When it comes to waves of consequence, it’s tough to top Shipstern Bluff. It can be impossible to surf, even for the best. It’s a warping, heavy, unpredictable slab of a wave with steps throughout it, breaking over a shallow reef. And on April 6, a handful of slab chasers were treated to a session that’ll live in the memory banks.
It’s not just the wave itself that makes “Shippies” so treacherous. It’s a remote place, far from help. Situated on the southeastern coast of Tasmania, surfers can only get there via a two hour hike or a 20-mile boat ride.
The Tasman Sea is a wild place. Low pressure systems from the South Pole head north through open ocean, building steam before running into the coast of Tasmania. It’s cold and full of sea life, including seals, orcas, and great white sharks.
Kyron Rathbone is a man who enjoys pushing his limits, and Shipstern is, perhaps, the best place for a surfer to do that.
“Saturday, April 6 was a pretty special day at the wave at the end of the road, at the bottom of the world,” Rathbone wrote of the day in the edit above. “The crowd was thick but also super respectful. Some absolutely crazy rides went down as well as some of the heaviest beatings, too. ”
Adding to the overall feeling of the day was smoke in the air from forestry burn offs nearby. When the sun began to set after one of the most epic days in recent memory, that smoke gave everyone a fine send off.
