Over my thirtyfive odd years of surfing, as you can imagine, I’ve had my share of hold downs. However, on this particular day, the one I encountered topped them all.
Although ‘Shipwrecks’, on the beautiful island off Bali named Nusa Lembongan, is an awesome wave, it demands respect, 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 scary 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 even on and on and out to sea. Only last week one guy got swept away and hasn’t been found since.
While success here results in elation and heart palpitations, failure will present you with a bunch of reef tattoos at a cost of zero Rupia. Hati-hati (caution) is a word commonly associated with this wave. Flat at low tide but as soon as the tide rushed in, so do the waves. It can be a playful 2 feet at one moment, then before you know it, it starts pulsing at a sketchy 6 feet with way bigger sneaker sets always looming ready to catch you out, as it did to me several times over the years. The first set to hit guaranteed will be one of the biggest. But as long as you’re ready, know the tide changes and are in position, no problem, well most of the time…
We pulled up to the line up around an hour prior to the high tide mark. My wife Leanne was to stay in the Jukung (Bali boat) on the inside in the lagoon to watch on. We also had another young couple that came with us, both being boogie boarders that had never surfed Shippies before. Even as we jumped off the boat it was already pumping 6 feet waves so we expected easily 8 feet plus when 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, but also 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, so wide 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 so high. I don’t even know how big. The face must have been 12 to 15 feet high. I had no chance on getting over the wave and before I knew it, the wave came 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 a pair of socks in a washing machine. The worst beating I had ever experienced. 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 humongous 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 roller coaster laying down. I was so wrong. The second wave hit with such a ton of force that it immediately threw me off the board and I was catapulted toward shore getting tumbled underwater, again thinking ‘this is it’. The board hit me a couple of times and I’m sure I hit someone else underwater too. Somehow it eventually let me 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, thankful that it was still attached to my board, and yet again faced the shore waiting for the whitewater to pick me up and have its way. 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 far that it took some of the force off the next impact. Finally, I shot out of the white water, still on my board and managed to ride over the shallow inside reef into the deeper channel inside and my life had been spared. Totally in shock at this point but I could see Leanne and the jukung only fifty yards away but could only cling to my board taking in huge breaths with no energy to even call out. Once I regained some composure, I slowly paddled over to the boat and they spotted me.
Halfway to the boat to my surprise, I noticed the boogie boarder girl from our jukung 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 and even cleaned her up too. 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 jukung and Leanne threw her some pants to put on before we got her onboard. We then noticed her boyfriend had been washed in too but was struggling to get to the boat with the captain screaming ‘we have to move, we have to move now’. Another set was thundering down on us. I had just pulled him halfway onto the boat when the captain took off swiftly to avoid getting taken out. Once we made it to safety, 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 fourth wave on the head I seriously doubt you’d be reading this story! I’ve surfed Shipwrecks a few times since this experience, but every time when it’s a solid size, is with this experience on the forefront of my mind.
