Gallery: Shipsterns roars into spring
It's been a busy fortnight of large, and consequential surf across the southern states, with Jughead doing some serious damage at oversized Shipstern Bluff, while last week one of the largest and cleanest sessions in a few years went down. Under unseasonal warm offshore winds and sunshine, the Stern lit up for two days of action the second providing the most size and best conditions as winds eased and conditions glassed off into the afternoon.
There was the core local contingent including Tyler Hollmer-Cross, Danny Griffiths, Alex Zawadzki, Jimmy McKean, Mikey Brennan, Sam Thomas, Harley Ward and Kelly Nordstrom as well as fly-ins Mark Mathews, Shanan Worrall, Zac Haynes, Jarryd Foster, Aron Cox, Kipp Caddy and Wade Clemens.
With cheap flights and car hire, I thought I'd head down to witness the action myself, finding a secluded perch in the Tasmanian bush (luckily out of snake season) that looked straight into the barrel. Expectations were for a 15-20ft swell, but in the end it came in mostly between 8-12ft, with the rare bigger bomb, though as you can see there was plenty of hefty action.
Mark Mathews surrounded by green
Kelly Nordtstrom nice and deep
Kelly Nordtstrom in sequence, negotiating the step above, and succesfully riding out
Toby Mossop from afar
Wade Clemens setting up a perfect one
Jimmy McKean on one of the waves of the day, above and below
Harley Ward sliding in
Alex Zawadzki on a heavy end bowl
Tyler Hollmer-Cross on a monster, above and continued below
Mikey Brennan early morning chaos
Shanan Worrall standing tall
Mark Mathews looking right at home
Shanan Worrall coming unstuck, above, and just rescued in the nick of time by Jarryd Foster
Sam Thomas on a bomb
The 'Silver Bullet' Matt Stewart locked and loaded
Above and below, Danny Griffiths attacking at all angles
Tyler Hollmer-Cross deep and perfect
Danny Griffiths at it again
Comments
Incredibly beautiful, great photos thanks.
Mike Stewart charging at 56, what a legend.
https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t50.2886-16/71400165_239751840319481...
Beautiful photos, i need to go hiking there
Did the jetski survive the encounter with the rocks in the 10th one from the bottom?
He's close to serious trouble there.
Centimetres from it, with Shanan on the back. But Jarryd said he was aware of the rock when going in there, but jeez it was close. If they missed the pickup Shanan would have been pin-balled.
Incredible photos Craig. Stunning scenery.
Full marks to Danny Griffiths making that drop (on the one with the caption "attacking it from all angles"). Hectic!
Professional on all levels, what a wave?
very unique angle - looks amazing. That part of tassie is unreal
Love the pulled back perspective.
Great pics.
Craig, is that the first time you have visited the wave? What did you think of it? How was the hike in?
I travelled there for a slightly smaller swell maybe 5 years ago and hiked right up on top of the headland and got some cool shots looking down on it.
The drive and then hike in is so beautiful, through lush green paddocks and forest to then be put out right above the Southern Ocean, some 250-300m high. It's one of the most beautiful and stunning lookouts in Australia and to then see the tiny surfers taking on the slabs below puts it in perspective.
Even without swell I highly recommend the hike to the Shipstern lookout or Cape Raoul lookout just around the corner.
Thanks for the comments guys, was looking for a different angle on what's usually seen, inspired by Dave Otto and Alasdair Shurman.
Least appealing media-hyped waves for the average surfer :
1/ Nazare ....cold , brown , shifty close-out death beachbreak....you’re kidding, right ?
2/ Shipsterns ....freezing, ledgey , cliff fronted nightmare...ugggh.
3/ Ours ....briefest of rock-facing, coin - toss vertebrae shattering gambles . Risk vs reward of the ice addict contemplating ripping off the local Commanchero’s hydro set -up....no thanks.
4/ Huge Waimea Bay ....Lurching, death drop into nothing at all....You can’t help but imagine those getting rag-dolled under a million tonnes of foaming dead-end whitewash at huge Waimea thinking to themselves “ I could be getting pitted at Honolua right now .”.......At least you’ll drown in warm water !
5/ Mavericks....Freezing cold , sharks , jagged rocks , strangling kelp strands , grey water....I don’t think so.
@Blowin, I may misinterpret your commentary, but to suggest these places are unappealing to the average surfer is insane. Sure we will not likely ever surf these places, I will definitely not, but the appeal of seeing these guys charge surely drives you to push a bit harder in the conditions that best suit your level of confidence.
As a grommet, before many of these mental places were opened up to main-steam media or even surfed at all as far as I know, I used to love paddling out in waves just outside of my comfort zone pretending I was out Waimea or pulling into close-outs pretending I was at Pipeline.
Kids now, seeing these places being surfed by their idols, they are likely pretending to be at Shipsterns or Ours as they take on a little mid-face step into a ledgy section on their local novelty wave. I love a step in a wave as much as the next guy, trying to avoid landing directly on the rock / ledge that is creating it, hoping your front foot does not get away from you and slide up the board to impending obliteration, just realistically the steps are not as big as the ones these legends are taking on.
Least appealing to actually go to and try and take on? Sure, but a guy can dream, right?!
I love watching the paddle crew at big JAWS. Would never go out there myself but I feel it makes me charge harder at my local.
Can testify to the Nazare shore break as terrifying. Was there a few days ago and the back beach was 6-8 with the odd 10 wedging in, main break not even close to breaking. Shore break is a beast.
That front beach is pretty brutal too hey Ash. Same....saw it about 7 years ago, before Nazare was Nazare and was blown away by the giant shorey in front of the town. I could see some big peaks doubling up out behind the lighthouse and thought it looked like some pretty unique wave action but didn't think too much of it until the following year when i saw Garret Macs world record wave. Picks up so much swell there.
It should be renamed Garretsvillle, he's pretty popular there. Nazare isn t really a surf town, its a big wave spot as both beaches are heavy and the mortals surf spots are either north or south of town, I couldn't find a surf shop that stocked boards either. You need a car to travel to the surf.
Yesterday I surfed small fun ones at the main Porto beach and was told a big swell is on it's way, in time maybe for our arrival at Mundaka....I'm hoping.
Ahhh sounds magic. A European autumn...hard to beat. Enjoy and fingers crossed you score that rare gem
I like the shots of the surrounding scenery. Gives you a feel for the place.
those amazing scenic shots give me a sense of calm after looking at those heaving bombs.
You transported me there. Thank you.
sick shots looks like an amazing part of the world.
that was awe inspiring and beautful! thank you!
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Craig .> prob's the best photo essay on SB I've seen. I say hit the boss up for one of these trips every month, all around Australia - yer angle's proved its unique worth! > RR
Thanks again for the comments and feedback. Glad you all enjoyed the images.
Really enjoyed that, that peninsula was my escape when working SE Tas. Even got some nice waves. A couple of days that were huge with no-one out... I see you may have captured Doo-Town in there as well - incredible pic that one!
More galleries like this please!
magic shots thank you