A Sunday at Cape Solander

All photos by Bill Morris (except those two that say ‘Rod Owen’ on them)…

As you might have seen over here, Ours aka Cape Fear aka Cape Solander was on yesterday. Kinda. There were really good waves but a powering north swell and the world’s lowest tide* (*may be exaggerated) meant that there was two feet of backwash coming hard up the face, which is no cakewalk on a two foot beachie let alone Sydney’s most scary wave, and meant that exits from the green room were limited.

This swell was timely in that it landed a week after the announcement of Mark Mathews’ Red Bull Cape Fear. If the contest runs in swell of similar size, then it’ll live up to its event-like-nothing-you’ve-ever-seen promise. Mark himself was obviously front and centre yesterday, and keeping a close eye on today. He recently bought a drone and his gal, Britt, has become pretty handy at piloting it. The light buzz tapped the airspace above the lineup intermittently, and the rotors were kept below the flight paths of Sydney Airport (which ain’t far away).

Also in the water were tow teams Makua Rothman and Koby Abberton, Tom Dosland, Dan Ross (and Mark), and Evan Faulkes, Perth Standlick and Dom Wills. There was a bit of a fever in the lineup, given the buzz of the Cape Fear event. Everybody wanted a piece. And yeah, while some handled with paddle power, towing was a necessary evil yesterday. As we’ve said before, less than half the waves on a day like this are makeable without a rope.

Got angles? If you shot this swell and wanna put some pixels (1000 of ’em in width!) up in lights, then please inflate:

[email protected]