Like the freak shows of P.T. Barnum yore, surfers are drawn to mutant, deformed waves.
Especially recently, as some of the world’s best surfers have turned away from seeking out perfection – and instead, guys like Nathan Florence are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, especially in terms of freakish, arguably un-surfable liquid monstrosities.
But this next wave – “the wave that shouldn’t exist” – is something else entirely.
It was discovered by longtime filmmaker behind the Tension bodyboard films, Chris Whitey, and sent out to the world last week…and quickly it began boggling minds. The wave, vortex, freak of nature, whatever you wanna call it, breaks somewhere in the wilds of Western Australia – home to many of the world’s most mercurial waves. And now, Whitey is bringing viewers behind-the-scenes of his one-of-a-kind encounter.
“The second I saw it [on footage]I thought it was AI,” Whitey explained. “Even though I saw in real life, I didn’t know it would look like that. But I assure you, that’s not AI. It looks crazy from the side, but once we got the drone footage. I had no idea that a wave could wrap in from every direction. I thought it was like two waves, but it’s four peaks all coming together at the same time.”
Related: Surfers Baffled by Ocean Vortex: ‘A Wave That Shouldn’t Exist’ (Video)
And the drone pilot who shot the wave from above, providing that unique angle, Ben Allen, even took the footage to an oceanographer to see if they could explain how this might occur in nature. Even the oceanographer was baffled; Allen described:
“I showed this guy, and he goes, ‘Wow, that’s cool you captured that. That’ll never happen again. That’s where they lose ships in the Bermuda Triangle, that kind of stuff. You’ll never see it again.’ But we captured it happening over and over and over again. He just didn’t believe it. And he’s one of the most renowned oceanographers in Australia.
The drone itself was flying 40 meters (131 feet). And the reverse waterfall of whitewater spouting into the sky? That was somewhere in the 70 meter (230 foot) range.
“I’ve shot a lot of waves, explored so many hours in my life, and I’ve never seen anything remotely close to that,” Whitey continued. “It’s just a spectacle.”
Not all waves at this spot are a full-on vortex, a convergence of water connecting in a 360-degree unholy union. There were some actual waves. But are they rideable? Here’s Whitey:
“You’d see one kinda spit like a regular wave. And you’re like, ‘maybe that is rideable.’ Then the next thing you see is just, like, chaos. And you’re like, ‘It’s not rideable.’ To this day, I have no idea if it’s rideable.”
Yet…
Related: Infamous ‘Gurgle’ Wave Returns to the North Shore (Video)
