Jay Davies, barrel no. 2, North Point, WA

On Saturday, opposing swells hit the east and west coasts of Australia. But the west won that particular match, reaching plenty taller than the east and delivering waves like the one we see Jay Davies standing in here.

Fact: It was too big for North Point. Raw and wild. But since when does that stop those guys (you know the ones – every town has them)? “The tow teams booted out to Cow Bombie and from what I hear absolutely scored,” says the photographer, Mike Maxted. “Jay Davies and Dino Adrian watched from the car park from 7am until they decided to paddle out somewhere around 2pm. There were more Bay closeouts than I’ve seen in years, 15 foot bombs absolutely touching up the guys in the lineup. Barely 25km up the road, a local bodyboarder died on Sat morning.

“If you had the patience to spend 20 minutes ducking under the widow makers, then every now and again, one would rattle off and make a hero of you. This shot of Jay is actually the beginning of his second pit on this wave, it hit the inside and just went square!”