Often a swell will thrust a surfer into the limelight. Whether the wave chooses them, or they choose the wave it’s hard to say; but either way you must be ready to seize the moment.
When a giant, southeast pulse lit up Sydney’s big wave zones last week, Chase Hardaker was primed to hunt it down. On Tuesday, Chase was rostered off his regular duties as a Bondi Lifeguard and bolted across the bridge to take on the volatile chunks hitting Deadman’s. Chase surfed Deadies for most of the day, however when he returned to Bondi late in the afternoon, he couldn’t ignore the giant lefts roaring into Ben Buckler Point, at the beach’s northern end. By then, the onshore winds had given the waves an evil texture and the six-metre swell would eventually crash through the windows of the Bondi Icebergs at the beach’s southern end.
In the afternoon a handful of surfers were still up for the challenge of riding the building swell, spurred on by the crowd of onlookers gathered on the headland above.
Chase paddled out on his 9’6”, Dylan Longbottom gun, took off deep and instantly put Benbuckler on the big-wave map with a sheer-faced drop that rapidly went viral on social media.
“I couldn’t see the set coming but people on the cliffs were whistling,” recalls Chase. “It was enough to get the heart rate going so I paddled for the horizon early and I think it was the second wave of the set. I was just in the perfect position and swung.”
Although Chase’s drop was hailed as monumental by legions of surfers, he still feels there is another zone to be conquered at Benbuckler. “Once the swell is big and gets some east in it, behind the boil throws the craziest roundest barrels. Myself and Clint Kimmins (also a Bondi Lifeguard) have always spoken about getting barrelled behind the boil, but it’s yet to be done to my knowledge.”
By Thursday the swell was the right size for some of the slabbier waves in Sydney’s south. Chase headed over to Cape Solander, where the gurgling barrels can offer one of surfing’s most challenging paddle-in scenarios. Just two days after his Benbuckler bomb, he air-dropped into a flexing, triple-lipped keg, stomped the landing, flirted with the foam ball and found the exit on a green-lit cave. Prolific videographer, Tim Bonyhthon, called it the wave of the day on his Insta post, while Dylan Longbottom was quick to label it, ‘The Chase Swell’ in the comments section.
Keep an eye out for the full edits on Tim Bonython’s You Tube channel.
As the swell subsided, the Bondi Lifeguard was back on patrol, making rescues, weaving the beach buggy between sunbakers and bellowing at backpackers through the megaphone. However, Chase’s two rides have won him fans and earned him respect amongst the big wave fraternity. Next time a thumping swell rolls into Sydney he’ll be on The Chase again.
