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The weekend's southerly swell delivered very
large waves across the southern part of Australia, with Shipsterns
pulling in solid 15' sets - just two weeks before the cut-off
date for the 2006 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards presented
by Monster Energy.
Having received notification of the swell
from Swellnet almost a week earlier, the Billabong team flew
down in advance and were in the water at sunrise, prepared
for an entire day of tow surfing. The lineup at Shipsterns
included three times world champion Andy Irons (Haw), former
world number two Joel Parkinson (Coolangatta), young Australian
charger Laurie Towner (Angourie), Dylan Longbottom (Gold Coast)
and Brendan Margieson (Gold Coast).
Irons, who had towed into heavy sessions
both in Hawaii and last years huge surf at Teahupoo just prior
to the Billabong Pro Tahiti, rates Shipsterns and one mean
mother of a wave.
“Shipsterns is radical, it’s a
really challenging wave, one of the toughest I have ever surfed,”
said Irons. “With the staircases in it and the way it
hits the reef, it is so powerful, and with the cold water
you’re not really penetrating the surface when you fall.
I have never really surfed a barrel that changes so much as
it goes along.”
“I have never surfed anything like that,
other than Hawaii, Tahiti and Fiji, nothing even comes close,”
said Irons. “Parko talked me into this trip while the
contest was on and when it was done he asked me if I was still
keen and I said, yeah let’s do it. I was stoked to be
down there with guys like Margo and Dylan as well, they showed
me such a good time.”
Andy Irons
19-year-old Towner, who scored one of the
best waves of the season in Hawaii last year added another
feather to his cap during his first ever surf at Shipsterns,
paddling into one of the biggest waves ever to be ridden at
the break without Personal Water Craft (PWC) assistance. With
Irons calling the wave solid 15-foot (5m) and wide enough
to drive a double decker bus through the middle, Towner’s
ride is the latest worthy entry in the USD $10,000 Billabong
XXL Monster Paddle in category, placing the Northern NSW country
kid alongside some of the most revered big wave surfers in
the world.
“I was just hoping to get a few waves,
I was lucky to get a couple of good ones,” said Towner.
“Andy was right next to me on that big one calling me
in. At the start I was paddling slow just having a bit of
a look at the wave and as it jacked up I paddled a bit faster
and it let me into it.”
Laurie Towner
For more action from Billabong's
Adventure Division - including some video footage of
this session - just log onto Billabong.com.au,
and follow the links to the Adventure Division page under
"Events".
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| Upcoming
Swell » |
Hit n' run from the SE for SE Qld
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(updated Mon 29th Jun 5pm by Steve Shearer)
But by the late afternoon we should see leading edge of our SE swell start to fill in, mostly concentrated on the Mid North and North Coast.
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Solid pulse from the east for Sydney
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(updated Mon 29th Jun 12:40pm by Craig Brokensha)
It looks as if we will see the swell build strongly just before dark tomorrow, peaking overnight before easing off just as rapidly into Wednesday.
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Back into the swing for Victoria
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(updated Mon 29th Jun 12:40pm by Alex Zadnik)
The low should produce a larger boost in short-range W'ly swell from Wednesday night into Thursday morning, but once again the swell direction will limit wave heights along the Surf Coast. | | |
