Opening Day At The Right, With Kerby Brown

There’s a method to surfing The Right, or rather, a knack. The knack lies in knowing how to throw yourself into a maelstrom while avoiding joining the vortex yourself. Clearly, it’s the second part, the coming out the other end, that presents the difficulties.

Confidence goes a long way when tackling Western Australia’s premier unattractive mass, as well. Jet ski assistance doesn’t hurt, either. Need a visual example? See, Kerby Brown above. We’ll have him take it from here:

“I was tracking that swell for ages,” Kerby tells Stab. “I’m living down on the South Coast now and hadn’t surfed The Right yet this year, so I didn’t want to miss it. Totally a last minute decision, but I jumped in the car and drove through the night nonetheless.

“I teamed up with my good friend and local legend, Chris “Shanzy” Shanahan, a madman who knows the wave well and I love surfing with. Anyways, we got out there at first light and didn’t even look at it before Shanzy told me to get straight on the rope. It ended up being pretty slow but so clean and round on the waves that came through. I was stoked to get a couple good ones, especially considering my last surf out there, which put me out of the water for five months. It was a great day for sure, and hopefully a taste of what’s to come.”

“I knew the swell was going to be big and the winds were going to be clean,” photographer Ari Wolfe, who snapped the shots above, tells Stab. “I couldn’t pass it up. I had driven down from Margaret River the night before almost straight after shooting North Point on the rising swell. It was a little slow but definitely had the odd one!” 

The story behind the sequence above? “Kerby was up and positioned real deep,” Ari continues. “He set his line and pinned through with so much speed, disappearing for what felt like a long time. I wasn’t sure if he was going to get through the section, but he reappeared on the other side with relief on his face. He didn’t have much to say about the wave as he was frothing and was on his way straight back out there after ready for another!”