Over my 35 odd years of surfing, as you can imagine, I’ve had my share of hold downs. However, this one has to top them all.
Although ‘Shipwrecks’, on the beautiful island off Bali named Nusa Lembongan, is an awesome wave, it can take some work and put you in some scary situations. Over the years of surfing this reef pass I’ve been put in many of these situations. You see Shipwrecks has a extremely strong current that pulls you into the impact zone and if you are caught out of position at the wrong time you are guaranteed to get cleaned up by the next set, which on a big day can be devastating. Sometimes it only takes thirty seconds before the current unknowingly sweeps you into the impact zone and sometimes on and on and out to sea. Only last week one guy got swept away and hasn’t been found since.
The time to surf shippies is around the high tide mark if you want the size. An hour before high tide it can be a gentle 3-4ft but once the high tide hits it can jack up to 8ft plus in an instant. Also the first set to hit guaranteed will be one of the biggest. But as long as your ready, know the tide times and are in position, no problem.
We pulled up to the line up around an hour prior to the high tide mark. Leanne was to stay in the boat on the inside to take photos and we also had another young couple that came with us. Both were boogie boarders that had never surfed Shippies before. Even as we jumped off the boat it was already pumping 6ft waves so we expected easily 8ft plus as the high tide hit . The girl sat way wide in the ‘safety’ of the channel as the size was way out of her league. I also kept an eye on her making sure she sat wide enough not to get caught out of position, as her boyfriend basically left her in the channel while he surfed on, unaware of the danger approaching. A couple of times I was caught off guard and only just made it over a couple of bomb sets.
With high tide creeping up i had caught quite a few gems and was having a ball, knowing that the waves were on the rise. Then they came. I had my line ups and was ready for the sets, well thought I was ready, but it didn’t matter. Without warning these huge walls of water appeared out the back and had everybody scrambling for the horizon. As soon as I saw them I knew there was nothing I could do but prepare for a beating. I had never seen a set so big and so far out to sea at Shipwrecks. It was the rogue set from hell that actually broke across the channel which is never heard of. I was as scared as I’ve ever been and wondered if I’d actually survive what was coming. Panic mode had set in.
The first wave stood up over 12ft high before crashing down only metres in front of me. I pushed my board aside and luckily had enough time to take a big breath before I went under. I tried to go as deep as I could but as the wave went over me the force pulled my straight up into the turbulence and I was thrashed around like never before. After a long time under I tried intently to get to the surface and thought to myself ‘this is it’, I was running out of oxygen and needed to get to the surface now. Then eventually it let me up to the surface and I popped up gasping for air. Thank god I thought, until I turned to see the most humungous wall of white water from the second wave I’d ever seen about to engulf me.
At this stage I didn’t think I’d survive another hold down so I chose to grab my board, face the shore and hope that I could ride the white water in laying down. I was so wrong. The second wave it hit with such a ton of force that it threw me off the board and I was catapulted toward shore getting tumbled underwater, again thinking ‘this if it’. The board hit me a couple of times and I’m sure I hit someone else underwater too. Somehow it eventually let up and to my absolute relief I breathed again.
With nothing left in me I looked to see yet a third wall of white water approaching. Here we go again. I desperately pulled my leg rope to retrieve my board and yet again faced the shore waiting for the white water to pick me up. Again it hit me with a ton of force and I was engulfed by the white water bouncing around as I desperately hung on for my life with surfers scattered everywhere. My saving grace was that the second wave had washed me in so much that it took some of the force off the next impact. Finally I shot out of the white water and managed to ride over the reef into the deeper channel inside and my life had been spared. I could see Leanne and the boat only 50 yards away but could only clamber to my board taking in huge breaths before I slowly paddled over to the boat as they hadn’t seen me getting cleaned up.
Half way to the boat I surprisingly noticed the girl even further in from me bobbing out of the water and I realised that the set was that big it must have broke right across the channel. I paddled over to her to see a white faced girl that was in total shock. I started to help her to the boat when she told me her flipper had been ripped off, as well as her board shorts and undies. Yes the waves had ripped her clothes off. I got her to the boat and Leanne threw her some pants to put on before we got her onboard. With another set fast approaching, her boyfriend was struggling to get to the boat with the captain screaming ‘we have to move, we have to move now’. I had only pulled him halfway onto the boat when we took off to avoid getting taken out. We made it to safety where we all, including the captain, regrouped before we headed back to shore for a Bintang or TEN!
I have to say if i had to deal with a forth wave on the head I seriously doubt you’d be reading this story!
