Last week Tim took a last minute trip down to Pedra Branca, which is 26 kilometers off the South East Cape of Tasmania, Australia. Like some of the best big wave locations, Pedra Branca is extremely remote and is a really long way from help if anything goes wrong. 32 year-old Hobart local James Hollmer-Cross came up close and personal with a gnarley wipe out, with a broken leg and torn ligaments, but luckily got to the surface and is frothing to get back out there.
Tim Bonython says about wanting to do the trip… “After 5 years of asking the local crew to take me out to this place they finally relented and invited me out to document one of my ‘great wonders of the world of big wave surfing’. Simply my own Everest of surfing. I was desperate to get there!”
The weather is really hit and miss with such an isolated location and it’s a big gamble for Tim to take a team of surfers and his equipment somewhere for the waves not to fire. He says “from looking at the maps I could see a very large deep period swell pushing up from the roaring forties. Not actually a big size swell compared to others but that period was very intense. Most importantly the winds in that location looked light, onshore but light. I watched the charts not expecting it to eventuate due to the onshore prediction, plus I still had no green card to go there. I actually kind of gave up on it and was planning on a weekend at home in Sydney.”
Tim continues, “Friday at lunch time I get a call from Marti Paradisis. He said, ‘Mate, its actually looking pretty good now, so we’re lining up the boys & it looks like we are heading out 3 am Sunday morning’. My heart went from normal to through the roof, like I was about to jump off a cliff with a bungee cord on the biggest drop ever. I was excited but incredibly anxious. Anyway, tickets were booked & cameras were packed. Thank God it was convenient 12 noon flight down to Hobart. I was picked up by local Zeb Critchlow who seemed worried that everything was falling apart.”
Tim says “Marti had just pulled out & a couple of the others were getting nervous about the winds turning to a stronger onshore direction. You don’t want wind down there.”
James Hollmer-Cross was in the crew of Danny Griffith, Zeb Critchlow, Tyler Hollmer-Cross, Jarrad Forster and blow-in (like me ha) Justin ‘Jughead’ Allport from the Central Coast NSW. Media consisted of Stuart Gibson & Andrew Chizhom and The Captain was Dave Wyatt from Southern Ocean Adventures. “We had a 3am start.”
James says “I’ve surfed Pedra Branca 5 times before, it’s known as a big remote and challenging wave. Mentally and Physically it is easily one of the heaviest waves in the world.”
James continues “I didn’t see the fall coming and I didn’t know it but my board had issues. I certainly didn’t know what to expect with the wipe-out out there, I’d never fallen at Pedra before. I just tried to keep calm.”
“I consider myself lucky for not dying but, it’s what I do and if I wasn’t prepared mentally and physically, with my fitness and big wave skills, that wipe-out could’ve ended me. As soon as I’m fit again you’ll see me out there charging for the biggest ones again.”
Tim says “This was one of my greatest surfing adventures and it is about to make history with some of the biggest bombs sets I’ve seen down south.”
The Australian Surf Movie Festival 12 is looking good!
Written by Sally Mac
