Daylight savings drew to an end last week which means shorter evenings and a shift from the long summer nights to a crisp and cooler autumn. Another signal for the change in seasons was the XL long range SSW swell which woke a certain Tasmanian slab.
The first big Shipstern Bluff session of Autumn went down and there were plenty of paddlers and tow surfers on hand to make the most of the menacing slab which poses a great risk vs reward situation.
Father and daughter duo Dylan and Summer Longbottom made a last minute dash down from Sydney to score what Dylan described as one of the ‘hardest and gnarliest’ Shippies sessions he had experienced.
“It was strange because the whole week leading up to the session, it didn’t look big enough and it wasn’t until 24 hours before, we looked at the swell and the forecast had gotten bigger so we decided to fly down.”
The shaper and big wave charger also called in his Dylan Shapes team rider Laura Enever for the tow session.
“It was amazing for the girls to even attempt it out there, let alone how hard they charged both Laura on her forehand and Summer on her backhand.”
Summer, who was surfing out at Shipsterns for the fourth time, has gone home with a black eye and swollen cheek after being speared by her board during a hold down.
“I was really nervous out there at the start because it was such a long wait between the big sets, maybe up to 40 minutes and I’m a big scaredy cat about sharks too. My legs were like jelly but I just kept talking over my technique with Dad and eventually got whipped into one,” she said.
While most dads are happy to drop their daughters off to ballet practice or stand on the sidelines during their soccer games. It is a completely different ball game for Dylan.
“There are always thousands of pros and cons going through my head but I just have to make sure that I get her into the best one possible. It is crazy difficult for her on her backhand but her first one of the day she nailed and it really set the tone for an epic session.
“Her second one, she washed off a bit too much speed as she came up to the step and she got pounded. The previous times she has surfed out there, she has made every wave but I told her she had to experience a hold down out here at some point.”
Summer added: “When I first fell it was almost like slow motion but then as it took me over the falls it was so intense. It didn’t freak me out too much but then I got a set on the head and was short of breath so I decided to take a break and Laura went next.”
Laura is no stranger to waves of consequence. She currently holds a Guinness World Record for the biggest paddle wave by a female.
“Laura got clipped on her first one,” said Dylan. “Her second one was one of the biggest of the day, she came in deep and it was huge but it moved too fast. On her third one, she came down under the step and stood tall and got spat out, it was incredible.”
After spending hours towing the girls in, the tide had gotten too low and there was no one out – the perfect time for Dylan to be whipped into a few, first by Kip Caddy and then by slab guru Mark Matthews – who made his return to the notorious slab after three years of rehab following a dislocated knee in 2016.
“Mark rocked up in the afternoon, he hadn’t been there for years and I whipped him into three bombs. He then towed me and I managed to get one of my best ones out there. I also got this giant one which was growing and by the time I got to the last step, I was too deep and looking back that wave was probably 1% makeable. I ended up going over and had the most violent thrashing. That was one of my gnarliest ones.”
“There was also an A-list of paddlers out there. It was so sick to watch and it was the best vibe all day, everyone was supporting each other. It was totally different to other sessions out there. It was one of the hardest Shippies to surf. I’ve never been out there with such a big period with that direction front on, it was almost gurgling on some of them.”
