Taj Burrow, backside swoop, north-west WA

Not since Fiji and the wildly controversial Volcom Fiji Pro, have we seen many of the world tour surfers in action. The break for surfers not haunting the QS has already been five weeks and Taj Burrow has spent that time exclusively in his home state of West Australia. For Taj, it’s been the longest stay at home for over 15 years. “I was terrified to be spending five weeks at home,” says Taj. “Well not terrified, but a true test of my ability to stay still. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to handle. I forgot how much I love the west.” It hasn’t just been a winter at home by the fire, though. This has been his second trip north to the desert chasing waves. This three-day mission has been with friend Luke Wyllie, a professional pilot. Rather than take on the 10 to 12 hours north via bitumen on the Great Northern Highway, they’ve taken to the skies via a Cessna Conquest landing on quiet runways in the north west. Tomorrow, they fly an hour north to the dirt runway at Gnaraloo Homestead before jetting back to Perth tomorrow night. There’s a team of photogs there, too, the photos from whom will appear in Stab. We let this b-grader slide for the web. When Taj saw this shot, he replied: “I’ve had five weeks off, we get psycho waves and you show me a shot on the shoulder? You can’t run that.”