Dangerous Banks is a large shifting sandbar about 35 kilometres
off the tip of north-west Tasmania. Raging currents, winds and
giant swells kept humans at bay for nearly 200 years, but on June
27 three surfers conquered Dangerous Banks.
Australian veteran surfers Ross Clarke-Jones and Tom Carroll and
young Hawaiian Ian Walsh were towed on to 10-metre waves as part of
their odyssey to surf giant winter swells around Australia for a
pay television special Storm Riders, which is expected to be
released next summer.
Clarke-Jones, regarded as Australia's most renowned big-wave
rider, said: "It was more than wild, it was complete chaos. I've
never seen an ocean so angry and confused in all my surfing days.
We managed to catch a few each but must admit that the ocean beat
us to a pulp that day. We were lucky to have all made it to shore,
to tell you the truth."
Days before, Ben Matson, a meteorologist who had been tracking
ocean storms throughout winter for the project, made the call that
a low pressure system forming in Antarctica would send giant waves
onto Dangerous Banks within 48 hours. The surfers and support crew
scrambled.
In a Los Angeles taxi, Walsh got the text message and told the
driver to head to the airport. He walked off the plane at Sydney in
boardshorts, T-shirt and hoodie carrying only his wallet and
passport.
The team gathered in Smithton on Tasmania's north-west coast,
and, guided by local abalone diver Paul Critchlow, put to sea
equipped with two powerful powerboats, six power-skis and a
helicopter. It was Critchlow who broke the news about the break
eight years ago when Clarke-Jones was among those competing in the
world's first tow-in surf contest on King Island to the north.
Since February, Clarke-Jones, who lives in Torquay, had prepared
for the expedition with three reconnoitre flights but filming
proved problematic.The most effective platform, the helicopter, was
so overworked keeping track of the surfers so far from land, that
low on fuel it was forced to head home.
"It was like climbing Everest meets the running of the bulls
meets an iron man contest," Clarke-Jones recalled.
-Damien Murphy, The Age