Photos by: Russell Ord www.russellord.com

Photos by: Russell Ord www.russellord.com

!english version avaliable!

Alfy Cater e Delroy Carr faturam um grande swell na Austrália

Alex Alfy Cater-19 August, 2009 Shot from www.russellord.com

“Foi muita pressão. Nós estávamos lá sozinhos, e normalmente temos muitos outros surfistas tentando surfar nesse pico,” continuou Alfy. “De repente eles se desencorajaram pelo vento de 40 nós que sopraram na região de manhã cedo. Nós não pensamos que estaria tão grande e estávamos todos surpresos. A água estava com uma cor estranha de chocolate devido às tempestades, e estava muito fria. Para ser honesto, eu ficava feliz só de sentar no carro quente. Mas foi então que o vento parou e tudo se encaixou. Depois tivemos a chance de olhar as fotos, e eu fiquei surpreso e chocado quão grande estava,” concluiu ele.

Durante a sessão, Alfy tomou umas bombas de ficar arrepiado. Em uma onda ele disse que tentou “desacelerar um pouco e fiquei preso quando a onda acabou me puxando e me jogando como um boneco.” Já para Delroy Carr eles tiveram muita sorte. Ele que estava em sua primeira viagem com Alfy, disse que “teve uma onda grande que perdemos porque não conseguimos virar com velocidade suficiente para pegá-la. Estou muito inclinado para voltar lá em outro dia de grandes ondas, e tentar fazer melhor ainda.”

O fotógrafo Russel Ord estava lá para capturar toda a ação. Suas imagens estão agora na disputa para o prestigioso prêmio, que vem sendo apresentado todo ano para premiar as maiores ondas surfadas em águas da Austrália, Ásia e Tasmânia. O resultado será dado em Fevereiro de 2010. A onda de Alfy Cater is disputando cabeça a cabeça com uma onda épica do vencedor do ano passado, Mark Mathews de Maroubra. Para ver outros concorrentes basta entrar no site do evento: http://surfinglife.com.au/bigwaveawards/cms/

!versão em português!

Black water. Howling wind. Sheets of rain. And on top of all that, seven metre deep-ocean swells exploding over remote limestone reef. That’s what greeted expert big-wave riders Alfy Cater and Dave Delroy Carr last week off the south-west Australian coast.
Yet from the madness has come magic: a thrilling contender ride for the $35,000 Oakley Surfing Life Big Wave Awards. “It was really full-on,“ says Alfy, who is a previous winner of the Awards (he took Biggest Wave in 2007 for a nine-metre monster off a reef near his home in Dunsborough, WA).

“It was pretty mental, we were out there by ourselves – usually there are a lot of other surfers trying to ride that spot.” Perhaps they were discouraged by the 40-knot gales that blew across the region earlier in the day. Or maybe they were just intimidated by the sheer size of the waves.

“We didn’t think it was going to be that big and we were all surprised,” says Alfy. “The water was a weird chocolate brown from the storms, and very cold. To be honest, I was happy just to sit in the warm car. “But then the wind dropped and it got really magic. “After we had a chance to look at the photos, I was definitely surprised and shocked at how large it was.”

In the process Alfy took some hair-raising beatings. On one wave in particular, he says: “I tried to burn off a bit of speed and I just stalled way too much and the wave drew me back up the face, picked me up and threw me like a little rag-doll.” “We were pretty lucky,” admitted Delroy Carr, who was on his first adventure with Cater. “There was one big one we missed because we couldn’t turn fast enough to catch it.

“I’m pretty keen to get back there on another big day, try to do better again.”

Photographer Russell Ord was there to capture the action. His image is now in contention for the ultra-prestigious Awards, which are presented each year for the biggest waves ridden in Australasian waters. The Awards will be judged in February 2010.

Cater’s ride is head-to-head with an epic ride already recorded by last year’s winner, Mark Mathews of Maroubra. Go to the Awards official website to see it and other entries! http://surfinglife.com.au/bigwaveawards/cms/