Infamous Slab Deadman's Comes Alive for Heaviest Winter Day in Sydney

It wouldn't be as special if it broke everyday. There are countless surf spots like that around the world, among them the snarling beast on Australian's eastern flank not-so-subtly known as Deadman's. One of Sydney's rarest birds, a wintertime swell just brought the infamous slab roaring to life as the local crew, along with a few blow-ins, took advantage of the moment.

This latest edit, released by big-wave documentarian Tim Bonython's team, shows Deadman's starting the day clean and relatively user-friendly. But as the swell fills in the zombie apocalypse takes over and the make to brain's eaten ratio swings heavily in favor of the ocean. The mutant stair-step on the takeoff at Deadman's doesn't favor the faint of heart, but even the most committed pay the reaper in more cases than not.   

"This is all the local boys, the Sydney boys boys, throwing themselves over the ledge, big wipeouts," marvels Bonython at the video's intro. 

Illustrating just how dynamic Australia's slab game is, while Bonython was on a mission to capture the action at The Right in Western Australia, Deadman's was breaking at the same time. That's two big, scary, life-threatening waves doing their thing at exactly the same time. There aren't many places in the world that boasts that level of heaviness. Of course, Australia is home to more poisonous snakes and spiders than everywhere else in the world, so there maybe it makes sense.