Surfer breaks leg taking on ‘probably the biggest wave ever ridden in Australia’
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Version 0 of 1. An Australian surfer has broken his leg riding an 18-metre wave off the coast of Margaret River, Western Australia, as surfers flocked to the area chasing a big swell that had been travelling through the Indian Ocean. Justin Holland, a professional surfer and stand-up paddleboarder from Queensland, had been towed by a jet-ski onto the wave at Cow Bombie, an open-ocean reef break about 2km off the coast from Grace Town, on Saturday morning. Grace Town is a popular surfing destination about 270km south of Perth. Jamie Mitchell, himself a world champion stand-up paddleboarder, towed Holland onto the wave. Mitchell told Guardian Australia it was their fifth wave of the morning and by far the biggest. “I pulled him onto the wave, so I was pretty excited,” Mitchell said. “But when he came up and I went to get him he was just saying his leg, his leg. “His leg didn’t get out of the leg strap quickly enough, and I think that’s what broke it.” The impact of the wave slamming into him broke Holland’s left femur. Mitchell and another jetski driver, Keighley Bremner, brought him into shore (“It’s about 5km from the break to the boatramp, so it’s not a great place to have a major injury,” Mitchell said) and he was taken by ambulance to Margaret River, before being transferred to a hospital in Bunbury, 100km away. The 35-year-old father of two had surgery on Saturday night and had a titanium rod put in his leg. But Mitchell said he was in good spirits, and was still happy they made the trip. “It’s going to be six weeks before he can walk and three weeks before he can surf again,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think he has any regrets. At the end of the day he got one of the biggest waves ever surfed in Australia, so that’s pretty cool.” It was the wave Mitchell and Holland had been looking for – Mitchell flew from his home in Hawaii to catch the big swell in Margaret River; Holland from his home in Kingscliff on the north coast of New South Wales. Related: Sport picture of the day: Carlos Burle surfs giant wave at Nazaré “Surf that size comes along a few times every few years, but to get the conditions – for the weather to be sunny, the wind to be right, it very rare,” Mitchell said. Big wave surfers from around the world converged on WA’s south-west coast on Friday to make the most of a big swell caused by a low-pressure system over the Indian Ocean, which promised to bring waves as high as 60 feet, or 18 metres, making it the biggest Indian Ocean swell of the year and one of only a handful of 60-foot swells in the past decade. Photographer Jamie Scott, who was covering the event, told PerthNow that the wave Holland rode had a 60- or 70-foot (18-metre) face. “It was probably the biggest wave ever ridden in Australia,” Scott said. “Justin got to the bottom of it and then it cleaned him up.” At the other end of the state, world record-holding sailor Jon Sanders had to be rescued after his yacht started taking on water north of Kalbarri, 575km north of Perth. Related: Blood in the surf: how big-wave surfer Greg Long made peace with the ocean Sanders set five world records with his double-circumnavigation of Antarctica in 1981-82, and again in 1986-88 as the first person to complete a solo non-stop triple circumnavigation of the globe. He still holds that record, which is also in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest distance ever sailed continuously by any vessel – 71,023 nautical miles. All up, he’s circumnavigated the globe nine times. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority sent two search planes and two commercial ships to search for Sanders after he activated his emergency beacon. ABC News reports that Sanders, who is now 75, arrived safely in Geraldton about 5am Sunday. |