It’s Easter Sunday and hundreds are packed into the Harbord Hotel on Sydney’s Northern Beaches for the Tracks Party. Kyuss King’s Headsend have energised the crowd into a frenzy with their grunge and metal anthems. Just before The Good Kids grace the stage, host Jed Smith invites local legend Tom Myers up to say a few words after he caught the wave of his life on Friday at the Queenscliff Bombie.
The video went viral on social media after Tommy took off on an XXL cavern at the bombie, knifed himself under the lip and disappeared in the barrel before being blown out into the channel in front of two of his best mates. People on Instagram compared the wave to Mavericks or Jaws, but it just so happened to be round the corner from Freshwater, a vibrant suburb where Tommy resides and the host for our fourth stop on the Tracks Party Tour.
As Tommy get on stage, beer in hand, Jed and the crowd greet him accordingly.
“He packed the biggest pit on the continent of Australia this year at Queenscliff.”
“He’s the president of the Freshwater Boardriders, a local icon, he’s got two kids and is a proud dad,” said Jed.
“What was it like to catch that wave?”
“First of all I’m super grateful to be up here, thanks everyone for giving me the very short attention span you have when you’re maggot.
“Thank you so much, it was a once in a lifetime wave and to have a couple of my mates on the shoulder cheering me on. My favourite photo I’ve seen is not of the wave, it’s of my two good mates paddling towards me after the wave, hugging me and trying to digest what just happened.”
Jed hands the mic across to North Narrabeen ripper and CS surfer Jordy Lawler, whose preparing to shred the guitar with The Good Kids.
“No one deserves it more than Tommy, he was my favourite surfer growing up and still is,” added Jordy.
“Tell us what it was like Tommy inside that thing.”
“It was a pure white out, I couldn’t see a fucking thing, I was absolutely blinded. All I could hear was my two mates on the shoulder, it was like I was a baby being birthed and dad was at the end going ‘just push, push’ and I merged from the womb going ‘what the fuck just happened’.”
The wave capped off a session at the bombie where a number of memorable rides went down. Elsewhere on the Northern Beaches, comparisons were being made between South Narrabeen and Pipeline.
A clip of Kobi Clements had gone viral on social media as he hucked himself over the ledge on a solid left hand drainer before narrowly avoiding the avalanche end section which almost engulfed him. The wave looked similar to one of those mutant tubes at Pipe which narrowly miss the second reef before detonating on the inside.
Two days later I bumped into Dylan Moffat in the water at North Narrabeen who said it was one of the best days of waves he had witnessed on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
“That was probably the best Southie I’ve ever seen, so many of them had perfect corners on them which you could pick off and get slotted on.”
South of the bridge, a contingent of local chargers, some of Australia’s biggest names and a couple of international superstars had their eyes on Cape Solander. The Friday was too big for the wave, which is also known as ‘Ours’ and was made famous by The Bra Boys. However, as the swell dropped a touch on Saturday, the wave came to life. Nathan Florence was on hand to put on a show for the numerous filmers and extensive crowd that lined the headland. If Nath set the bar, then everyone also followed suit as surfers threw themselves over the ledge at one of the gnarliest slabs in the country.
You can check out some of the highlights from that session below:
