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The Dangers of Dungeons
The Dangers of Dungeons: BWA Surfer Horror Stories from Africa’s Scariest Wave
By Miles Masterson
Dungeons. Even the wave’s name conjures up images of pain and misery. For most of us, merely watching Big Wave Africa or the practice or free surf days from the relative safety of a boat, or the total security of terra firma on the Sentinel, is heart-palpitating enough. We can’t even imagine what it must be like to paddle out there and actually face up to the potentially life-threatening experience every of surf session at this intimidating wave.
Ian Armstrong might be the one with the ominous title of coming closest to actually drowning, during BWA 2000, after becoming temporarily paralysed thanks to being nailed at the bottom of set wave and being held down for what seemed like forever. A crew of Brazilians were also chased during a practice session by an aggressive great white shark - bigger than their family-sized jetski - a few years back, and by all accounts were lucky to get away from the monster. And if the drop and toothy lurkers weren’t enough, even once you’ve caught one and made it to the shoulder, you are still not safe, as the vast, cold, kelpy playing field out there is as erratic as a beach break. “There’s not much of a channel,” says 2000 victor Sean Holmes. “So you could get a bomb, kick out and then have a 20 footer on your head. Not ideal.”
We all know they love it though. What’s more, the rewards of getting a big set wave and making it wouldn’t be the same if the risks weren’t so high, so we asked a few surfers involved BWA 2008 about their most hairy Dungeons moments and their impressions of the scariest wave in Africa...
“In 2005 I had a heavy take-off on the 2.5 boil. Just caught my rail at bottom of the wave and went head first in. The power of the wave pushed me straight through the kelp, till my leash was at its full extension… I could feel my board being pulled under water. Eventually I hit the bottom, realised that I was in trouble and so forced myself to relax completely and make way up through the kelp and turbulence, breaking the surface, thank goodness, to a lull.” – 2000 winner Sean Holmes.
“One: Ian Armstrong’s wipe out a few years back. Two: Saving an unconscious Greg Bertish in the impact zone. Three: My own wipe out last year on ‘Big Sunday’ 30 July, and getting a big gash to my nose that needed a specialist to put 30 stitches to get it back in shape.” – Ross Lindsay, BWA water patrol and Dungeons tow-in specialist.
“Ian Armstrong… Paris Basson, that guy took a lot of wipeouts over the years… some of them had us really concerned. I have too, I got smashed and had a 40-45 second hold down a few years back. That was a heavy, I was under for some time and I didn’t come up for an alarming while.” – 2006 winner John Whittle.
“Scariest moment at Dungeons? Seeing a massive shadow beneath me waiting for a wave in the line up resembling a great white. Then being bumped by a clump of kelp. I must admit I froze and yelped like a school girl.” - Ross Clarke-Jones.
“Getting caught inside on the big day. Ross (Lindsay) had to come in fast on the ski but I just missed him. Then I looked around and saw this wall of whitewater, the biggest I’ve ever had to deal with. I got washed around and was okay, so it wasn’t that heavy – more like surreal.” – Mickey Duffus.
“My first session out there, surfing twenty foot plus in a storm, I missed a wave and got caught. Dungeons shifts outside more than Maverick’s, and just swallows you up, so you can never really be safe. On my first encounter, I had to face a biggie head on, and I got completely blasted. Getting caught is definitely a primary danger - tough to score points when you're swirling around the giant toilet bowl with your hood on backwards. I clearly recall getting smacked by a big barrel one year, and then sucked over the falls and pinned to the bottom. I was being squished into the reef, and figured, well this is okay - I know which way is up. But the weight of the wave was crushing the air out of me, and then it ripped my leash off. I was still face down, planted on the bottom, and was getting a bit concerned that it would never let me go. I pushed up to my hands and knees, but it felt like an elephant was on my back. There was a momentary release of pressure, and I jumped like a frog into the foamy mayhem. When I finally came up, I couldn't focus, but that air sure tasted good. I also have a vivid memory of a huge, grey fish surfacing a few meters away from me and sniffing Twiggy’s booties, but that's common I guess. Twiggy barked into the water, it backed away, and he just kept surfing!” - Grant Washburn.
“Dungeons can be scary in so many ways. The worst moment I have seen was actually on one of the smaller days. Greg long paddled a bit deeper, took the drop and as he leaned into a bottom turn he seem to stop dead in his tracks and got squittled off the front of his board. It turned out a big stem of kelp stuck into his board and it did some [major] damage.” - Paul Paterson.
“The hairiest/scariest moment for me at Dungeons was in 2002, the first time I had seen Dungeons and had to surf out there. I had never surfed so close to a seal colony, all of a sudden I got caught inside and my leash snapped, since then I have made my peace with Dungeons and the sharks that feed there, but at that moment I felt really, really vulnerable and really, really scared.” - Andrew Marr, 2006 runner-up.
“The most scary thing out there is the waves themselves. I've been seen so many gnarly different types waves and that particular spot has a characteristic of changing shape all the time, so that puts us surfers in so many really bad situations. Of course after seeing so many bad wipeouts, I have to say that was very scary to see (Ian Armstrong) get knocked down unconscious and had to be brought back to life by the water safety team and also an episode that me and my tow partner Eraldo faced a great white in the line-up. But the challenge of riding that wave is worth it!” - Carlos Burle.
