Tag: wave

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Return of the Wavepool – Red Bull Unleashed at Surf Snowdonia

The Wavepool is back! Over the weekend some of the World’s best free surfers and ex tour campaigners descended on Surf Snowdonia in Wales for the Red Bull Unleashed competition. With both Lefts and Rights on hand the guys tore it to pieces in front of a large crowd. The waves, while not very large, certainly proved rippable and it was Hawaiian big wave surfer and new school ripper, Albee Layer who ended up with the win. The format was different to the norm, man on man heats with wave versus wave scores with best of 5. The first surfer to win 3 waves would win. It certainly opens the door for some interesting future developments. Wonder if we will see one in SA soon?

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Heaving Indo – with Ryan Hipwood, Mikala Jones & Alex Gray

Surfing the heaviest wave in Indonesia is a difficult task at the best of times, but when Murphy’s Law and Mother Nature team up against you then life can get pretty miserable. Undeterred, Ryan Hipwood, Mikala Jones, Riley Laing and Alex Gray overcome breakdowns at sea, dodgy backyard ski repairs and atrocious weather to score some outrageous barrels.

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Land of the Lefts – Namibia vs Angola & Goofy vs Natural

(Photo by: Seth Phitides)

The South Western region of Africa is fast becoming known as the “Land of the Lefts”. With Donkey bay in Namibia blowing peoples minds for almost a decade now, a bunch of Cape surfers recently went further north into Angola, following tales of a similar wave. Though Angola’s wave potential has long been known about and this was not the first mission up there, they did find the wave and got it cooking. While scoring this “new” spot, the boys further south were making hay at Donkey bay on the same swell. So which is better?

Donkey Bay is the original left drainer. Dale Staples and his brother, Dane, scored 2 great swells this winter and their video footage proves it, with Dale getting some serious tube time on his backhand. Here is their score on the last swell…

The Brand brothers, Benji and David, missioned further into the unknown into Angola and scored the new spot, with video guy, Dan Mace. Hell, it does not even have a name yet. Both brothers ripped hard on their forehand and got some pretty ridiculous waves. Here is their journey…

The question is, which is better? To be honest each has its own merits. Namibia is more accessible, has Western accommodation, bars and tar roads, except for the last short section. Angola is a hell mission into Africa, no mod cons, local accommodation and bribes every ten meters! The bottom line is both are incredible waves, it just leans towards your want for adventure and time…

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Beauty and the Beast – Maya Gabeira tames Teahupoo

Its hard to believe this tiny, gorgeous women enjoys nothing more than charging giant waves. When you meet her she does not really espouse the big wave image. But she does love charging these waves as we witnessed when she paddled Dungeons here a few years ago. After a savage beating at Teahupoo in 2011, Maya has now returned to conquer the beast…

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Shipsterns Bluff – The Original Mega Slab

Welcome to Tasmania and the original Slab Wave from hell! With some of the new discoveries the last few years we tend to forget about Shipsterns Bluff, but I cam across this video with footage from the last few years and it all came back to me. Sit back, hold your breath and remember why this is one of the heaviest waves on the planet! (Check out the guy getting owned in the impact zone at the end, my lungs hurt for him!)

The Originals from Dave otto on Vimeo.