Shippies Opening Day

Words: Nick Carroll
Photos: Andrew Chisholm 

Marti Paradisis ain't bluffing. Pic: Andrew Chisholm

“It was borderline too big,” was Marti Paradisis’s call.

“Nothing like anything I’ve ever seen before,” was photog Andrew Chisolm’s reaction.

Marti’s ridden and Andrew’s filmed almost every day of the past decade at Tassie’s epic slab venue, so when they say things like that, you pay attention.

Even if the pics haven’t already convinced you.

In effect this was Opening Day at Tassie’s epic slab venue. Most of the surf this La Nina year has been coming from the western Pacific or from flat westerly fetches under West Oz – neither of ‘em any good for Shipstern. Thus there’d been only one small day earlier this year in the 10-foot range, paddled by Mark Mathews, Hippo and others.

Marti pulls the eject handle and gets outta there. Pic: Andrew Chisholm

But Tuesday May 17 was different. This time the swell – formed off a super-powered SSW fetch flaring directly under their home island – hit direct and hard, almost too hard. “There were 20-footers breaking in a foot of water,” says Marti, who with tow buddy Sandy Ryan got there around 11am, three or four hours ahead of anyone else.

Shippies distortion. Pic: Andrew Chisholm

“It was breaking off the side of the reef, feathering out the back, doing things I’d never seen it do before. It felt like every wave you caught was unmakeable. It was the most intimidated I’ve ever been out there.”

Executing a double twist, half tuck, quadruple somersault under pressure. Pic: Andrew Chisholm

To make it all just that much more dramatic, it was Sandy’s first big wave session back from a severe neck injury, and the pair were winging it. “We tried to get a brace on him, but it wouldn’t fit, so we ended up just putting a bit of tape on,” says MP. “I don’t think it would’ve made much difference….he reckons when he wiped out, he was holding his head steady with both hands underwater just in case.”

Tyler Hollmer-Cross sitting pretty. Pic: Andrew Chisholm

Meanwhile Chiz and mates had surfed the protected points near Hobart before pushing out to Shipstern, getting there around 2.30pm. “We’d surfed the points first because it was onshore,” he says. “Then as the day went on and the wind settled a bit we headed to Shippies. The wave was warping. I took one shot where the dome of water coming off the reef was about three metres high. You can’t explain what it was doing.”

The Hollmer-Cross brothers showed up, sat and watched for a long time, pretty much convinced it was unrideable, before cracking and charging into it. By all accounts JHX got the barrel of the day. Later they were joined by James McKeon and Rudi Schwartz. Marti and Sandy were stoked to have some others taking giant steps down twisted faces.

Cliff shakers. Pic: Andrew Chisholm

“You anticipate it all year – that’s what we froth on,” MP says. “Had this hit a couple of swells further into the year there might have been more wave ridden and more crew on it. But … this is a 20-foot wave that’s half-lip. You’d catch one and be on your way back out and see a big one with the steps in it – then next minute be catching one, sorta shrugging and thinking ‘Let’s see what happens here’…. It was like we were on a suicide mission or something.

The May 16 weathermap was one worth getting excited about. First stop Tassie, then onto Fiji for this merry band of lows.

“But at the end of the day, when the wind backed off and the rest of the crew came out, it evened up a bit and turned nice. It was a good note to finish on.”

The survival dance. Pic: Andrew Chisholm