Big Wave News

Biggest Waves Ridden in Australasia!

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 1 October, 2009 : - - New Zealand big wave surfer Doug Young (Chch) tackled some of the biggest waves ever surfed in Australasia recently with wave face heights well over 40ft in size.

Hitting the storm head on last weekend, Young teamed up with Australian big wave legend Ross Clark Jones.  The two of them battled their way through torrential wind and rain out to the Cow Bombie, a break about 2.5km offshore from the Western Australian suburb of Grace Town, south of Perth.

Young and Jones used the surf as a warm-up to their upcoming Discovery Channel documentary, Storm Surfers where the pair, among other surfers, chase the biggest waves on offer on the unforgiving rugged Fiordland Coast of New Zealand.

Young almost didn't make it to Western Australia, experiencing serious delays as he tried to fly through the red sand storms in Sydney and finally arriving in Perth at 2:00am on the day of the swell.

"We had tracked this swell all week alongside surf forecaster Ben Matson and knew this was our one opportunity to surf a swell of this size this year!” commented Young.  “I did everything in my power to get to Western Australia in time to meet the swell!"

"Mother Nature wasn't making it easy for us with screaming onshore winds up over 30knots, freezing conditions and torrential rain! To add to it all there were 6ft side chops coming from every direction which made it difficult to tow."

The pair used a jet ski to manoeuvre into the giant waves because the extreme weather and size of the waves would not have made paddling possible. "Ross and I were the only ones out there for the first two hours of the day when the swell peaked in size. It was crazy out there. We had already had a pile of bombs before the other teams arrived" said Young.

The Cow Bombie break is gaining itself a reputation as one of the hot spots for big wave surfing, Young is the first New Zealander to surf the break which usually only attracts Australian dare-devils.

With news of the big swell in Western Australia, surfers from around the world came to check it out. Big wave specialists Grant 'Twiggy' Baker, Mark Mathews, Ryan Hipwood, Mark Visser and Laurie Towner joined local crews such as Paul Patterson and Alfy Carter to tackle the giant waves.

"I was stoked to be towing out there with Ross", Young explains. "He is one of the world’s best ever big wave surfers and I was lucky to have him getting me deep into some of the biggest waves of the day".

Young is hoping the record rides will earn him another Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Award. He came third in the Ride of the Year and Biggest Tube categories back in 2007 for a death defying barrel ride at the feared Tahitian wave, Teahupoo. These awards are considered the Oscars of surfing.

Young will also be entering the ride in the Oakley Surfing Life Big Wave Awards for the biggest wave of the year with a prize of $20,000(Aus) awarded to the rider of the biggest wave in Australasian waters in 2009. Young has submitted entries in these awards every year since its conception and was the first surfer to win the Paddle-in Category with a massive ride at his local big wave break at Papatowai.

"Winning prizes for what we do is just the cherry on the top of the amazing, mind blowing feeling you get when you ride these waves! After every big wave or crazy barrel, I'm just screaming and hooting like I just won a gold at the Olympics or the World Cup, then you go straight back out and do it again and again and again! By the end of the day you feel like your head is going to explode!"

Surfing New Zealand are proudly partnered by Corona, Hyundai, SPARC & Smokefree.

www.surfingnz.co.nz

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Ben Kennings

Big Wave - Surfersvillage