, Greg Dutch, Victor Levitt and Barton Lynch. No doubt many others have put in the time over the years.
Despite its current lack of popularity, the bommie looms large in the collective memory of Australian surfers. In fact, it was fifty years ago today, June 6th 1961, that Dave Jackman famously rode the bommie. A photo from that session made the front page of a Sydney newspaper and created fervour amongst early 1960's surfers. It still stands as one of Australian surfing's most recognisable photos.
Afterward, in a great piece of period surf writing, Jackman gave an account of his first session at the bommie in The Australian Surfrider:
I was down on the North Steyne beach and the "bommie" was really raging. I suddenly thought of "cracking" it. Up to the club I went for a board and began the three-quarter mile paddle to the break. I had to break through a heavy sea before reaching the swell outside and then to where the "bommie" was breaking a long way above normal sea level. I rode it three times but the fourth attempt nearly produced real disaster as it resulted in a total "wipe-out", burying me in so much water that I wondered if I would ever see the top again. When I did emerge the grey murky clouds overhead looked as pretty as a picture.Jackman subsequently became known as the first person to ride the bommie. When it comes to historical records these type of categories – 'the first ever' or 'the biggest ever' - are always a temptation. It's a credit to Jackman that he scotched all talk of being the first to ride the bommie. "I made no such claim," said Jackman in The Australian Surfrider, "Claude West, to name only one, had cracked it before I was born." West was a member of Freshwater Surf Club and became Australia's first male surfer - Isobel Letham being our first. Both were students of Duke Kahanamoku.
First wave or not, the most important aspect of Jackman's feat was the effect it had on other surfers. I imagine that Australian surfers, seeing the photo of Jackman at the bommie would've felt the same way as when surfers of our era first saw Laird's Millenium Wave at Teahupoo. It was an image that redefined what was possible and inspired a zealous search for similar waves.
For Jackman that led to Hawaii and a semi-final finish in the 1962 World Championships at Makaha. For our generation it's led to the discovery of Shipsterns Bluff, Cape Solander and The Right in WA. Waves of real consequence where boundaries are being broken and history being written with each significant swell.
No history was made at the bommie on Saturday - we were fifty years too late for all that. But "cracking" a few at the place where big wave surfing began in Australia was enough of a thrill for a trio of middle-aged surfers.
(Photos courtesy of Freshwater SLSC and Joel Coleman at Saltmotion)
Comments
Great article! I entirely agree. The Bombie was still respected when I was kid in the 90's but me and my mates always feared the paddle out. We always watched Barton and crew tow in out there and have vivid memories of "Big Wednesday" in about 90/91. BArton lynch and Mark Matthews rate it highly in Matthews surfing altas. The paddle out keeps numbers down and I suspect most fear it when big - thats the good thing about big surf - not as many kooks. Same with the clovelly bombie in the east - it was heaving on sat arvo and no one was out. I had to stand there with my one yo old son in my arms and cringe......
classic! only talking about that old photo yesterday. it was in old book in my school library (only surf related book in library), i mistakenly remembered the surfer as bob pike and was telling mate the photo was the reason me & a couple of mates paddled out there back in very early 80's. we had never seen any
one surf it but it looked so good from beach when it broke. so one day we headed out, figuring if a mal could handle it so could we, we paddled from shelley so it was a very long time before we got out there. when the first set came thru you can imagine our stoke, fear,excitement when we realised it was way way way bigger that the 6-8ft we were expecting.but we had our trusty 5'10" twinnies (these were the days before every tom,dick & harry had a quiver) a few of the guys headed straight back in but 2 of us stayed then when my mate freefell on his first wave he bailed also. i winded up getting a couple of good waves & becoming hooked on bigger waves for life (unfortunately the body won't let me go there theses days). when i got in i remember paul burnett running up & saying next time get him but then i drifted away from manly & never surfed it again. its hard to believe such an awesome big wave can break in the middle of such a big city & go unridden so much.
Got bumped out in first heat at Freshy in our Cronulla surf boat,rowed around head to have a look at Manly surf for next days comp in 2002,did not know about bombie and hooked on to what we thought was a nice running swell way out back. My god it grew and grew and grew not the place you want to be in a boat, anyway made it all the way in biggest rush ever 5 guys in boat still talk about it today even the board riders who usually hate us gave us the nod.
Stu
This is Paul Burnett here.
A friend pointed me to this site to check out the footage of TC going over the falls.....funny......expensive but funny...I'm sure that Tom won't be paying.
Anyway saw the link to the Bombie story and was interested immediately. Liked the article. Not sure where you got a hold on one of the Big Surf Issues....not too many around I would have thought.
Props to you for still being out there.......I'm old and have turned to tow surfing to stay in the water when it's big.....I was out at Makaha on the Saturday that you mentioned. It was fun too....but do envy you those air drops that Queenie Bombie dishes out.
Regards
PB
anyone got any stories of surfing the longreef bomby, or German banks. I have seen monster rideable waves at German banks in the past (in straight south swell) with no one on them. Havent seen many with the kruits to paddle in at the Longy Bomby. Nice footage of those guys paddling Queeny bonbie the other day. They were some big waves.
Matt Grainger often paddles the German Bank. As does Hayden Cox, who came out the Bommie on Saturday morning. I'm sure there are many others but I don't know their names. Also, Ian Bird has taken some shots of the German Banks lately. Look around for them.
Just remembered...there was a fella called Boomer who used to surf the bommies off Longy on his own. Apparently he did it for many years. On the very wildest days of the year he'd head out on his pat and have them all to himself. Story goes that he had a huge gun and written along the bottom in big red letters was 'BOOMER'. If the rescue helicopter ever came to see what was up he'd flip the board over and they'd know who he was and what he was up to.
Ive been out to the bommie , the same day as mr bemrose- this guy is an incredible charger, you should see him surf north curly point on those giant sucking rare days when it fires, he was charging the bombie too. The worst thing about the bombie is that from a distance it appears to be stable and breaking in one place! in fact there are multiple reefs out there and the bombie can break in a variety of spots each depending on swell size or direction. Usually the swells that are big enough to make it break are big unstable chaotic ocean swells which are a mixture of sizes and directions so maintaining a safe spot is precarious to say the least! On the rare jem day its the giant cyclone swell with stable lines! As well, the bigger swells break farther out and the centre of the wave often breaks as a large section collapses and you try to catch the wave from the side of this collapsed centre. Thats why tow in is so preferrable here as you can avoid the centre suck up. The left is deceptive- it looks like a longer and more rideable wall and it can be! but it tends to verge on closing out more at take off and getting caught in the peak! The wierd thing thats spooky is to be so far out to sea and keeping a marker of where you are in the line up. Its a classic illusion as it often looks so close from the beach. The other difficulty is that out there at sea level you often cant gauge approaching sets, unlike a beach break, it just suddenly looms up in front of you catching you unawares. I saw waves standing up like 50 metre swimming pools on their side, I have been to hawaii and big bower but this thing is the most water I have ever seen making a little human body look awefully little and inconsequential to such power. Lastly the bombie can also be light and playful and break not even that big in the right tide and swell combination and be almost enjoyabley fun, tho this is rare!I have seen the clubbies out playing on it in all sorts of surf craft. However it is a fearsome wave at its extreme, if you read the story of the jetski breaking down out there near dark from the kitesurfer website, and the kitesurfer going in and bringing petrol out to the jetski, you realise this place spawns many difficult stories and respect!
G'Day Odyssey,
Here's some more shots: http://www.swellnet.com.au/galleries/2446-outside
Your right, it's an awesome wave. Shame it doesn't break more often.
The year was '87 and it was a winter Sunday. The swell was massive. Not big, massive. Winds were offshore and the beach was just one mass of white water. I'd long given up the idea of going for a wave and had ideas of red wine and an afternoon of footy on the TV when there came a loud banging on the front door. I opened it to a irrational verbal barrage from BL (Barton Lynch) telling me we were going surfing, that the bommie was going off and we had to go surf it, that I could use his Hawaii guns, my choice, etc etc.....
My first response was, 'Fuck off, I've seen it I'm not going out there. I'v got a 6'3 as my biggest board, no way'. BL kept at me saying the set up had changed and that the bommie was pumping and I had to come and see. The memory of all this brings a wry smile to my lips. He was frothing like a grommet, I was being a father of two young boys who didn't want to die just yet...
So, boards chosen we headed up the Queeny escalator and waited for our chance. I've been a local for a lifetime, yet I've got to tell you that up to that day I hadn't seen the bommie that good. Perfect at a size I had no idea how to measure.
It's a long paddle to the line up and all the way BL was excited and frothing and I was thinking what the fuck have I let my mate talk me into.... I knew my shit on a wave but this was going to be something else. That I knew for sure.
BL paddled into the line up first while I thought I would just take a minute to check the scene out. It was just us two and when BL took off right on the first wave of the set it was fucking lonely out there.
I chose my first wave, a left. I had ridden some big waves but this was something else, a truly new experience.... I froze halfway trough my bottom turn as I looked up and saw what was in front of me. It was a left, it was perfect, and it was motherfucking big!
The rest of the session went to plan until some sets bigger than normal pushed through the horizon. We just hit the paddle accelerator and went for it. Over the first two without to much problem, the third just looked downright nasty. BL was to my right about 6 feet away. We both went silent paddling up the face of this monster and as the lip began to feather I put my head down and went hard to push through the lip.
Somethings in life are just amazing and if your in the right spot at the right time you can bear witness to the magnificence of human kind.
As I was padding up the face of that monster bracing myself to push through that mother of a lip, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Barton spin his stick around into a no paddle free fall drop that still I've no words to give you that would describe adequately what I saw.
After I pushed through the lip I looked back through the offshore spray in disbelief expecting my mate to be nailed. He wasn't . I watched for a few seconds then bang...a full on backhand reo. Then bang another. I'm talking half of a 7'6" gun blasting the lip apart and showing me BL's sponsorship logos.
I've seen a lot in surfing and including massive north shore, that wave of BL's was one hell of a ballsy effort.
BL.... Thanks for the memories.
You might have to add a post script to this article written 50 years after Dave Hackman rode the bombie. If you look at the dates, 55 years afterward it also broke (give or take a few days) and it was close to the biggest yet.
Thanks for the heads up, Heals. In fact it was 55 years to the day. June 6th, 1961 and June 6th, 2016.
Photos from each:
The board Jackman rode in 1961 is on display at Bennett Surfboards. It measures 12'6" (!), has a big old D fin underneath, and weighs around 25 kegs. Here are a few shots of it courtesy of Tom Wentworth at Bennett.
i reckon it should always be known as the Queensie bommie ,always was .Wasnt until the fluoro boys of the 80's decided to change Queensie to Queenie ,don't know why they did that.
The sleeping giant its awesome
Email received from Midget Farrelly this morning:
Freshwater's Joe Larkin constructed an 11' balsa gun for local boy Dave Jackman in 1960. Joe dressed rough Equadorian balsa logs, then glued and clamped the balsa into a blank on a rockered jig he had made. Joe then crafted the square shape into a long pintail gun.
The goal was for Dave to ride the Queenscliff Bombora on the biggest possible day. That day came, Dave paddled out by himself with no rescue back up and rode three waves. The board that Joe had designed and built performed perfectly. Dave was able to paddle into some very thick water, take the drop and make it to the channel.
History was made (front page national newspaper). The sport and the industry knew that it was possible to ride big waves similar to those being ridden in Hawaii. Eighteen Australians booked sea passage to Honolulu and rode Oahu's north shore the following November.
On a return visit one of those Australians won the Makaha International Championships. The year after that the official World Championships was created. That same event still exists to this day, running in many countries around the world.
Joe's board making skills and Dave's guts were the sparks that ignited Australian surfing internationally.
*Drops weights*
That's awesome, Stu. Swellnet is seriously plugged in (FCS2/AHS/Futures) to the past and future of Australian surfing.
Great stories. I was fortunate to meet several of the Aussies that went over to Hawaii by boat. Again more stories of Hawaii. And of course they gave it a go. There are a couple of movies taken of this and some are written in books already.
I will soon be giving a eulogy for my brother who with me swam out and body surfed the bommie 10 years ago. Until a tow in crew came along it was just us, taking off on huge slabs rarely making it through but having the time of our lives.