By all accounts, Australia’s East coast has been apocalyptic of late. As the Daily Mail writes, “Waves of up to six metres lashed the Sydney coast on Monday, prompting lifeguards to close a number of beaches, including Coogee, Maroubra, Bronte, Tamarama and Cronulla due to ‘extremely dangerous conditions.’” Up to 50 domestic flights out of Sydney Airport were canceled in the face of runway closures due to 34 mph winds.
That didn’t stop intrepid surfers from tackling the XXL conditions. Drone footage from mySURF tv’s YouTube channel shows some absolutely mental tow-ins at Coogee, and at least one psychopath on a foil board.
Then, just to make things interesting, Brazilian bodysurfer Kalani Lattanzi decided to forego boards altogether and attack the waves face-first. Lattanzi, who has previously bodysurfed The Wedge, Jaws, Mavericks and Nazare, refused a Jet Ski ride to the break at Coogee’s Wedding Cake Island. In fact, he also refused a wetsuit, instead stripping down to a Speedo and flippers to swim out to the peak. For his efforts, Lattanzi “got two good waves, and an acai bowl afterwards to celebrate,” as he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
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Luckily photographer Gav Vee of @hell_swell was there to document the action. In the Instagram post regarding Kalani’s pre-acai routine, Gav wrote that, “Today was right up with the biggest conditions seen in these parts and it made for a tough day for the guys paddling. You literally had to be half way down the face on take off and by the time you got to your feet you had been sucked back to the top of the wave.”
Lattanzi seems to be quite a bit more relaxed about the whole situation, although he did briefly nod to the danger he faced. “My grandma, she worries. And Mum too,” Lattanzi told the Herald, in possibly the understatement of the year. Yeah, man, we’re worried too.
