Chris ‘Chippa’ Wilson, Cloudbreak, Fiji

Fly-boi can wet his rails, yes? As we told you last week, Chippa Wilson (pictured here) was recently over in Fiji, sessioning perfect Cloudbreak with Kelly Slater, Taj Burrow and Jay Davies, while an iron butterfly fluttered high above carrying Auteur Riley Blakeway and lensman John Respondek. On this wave, Chippa did two, huge hacks. Don’t be deceived by the chopper angle – this is six-eight foot Cloudbreak. Interestingly, the chopper pilot that flew our voyeurs around was the very same man who, in 1999, was taken hostage at gun point by a librarian, and ordered to airlift her lover from Silverwater Prison, in Sydney’s western suburbs. Riley described him as a cowboy and a great driver. The trip was Riley’s first time shooting chopper footage before, but he pulled all the slack out on his seat belt and hung out the side so there was no resistance. Riley shot three waves of Kelly this day that Taj described as “The best chopper footage ever shot.” Chippa later said that this was the funnest surf of his life, sitting out there sharing waves with Kelly, Taj and Jay in perfect, six-eight foot Cloudbreak.