:: Deadies

It's wild and woolly out there this morning and barring a handful of inner harbour novelty breaks there's pretty much only a couple of spots handling the wind, size and raw power of what the Tasman is serving up today.   There's 10-15ft of SSE swell and 20kts of Southerly, it's survival at sea! When conditions are like this, a rare handful of surfers get amped, scale the cliffs beyond the carpark at Cabbage Tree Bay Reserve, dodge the sets under the cliffs and surf a rock ledge called Deadmans.  It's a seriously heavy wave and today's wild sea made surfing it an even more challenging affair.

Local charger Ben Serrano (you might have seen him in the Manly Daily a week or so back playing his violin at Manly Hospital) scored the wave of the morning, a gnarly, heaving double barrel that he somehow managed to make his way out of after the second ledge.  There's a 48 frame sequence from take-off to exit on Facebook.  I would have edited it down but it's such a critical wave that I wanted to show the full deal.  The conditions looked super tricky and even with the crew showing plenty of caution there were still some heavy falls and hold downs.

The wind's going to easy throughout the day and turn South Westerly so conditions could improve.  If you want to surf today, dust off the gun or head for the protected harbour. ∆ Murray