Tasmania Is More Than Just Shipsterns And Scenery

Tasmania, the small island state with the cleanest air in the world, holds a well defined space on the world surf radar: Shipsterns Bluff. 

Though muggles might simply associate Tasmania with satanic rodents and a vast expanse of wilderness refuge, for surfers, any mention of the trapezoidal isle conjures up visions of the fabled step.

In fact, Shipsterns has been on our radar twice this week, once for Harry Holmer Cross’ near-drowning, and once for Ned Harts pre-pubescent slab clinic.

Now, Tasmanian filmmaker Simon Treweek and local builder Kelly Nordstrom bring us a different window into their surfing life (though, Shippies still plays a glorious role.)

“We have such a wide range of set ups down here between points, slabs, and beaches,” Simon tells me. “We had a list of about 10 waves we wanted to score around the island. It’s kinda fickle though, so we only got to about half the spots we planned — now we’re just motivated to do another project in the future.”

The edit features mostly unseen slabs and those terrific Maroc-esque right points, all shared with friends — notably, local lords Marti Paradisis and Tyler Holmer Cross

“Marti and Tyler are such iconic Tassie surfers,” Simon notes. “They’ve been a big influence on Kelly so we were honored to include them. Also, Coops is one of Kelly’s best mates. He’s super humble and has been having a solid crack at paddling Stern on his backhand.”

As seen at 3:05, Coops is a certified madgoof. Onya Coops.