big wave

As I watched through the zoom lens it felt as though I was right there: Jasper Mocke’s surfski hung for a moment on the precipice and then plunged down the face of a massive wave.  He hit a smaller cross chop, went airborne and then plunged down, the nose of his ski diving into the green water; he disappeared in an explosion of spray and then the boat shot up without him, spinning, into the air.

Richard von Wildemann (aka "Chopper") is a born waterman - and one of his passions is riding the massive swells at Cape Recife near his home in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  The first time he filmed this wave, he rented a helicopter to do it and the story was written up by Joe Glickman and posted here on surfski.info.

This time the technology wasn't quiet so expensive...  Here are some fabulous drone shots of Richard riding The Point.

7 June 2017, and Cape Town is hit by the strongest storm in decades.  By early afternoon the next day, the winds had dropped, but the massive swell had swung from the southwest to south - which meant that it was wrapping into False Bay.  Multiple Surfski World Series Champion Dawid Mocke and a crew of like-minded paddlers took the opportunity to ride the big waves near Kalk Bay Harbour.

"Meet at Kalk Bay Harbour, 12:30 - huge waves!" So read the text message from Owen Middleton.  An unusual storm swell had entered False Bay and we were going to film some paddlers surfing the resulting waves just outside Kalk Bay Harbour.

{mosimage}