Amidst the multiple, mutant, and in some cases lethal recent flurries of swell that battered Australia’s eastern seaboard, there were countless moments of mayhem that slipped through the cracks. There was just so much going on – so much nonstop action – that it was hard to keep track.
But now, as the seas have settled, the surfers have recovered, and the documenters have been sifting through their hard drives, some of the most hectic moments are starting to resurface.
Like this moment below, featuring a surf videographer, who found himself perched on the rocks during Cape Solander’s “day of the decade” and taking on a literal mountain of whitewater: Watch:
The man getting absolutely gobbled by a mountain of whitewater was Brenden Newton. He was filming over Easter Weekend at Sydney’s premier slab, Cape Solander, which saw the biggest, heaviest day in years. In fact, at some points during the weekend-long swell, conditions were just too crazy, to gnarly, leading some to call it un-surfable. Too much backwash, too distorted for humans.
Anyway, surf filmmaker Tim Bonython captured this moment of Newton standing like a linebacker, and taking the massive wave like a champ, as featured in his recent edit from the swell. But the clip, itself, was worth a second look. And luckily, Newton was okay. Bonython said:
“Ok, everyone is sharing this clip so I better share it too (since I shot it). Here we have Brenden Newton exiting the water at Cape Solander on what was one of the bigger days at the Cape. On this day if you’re coming in then you better be patient as getting rolled up on that rock shelf can be pretty disastrous. Lucky Brenden ended up okay with only a few scratches but maybe he should’ve taken up the offer from the Bra Boy’s and gone in a different way. PS if you find a GoPro around that rock shelf, then it probably belongs to Brenden.”
Onya, Brendo.
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