On Friday the 27th of June 2008. Big Wave charger Ross Clarke-Jones, 2x World Champion Tom Carroll, Hawaiian Ian Walsh and a crew of locals pulled of a world first and surfed the mythical wave of Dangerous Banks in North West Tasmania.
Local boat captains could not believe the bravery and skill on exhibition as the teams of surfers and the film crews went willing into giant Bass Straight. One local fisherman said of the conditions “The only time you go into sea like that is when you get caught in it.”
Film crews battled with 20ft closeouts coming at them from all angles as they tried to work out the best spot to film from while the surfers were trying to work out how the unridden beasts could be tackled while trying to stay alive.
In what could only be described as huge ocean swells, the team pushed themselves to the limits of their skill to ride waves in the 25ft range. Rod Kerr ex-pro and the teams safety officer described the seas as the most testing environment that he has been in, as experienced surfers and watermen flipped skis, took off on heaving chunks of ocean and got chased by monster swell all around the take-off zone.
In the end some spectacular waves were tackled and the team made it to shore safely. The resulting footage is part of the documentary Storm Surfers following Ross and Tom on their quest to ride the biggest waves of the Australian winter storm season.
Relying heavily on the expertise of meteorologist Ben Matson from Swellnet.com.au, the team assembled and flew into Tasmania on 48 hours notice after Ben tracked a fierce weather pattern forming in the Southern Ocean. Ross Clarke-Jones is keen to keep a close eye on this spot.
That was like climbing Everest – I don’t think you really get it right on your first go, that said I’m going to get the locals to keep a real close eye on this spot and we can see what the wave will do in different conditions.
