Adrian Taco Kovacic is a carpenter and part-time pro surfer from Sydney’s east. When not competing in regional QS events he likes to go out on days no-one else wants any part of. His wild exploits have been well documented by Tracks; including the time he paddled solo around the cliffs from Clovelly to Bronte to ride a fifteen-twenty-foot swell.
More recently Taco has set his sights on paddling Shipstern Bluff in Tasmania. Determined to win the respect of the local, Tassie contingent, Taco has so far elected to make the tough, 1.5 hr schlepp into Shippies, shouldering a backpack full of supplies and two boards. The walk-in experience is more like a special-forces challenge than a casual bush stroll, particularly if you factor in the return journey when you are lugging a sodden wettie and zonked from surfing thunderous, step-riddled slabs.
On his maiden trip, Taco walked in alone, before dawn. He was hoping to find someone to surf with at the other end, but unfortunately, the intimidating line-up was bereft of human company when he arrived. After three hours waiting around, a bushwalker wandered past. Taco pleaded with them to sit on the rocks and watch while he snaffled a couple of cautious waves. “They said, ‘don’t worry if anything happens, I’ve got an EPirb’,” he chuckles. However, the sense of vulnerability in the water was hard to overcome and good friend Marti Paradisis had already warned against surfing Shippies alone. “I didn’t really get a proper session,” he laments over the phone.
Fortunately, on his recent mission Taco made impromptu friends in the carpark, to walk in with. This swell was more hyped, and he also took comfort in knowing a couple of friends from Sydney, Chase Hardaker and Max McGuigan, would be arriving with a ski.
Taco ultimately shared the line-up with a half a dozen paddle surfers and a few surfers whipping in. The session proved more fruitful for the lone-wolf charger who goes about his big-wave business with minimal fuss. “It was really tough, but I kind of got the waves I wanted,” he says with a measure of satisfaction. The pay-dirt moment came when he paddled into this wave and got the hook-up with seasoned lensman, Sam Venn. The result – Taco riding deep on a heaving, Tassie curl with the Bluff and the barrel all in frame. A crystallized memory of a well-earned wave.
