Water Safety

Longbottom lucky to be alive

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 27 October, 2006 : - -  He has conquered the deadliest waves on the planet but an accident in small surf at Snapper Rocks has nearly cost Gold Coast pro surfer Dylan Longbottom his life. The world-renowned big-wave charger yesterday labelled The Superbank the most dangerous wave he has ever surfed after severely breaking his jaw and fracturing his cheekbone while surfing on Tuesday.

Longbottom was struck in the face by a novice surfer's surfboard as he was riding a wave. If it had knocked him unconscious, he could have drowned. "I was going down the line ready to do a bottom turn and this guy has gone to go under the wave and just thrown his surfboard away and it has taken me out," said Longbottom, who just arrived home from a surf trip to the treacherous Tahitian wave Teahupoo last week.

"It felt like I got hit by a sledgehammer. I have been lucky enough to surf the heaviest waves in the world and have nothing happen to me. That is what blows me away. But it shows people how dangerous this wave actually is. You have got guys here buying surfboards who should be learning to surf down the beach but instead they are just paddling out into the line-up and they don't know what to do."

"I am more scared to surf this wave now than I am to go surf 20 foot Teahupoo."

Read the full article by Luke Turgeon at The Gold Coast Bulletin

More Australasian Surfing News available here
Check the latest Australasian Surf Reports and Forecasts

New! Get the latest news with Surfersvillage News-Alerts

Source: The Gold Coast Bulletin

Water Safety - Surfersvillage