International Big wave surfing news:
Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker rode what he says was the biggest wave he has ever ridden in Cape Town on Saturday when he and fellow Billabong team rider Greg Long towed each other into waves estimated to be over 70 foot (22 metres) in height.
The 35 year-old from Umhlanga, near Durban, and Long, 25, from San Clemente, California, started the day towing into waves at Dungeons, the notorious open ocean reef outside Hout Bay where Baker won the 10th anniversary edition of the Red Bull Big Wave Africa paddle-in event two weeks ago.
After three hours of epic rides and as the low tide approached the duo rode their PWC out to the indicator reef known a Tafelberg, a kilometre outside of Dungeons, where the huge waves usually just peak and crumble as the reef is eight metres below the surface.
However, the 16 second swell period and Southerly direction of the massive swell on Saturday, combined with the low tide and glassy conditions, was creating enormous waves that were breaking top to bottom in an awesome display of ocean power.
“The waves were definitely the biggest I’ve ever seen in South Africa and possibly the biggest anywhere,” Baker said. “Greg towed me into one giant wave that was so big I was terrified and started hyper-ventilating.”
“Later, when we saw the photos taken by Craig Kolesky with a large lens from Chapman’s Peak, we realised that those were possibly the biggest waves ever recorded, on a par with the rides we had a Cortes Bank in January which were measured at well over 70 feet.”
“We will definitely be keeping our eye on Tafelberg for future sessions,” Baker said. “That wave can get a lot bigger"
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