This certainly is a contender for Wipeout of the Year, is it not? Photo: Tim Bonython//YouTube
Western Australia is the land of slabs. The place breeds a certain type of surfer; a surfer who prefers testing their mettle over shallow chunks of reef and under the thickest curtain they can find. It’s a long way from the surfer who prefers a mellow, waist high point break on a longboard. Tim Bonython is a man who spends much of his time pointing a camera at the former type of surfer, and he recently did that at a wave fittingly called the Left.
“This wave is EVIL,” he says. “You don’t want to surf this wave even if you’re good at it. It’s the epitome of what is known as the classic Aussie slab. A small piece of reef poking out where deep water swells hit hard that create a serious tubing barrel. We call this spot the Left as its on the other side of a large Western Australian bay from the Right.”
Since Bonython has spent so much time filming waves of the most serious consequence, he’s developed a few favorites.
“These two waves are in my favourite top Aussie three waves that I love to film,” he explains. Shipsterns in Tasmania is the third slab. We hit the Right first with Toby Cunningham but it was barely breaking. Then we headed across to the Left where we get some very gnarly waves on tape starring young gun Ned Hart and slab master Zac Haynes.”
Also included was Matt Dunsmore, who not only snagged some of the best waves of the day but also endured a wipeout of epic proportions.
“I would say it is a contender of WIPEOUT OF THE YEAR!” Bonython says. “God knows how he survived.”
See more from Bonython on his YouTube channel, Surfing Visions.
