Carnage at Jaws – Best Wipeouts

El Nino continues to give the Pacific the best big wave run in history and Jaws continues to give some bloody big hidings! Lucky for us mere mortals, the guys at Pure Digital Maui are on site to capture the carnage! Look out for our own Safa guys, with James Taylor and Simon “Coach” Lowe getting proper pounded.

Crazy Conditions On First Day, Wed. Jan. 27, 2016, Of Recent Giant El Nino Swell With Plenty Jaws Peahi Maui Wipeouts HD. Solid heavy rising swell through the day with the biggest sets (20+ft Hawaiian) going unridden & the the biggest set of the day coming in at end of the day with no one out. http://www.facebook.com/PureDigitalMedia

Murderous waves at Puerto Escondido

Just moments after the WSL Big Wave Awards and the level stepped up again with a session that is quickly going to shake the conventions of big wave surfing. Captured below is one of the craziest waves ever caught, ridden and then absolutely murdered on by a surfer. How this guys survived I simply cant imagine.

Check out a gallery of more craziness from the day before here: http://www.tracksmag.com/gallery-huge-puerto-escondido/

See video of Mark Healey’s incredible ride, the day before, below.

Mark Healey – Puerto Escondido 2015 from Jon Aspuru on Vimeo.

WSL Big Wave Awards – Wipeout of the Year 2015 Nominations

After a very busy year in Big Wave Surfing, it must have been hard to narrow down the finalists for the worst wipeout of the year. If we were going with pure size, then Benjamin Sanchis was a clear winner as his wave at Nazare was giant. For pure and immediate impact, Billy Kemper, with a guillotine lip to the head at Puerto looks pretty dam bad. Jaws and Mavericks wipeouts can never be sneezed at, but for me the giant cartwheel to death must be the worst kind of wipeout and my choice is Scott Dennis. Who do you think took it?

Barrel to Oblivion with Ollie O’Flaherty at Mullaghmore

The entries for the XXL Surf Awards keep flowing in and this one for Wipeout of the Year really caught my eye. First of all the conditions are horrendous, with howling offshore winds, freezing cold and pouring rain and then you go and get swallowed by a wave like this. Think i will stick to the perfect 4-5ft days haha.

Ollie’ O’Flaherty (Lahinch, County Clare, Ireland) pulls into the tube and hits the eject button at Mullaghmore Head, Ireland on January 20, 2015. Video by Fionn Rogers. An entry in the Wipeout of the Year category of the 2015 XXL Big Wave Awards.

Downhill Skating mayhem in Africa – Hot Heels Africa 2014

The longest running event in South Africa, Hot Heels Africa is a classic Downhill event. Situated in the mountains along the coastline of the Western Cape, near Betty’s Bay, it is one of the most beautiful venues in the World, with Stark mountains, wildlife (aka Baboons) and the region’s iconic Feinbos all framing one incredible strip of asphalt. Some of the World’s best come to take on the SA riders and every year provides plenty of high speed action and big spills. I love the event and once you watch this great short doccy on it, I am sure you will want to come next year!

The final race of the IDF and SAGRA downhill circuits happened on the 11-14 December 2014.
Watch the worlds best as they explore Cape Town and take each other on at Kogelberg Biosphere.
Produced for SAGRA
www.sagra.co.za

Balls of Polyurethane – James Kelly with Arbor Skateboards

Firstly this video is shot and edited really well. Secondly it contains some pretty incredible high speed skating. Thirdly it has possibly the worst speed wobble to high speed wipeout I have ever seen.
“With that we invite you to see a piece we filmed with Arbor team rider, James Kelly, to support the launch of his new pro model. The final product stopped us in our tracks. It reminded us once again why in downhill skating James is called the American Dream. A title he’s been burning down for years with a humble approach and an unmatched intensity at speed.” Arbor Skateboards

Raw and Stormy Dungeons – Contest does not Run

There were a lot of calls being thrown about yesterday, with many people saying the Dungeons Big Wave World Tour Event should have run. After the storm subsided though, it was a good thing it did not. The Swell was huge, but had way too much West in it and there were huge walls of water swinging wide of the peak. Made it quite interesting for those of us out on Whale Song, with Captain Spooner, and some of the newbies shooting the lineup were definitely looking nervous, much to Spoon’s enjoyment. A small crew were on it, looking to paddle, but the wind was up the face early and the conditions were very difficult. Twig called it, “Bloody scary and difficult!”

Mike Schlebach caught the wave of the morning with an incredible late drop (See the video) and also caught the hiding of the season! His wipeout mas met with a collective scream of awe from those on the boat as he free fell 3 stories to oblivion. This one is a serious XXL Wipe of the year contender. Jake Kolnik also had a horrible time, with a 2 wave monster set breaking on his head. Simon Lowe and Twig both had solid waves, but with only 7 or so waves ridden across 3 hours, it was not worth running the event.

You are going to have to wait to see the wipeout on video, but Zigzag will be running a photo sequence soon. I will keep you posted on the event and everything else happening out at Dungeons as the winter progresses. Check the video from Corne Snyders, who shot from the Sentinel yesterday… (Also the Cover photo with Jacque Theron’s board floating in the danger zone!)

DUNGEONS 29 MAY 2014 from Dianoua on Vimeo.