Last week Shippies turned on, “BIG TIME”.

I try to live my life , to make sure im in a position so i never miss a swell at what my mates and i call “the most amazing place on earth”.

I remember being on a surf trip in the Mentawai Islands a few years ago. Here i am in a tropical paradise. Surfing in boardshorts, surrounded by beauty, clear blue skies, travelling with a good crew of mates and scoring 6-8 ft HT’s. For nearly all surfers this was as dreamy as it gets. And for a while there i was also loving that dream. But one problem, i had access to the internet. And me being me, i couldn’t help myself. I had to see what was going on swell wise back home. As soon as i noticed the huge blob of purple and yellow heading towards Tassie, my heart sunk. I couldn’t control what i was feeling. No matter how good or how many times you’ve surfed your favourite wave, when you miss a pumping session, it cuts deep.

When last weeks swell started shaping up things seemed to be heading in a positive direction. My knee injury got the all clear from the “doc”,well not really, but thats how it translated in my head. All i could think about was surfing shippies, it was like nothing was going to stop me. On the lead up to the swell, i tried to use my knee in all different situations to simulate the pressure id put on it while surfing. It hurt a bit, but i still had confidence.

Who was i fooling? the night before the swell, my knee was well and truly buckled. I couldn’t even stand on one knee and support myself and the pain was excruciating. So now I was in two minds about it all, I thought I could sit a home and not put myself through the torture of watching it, or I could go down and try get some clips of my mates. I chose the latter, and headed south for two heavy days of Shippies action.

I saw the swell coming a week and a half before it was due to hit. There’ve been a few swells over the last three weeks, each swinging a little more to the southwest. When i saw this system fire up down near Antarctica i kept an eye on it. Jack Scollard had been wanting a redemption session out at ships since it busted his eardrum 8 months ago, so gave him the heads up and the kid flew into town the day before the swell..

On wednesday 30th may 2012 Chiza (local photog) and myself left the boat ramp in our little inflatable 13footer and proceeded to make our way to the shippies channel. All the swell indicators on the way round were firing up, thats when i started to wonder what id gotten myself into. I was going to have to sit there and watch my favourite wave pump out some of the biggest, meanest barrels it had to offer.

I tried to change my mindset. I concentrated on the filming aspect, i really wanted to get some clips for the boys. All my mates were out there, and they were fucking charging. At times it was almost uncomfortable watching. No one was making the waves. Every set that came through, Chiz and i would sit there cringing and silently hoping our friends would resurface after each wipeout. It was one of the most epic things vie witnessed. But to tell you the truth, i don’t think i could do it again. It hurt so much to have to sit there and watch. I mind surfed every single wave that broke that day.

On that wednesday i witnessed some gnarly shit, the worst involving two of my best mates. Just after midday Chiz and i started tucking into our lunch between sets when all of a sudden we seen the horizon go black. The crew on the rocks started whistling and the skis out the back started positioning themselves. When the first wave came through, it hit the reef on the weirdest angle, with 0 percent chance of it being makable. Jimmy McKean took that thing on without hesitation. As he dropped over the first ledge the thing contorted into the definition of evil. He proceeded to go below sea level, then becoming engulfed in the wave, he was in the oceans hands and old “Poseidon” had a wild ride for him. But we knew the next wave was the big one. I seen Zadda (Alex Zawadski) let go of the rope and start dropping into the beast, but at the same time i was trying to see if i could find Jimmy. Zads wave seemed to just grow bigger and bigger. He hit the step halfway down the face and as the board tweaked out sideways, i knew she was game over. As Zadda tumbled into the most horrific wipeout id ever witnessed, i looked towards the rocks and just got a glimpse of Jimmy surface for a few seconds before copping the two storey wall of whitewater from Zaddas wave square on the head. Those two wave put both the boys in hospital with head, knee and groin injuries.

The next day was smaller, but still throwing out 12ft clean bombs and all the boys cleaned up getting some amazing pits and also a few more really horrific wipeouts. The two days of surfing down there produced more injuries and carnage than everything in the past combined. Im thankful none of my mates got really seriously hurt. And although it hurt like hell to not be out there trading bombs with the boys, this injury has given me a new fire inside. Ive set new goals and want to reach new heights. Its all about finding a positive way through any obstacle. I know where im heading, and “fuck” i cant wait to get there yeeeeeeeeewww

Stern Late May 2012 from marti paradisis on Vimeo.

2days before a Tasmanian winter from Mikey Brennan on Vimeo.

Shipstern Bluff from Laif Johannesen on Vimeo.

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