Finally! Some stand up paddling pics from the Xmas swell...
Great skill shown to make it over this one...
Rob Pirie, normally the one behind the lens - had these great shots snapped of him while he was out paddling around on the day after Boxing Day - unfortunately he's only got the story to tell from Boxing day, where the swell was much larger and more powerful. So here's what he had to say about the stand up paddling session of a lifetime on Boxing Day.
"I was already 50m out past the shark nets when the mother of sets stood up on the horizon , I was my 9-6 PSH Hull Ripper Pro which has incredible paddling speed , it got me up the face and over the first set and as I cracked through the the lip to a massive free fall down the back of the wave and unbelievably my feet landed back on the board I kept paddling only to see the sky darken as this 12ft monster crested and broke on my head.It was almost a 2 wave hold , got my head up for a quick breath and continued to get pumbled.I had my paddle locked out front to stop the tumbling and drag back and then..... POP there goes my leggie.
Finally I surfaced to see the Westpac Helicopter hoving over my head with the door open to rescue me , I gave them the thumbs up I'm OK but they wanted to bring me in as I was getting sucked back out to sea through the impact zone again. I strapped the handle of my paddle through my leg rope strap and started the long 500m swim in , they kept an eye on me for about 10 mins but left me when I got to the inner break. 20mins later I was standing on the beach reeling from my Christmas day hangover and XOS pounding ,the life guards had recovered my board and drove me back to my car."
Check out the photos below, and if Rob can find the photographers who were up on the hill at Snapper, then he'll show us the rest of his pics from Boxing day. If you'd like the full story, and a couple more pics, check out his post in the forums here.
Little Bay, NSW
