History
Event history intro
When Dungeons was discovered and surfed all those years ago – history says 1984 by Pierre De Villiers and Peter Button – few people would have been able to envisage what the future held for this big wave surf spot. What came about was nine years of the best big wave surfers in the world and in South Africa riding her massive waves. During those nine years of Red Bull Big Wave Africa there were some terrible wipe-outs and some of the best big waves ridden in the world. Red Bull looked after the culture of big wave riding in South Africa. Local surfers were empowered to become the best safety crew in the world. More recently, some of the legitimate biggest waves in the world have been ridden. Dungeons has been breaking for centuries, and Red Bull has had a relationship with her for 9 years. It’s been a good relationship.
Here are some year-by-year highlights.
Year one (1999)
The crew get out there on a fishing boat. One session goes down, in giant surf and pouring rain, that blows photographer Nic Botma’s mind. “Like a giant, twenty-foot pointbreak just grinding down this reef forever.” It’s rainly and windy and out of control, and no photos really make it back to the mags after the session, but people have seen some of the potential that is out there. Word starts filtering out. That there are some big waves down south, but no one takes it too seriously, with Todos and Mavericks in all the magazines. The outside world doesn’t even register that there are big waves in South Africa until Cass Collier, Ian Armstrong and Mickey Duffus go on to win the Reef Big Wave World Championships at Todos.
Year two (2000)
Gary Linden comes on board as the contest director of the event. Grant Washburn and Matt Ambrose from California come along to have a look and what’s happening in Hout Bay. Suddenly and almost without warning, Dungeons provides, and the decision is made to run the contest. Sean Holmes gets the one wave that has everyone talking about Dungeons for years afterwards. The one wave gets 10 points across the board and Sean Holmes becomes the first event winner. Other people charging were Jason Ribbink, who gets the wipeout of the event, an event that he still talks about today as his worst wipeout, and Rudy Palmboom catches a whack of waves.
Year three (2001)
Jamie Sterling, Brad Gerlach and Mike Parsons join a returning Grant Washburn to this event, but nothing much happens this year except for a 6 metre shark that cruises through the lineup heading for Seal Island for some breakfast. There are more sharks spotted at J-Bay that year and a few more little ones around the contest area. Some waves appeared here and there, but mostly the guys surfed and had fun.
Year four (2002)
Waves from this year looked so good, yet the event didn’t run. The one day was 20foot, but only for a few short hours and not enough to run the event. Another day is big but windy and wild and the conditions are not ideal. Twiggy gets a wave on the windy day that jacks to a good 20-foot and straightens out at the bottom. The photograph is a legitimate big wave photo that gets beamed around the world. Cass Collier flies over the ledge on a particularly nasty barrel and the wipeout shot also gets run around the world. It’s a weird one because the photos are so good, but there was no event.
At the prize giving some surfers show their unhappiness at the event not running while the waves were cooking. Ian Armstrong gives an impassioned speech at the end with regards the non-running of the event and brother-in-arms Cass Collier refuses to accept the prize for Worst Wipeout at the prize giving.
Year five (2003)
Cheyne Horan joins the foray along with Paul Antman Paterson and a returning Carlos Burle. The local crew are not to be outdone though and charge harder than ever before, with Mickey Duffus leading the charge. Cheyne Horan has one sufficiently bad wipeout to really mess with his world, and confesses to swimming further down as well as sideways before he realized which way was up. he manages to get a tiny breath of air before getting hit by another one.
On the very last day of the three-week waiting period the waves do come, and they run the event. Greg Long from California gets to massive wide ones at the beginning of the final. During the final the competitors all decide unanimously to share the prize money regardless of what happens. Thus with the pressure off the surfers enjoy a free session in the 20-foot surf. Greg Long gets two awesome wide one straight off the bat and the rest of the crew are playing catch-up. He takes the win.
Year six (2004)
A quiet year for the event, but a great year for surfing in the Cape. Visitors are treated to perfect waves and endless barrels across the country, but nothing really big. Doug Young comes over for this one, and has a bit of a party in Cape Town. Darryl ‘Flea’ Virostko comes over for a sniff around, and scores some bombs up the west coast. Everyone holds on for a final swell but it fades away before our eyes and the event period closes without much fanfare.
Year seven (2005)
Ross Clarke-Jones comes over to check the whole scene out and spend his birthday on the peninsula. He has been here before, winning a pro event here in his youth on the pro tour. The swells that come are weird, short-lived swells that pulse, show promise, and then disappear quietly.
. By this stage the event is a slick, organized operation with excellent local safety in place, the Navy onboard, the Police onboard and a team of dedicated people in place to make sure the event runs smoothly. The whole world is watching, as the event has gained incredible momentum and credibility, and is recognized as the second-longest running big wave event in the world, behind the Eddie. But nothing happens. Again. Ross declares that he will come back next year.
Year eight (2006)
The year starts off with a bang with Durbanite Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker confounding all the big wave stars by winning the Mavericks Big Wave Event in California. Getting in through the ‘backdoor’ through an online vote on the surfermag.com website, Twiggy vindicates his spot with an excellent victory in picture-perfect 20-foot surf at Mavericks. Ross Clarke-Jones returns to Cape Town as promised. Other surfers to take up the challenge are Paul Paterson from Australia and Evan Slater (no relation to Kelly). Slater, editor of Surfing Magazine and reputable big wave surfer, makes his first trip. It’s a good year for surf, and when the first swell train arrives, former top big wave surfer and contest director Johnny Paarman calls it.
Andrew Marr brings his Waimea experience to Dungeons, Jamie Sterling is back, Chris Bertish is back from the UK and ready to charge. Kommetjie local Thomas King-Kleinhans is in the saddle, as is Mickey Duffus. The trio of John Whittle, Jason Ribbink and Grant Baker are in attendance. Previous winner Sean Holmes is champing at the bit for another victory. Ian Armstrong, Richie Sills and David Smith all get a shot. Carlos Burle and Grant Washburn make up the numbers. The flotilla is mobilized.
It’s borderline, with some heats not getting too much in the way of sets and other heats getting continual bombs. Evan and Paul Paterson bow out, as does Twiggy and Greg Long. Jason Ribbink gets a sick barrel but it’s not enough to advance. Kelly Slater arrives to have a look and is impressed by the locals charging.
John Whittle, despite his insistence that he is unfit, gets the two best waves in the final to win the event. In his victory speech John thanks God for choosing him on this glorious day and grown men have tears in their eyes in this emotion packed moment.
The next day a ghost WSW swell finds its way into Dungeons and those competitors still around get another crack at giant surf in Africa while others head off to game farms and touristy things. A few days later another session goes down that includes the biggest wave of the year, a behemoth ridden by Greg Long. It goes on to win big wave awards and is shown in magazines and newspapers across the globe. Dungeons reputation is cemented.
Year nine (2007)
This year 24 surfers are invited and some other event changes come about. There’s talk of judges sitting on the mountain instead of in a boat.
Surfers the world over receive their invites and all respond with enthusiasm. Everyone now wants a crack at Dungeons. The waiting period is three months, from June to August, and everyone is ready.
