Surfer Narrowly Evades Death At Tombstones

Western Australian slab hunter-slash-pilot, Luke Wyllie, has met with the reef face to face, ending up in a neck brace and one hell of a headache. Thankfully, Mr Wyllie, long time friend of Stab, has escaped with his life after coming unstuck at Gnaraloo yesterday in the state’s northwest.

The wave he was surfing, known as Tombstones, is a deadly left hand reef break. Mr Wyllie is known as one of the most adept guys to surf it, often travelling up to have a swing alongside his pals Taj Burrow, Cortney Brown, Kerby Brown, Choppa Reid and Jake Perkins.

What we understand is Wyllie was injured paddling into a beast, rag-dolled across the shallow reef, knocking his head in the process. He fell unconscious, was handed a 20cm gash to his head and three fractures in his vertebra.

Luckily he came to and was still able to paddle himself to shore, fuelled by adrenaline, before reality and the pain set in. Assistance arrived swiftly, his co-pilot flying him out to Carnarvon airport, where the Royal Flying Doctor Service transferred him to Perth.

Right now he’s is in a stable condition and recovering under the supervision of the Royal Perth Hospital team and looking like he should make a full recovery in the coming months.

Stab wishes Luke a speedy recovery and our best goes out to his family. According to Wyllie’s wife Sam, he will be “#choppinguphisboards and retiring from big wave surfing.”

Somehow we doubt it.