The call came at 6pm on Saturday evening. Dunsborough big-wave lord, Alfy Cater was on the other end asking if I would be keen to shoot their tow-in session at Cow Bombie on Sunday morning. (The Cowaramup Bombie is a raw, full-throttle reef shelf sitting 4 miles offshore. It produces some of the biggest ridable waves in the world). The wind was looking pretty rank but the swell was predicted to peak at 6m with a period of 15 seconds early on Sunday morning so it was going to be solid. I said no initially because I was convalescing from the flu but I quickly changed my mind and called him back to make arrangements. I couldn’t say no to this opportunity.
So, I threw my kit together and burnt down to Margaret River on Saturday night, got some sleep and pulled up at the Gracetown boatramp at 5:30am. Videographer, Leith Holtzman and his team were there waiting. Alfy and his tow partner Jeremy Eagles arrived with their jet-ski. The water videographer, Dools, rocked up soon after with the second ski. Alfy had organised a chopper for Leith and his boys to film from above, and Dools had the unenviable job of piloting our ski and filming. Filming and shooting is no mean feat when you’re 4miles out to sea and there’s a 15-20 knot NW tearing into a 6m swell. So Dools had to keep us in position with one hand and film with the other…he didn’t get much footage.
After a couple of interviews with the boys, we split up - Leith’s crew went to the chopper and we suited up and launched the two skis. We headed out through the bay between close out sets and burnt across to Cow. Eagles whipped Alfy into a couple of mid sized ones before disaster struck.
Their ski cut out right in the worst possible place in the lineup, right where the lips of 20-30 footers had been hitting, right in melee of the impact zone. They couldn’t get it started so they waved madly at us to enter the fray and help them. Dools was onto it and bee-lined our ski in there before I knew what was happening. When we reached them, they threw their tow rope to us. I got a hold of the rope but there was already a set on us, so Dools accelerated away from them to the north (to try to get over the set and away from the bowl of the wave) too fast for me to hang onto the rope. Either way it was too late for Alfy and Eagles. There was no way they were getting over that wave with their ski.
Alfy and Eagles bailed their ski as a 30 footer went top to bottom and unloaded around them. Eagles miraculously got under it but Alfy wasn’t so lucky and wore it on the head. After a violent hold down Alfy surfaced in time to suck in half a breath before the next one hit and turbulated him some more. Eagles made it under both waves.
Meanwhile, after letting go of the rope, Dools and I hit the first wave. It bucked Dools into the air and off the ski leaving me to drive it out of there. I had never driven a ski before and couldn’t get it going. The second wave reared up and I knew it was too late, so I abandoned ship. Dools couldn’t get deep enough to penetrate through the second wave because of his buoyant vest and ended up getting sucked back and over. The same thing happened to me when the third wave hit. Fortunately we were north of the gnarly bowl section of the wave, but we still copped long hold downs. I had taken the leash off my camera housing when I was trying to grab the tow rope so I was desperately hanging onto it.
When I surfaced I still had a spray jacket on which was acting like a wind sock and really slowing me down. I ripped it off, strapped my housing to my ankle and started swimming north to get out of the impact zone. Eagles and Dools did the same. We didn’t know where Alfy was but we were all pretty convinced that both skis were totalled.
Everything had happened so quickly up to this point and I hadn’t had time to consider how dangerous our predicament was. Now we were drifting in the impact zone of the biggest wave in Australia not knowing how long it would be before we were pulled out of there. The chopper was hovering over the disaster zone, so we knew someone would come eventually…it was just a matter of how long.
Five minutes later, seemingly out of nowhere, Alfy appeared with our ski (the one I bailed)! We were so relieved. We all jumped onto the back of the ski and got out of there. We headed in to where the tow ski had drifted, to survey the damage it had sustained. It was half sunk so we salvaged what we could and headed back to the boat ramp.
Leith and the boys met us at the ramp. The four of us were pathetically grateful to be alive. We kissed the ground, got changed and went back to Eagles’ place in Yallingup to watch the amazing footage and bond after our ordeal.
Lessons learned:
> Your ski should be properly maintained if you take it out in heavy, dangerous surf. You need to be able to rely on your craft when things get ugly.
> All members of your team should have a basic knowledge of ski operation. If you’re going to take a novice out on your craft, then make sure you give them a quick lesson on driving it and any tips on safety you can offer.
>>ww
