Julian Wilson, Little Haiti in Cronulla, NSW

There’s a certain combination of wind and swell that sends surfers into rapture in the southern Sydney suburb of Cronulla. And this wave, while relatively benign looking in this photograph, is actually one that has the ability to strip a man of all dignity. First you must paddle across deep water where Great Whites live (don’t shriek!), negotiate a bodyboarders-only wave (fins scrape!) and then collect a sudden ledge off a pack that included on this day Mick Fanning, Bede Durbidge, Owen Wright as well as Julian, whom we see here. “The wave pops up out of nowhere. A few of the boys getting to their feet, free falling and getting smashed,” says the photographer Rod Owen. But not Julian. “This was one of his two only barrels. Everything else was a big air or some kinda variation. Mick and Julian were going the rights and Owen was going left. It was like a comp out there.”