Surfing
Surfing
Take a look at the insane mechanics behind Shipstern Bluff
The Southern Hemisphere’s most notorious surfing slab is hosting this year’s Red Bull Cape Fear, so watch this video to get acquainted with how Tasmania's Shipstern Bluff keeps on motoring.
3 min
The mechanics of Shipstern Bluff
Find out how the step makes Tasmania's infamous Shipstern Bluff such a huge challenge for surfers.
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On the south-east corner of an island at the end of the world, there’s a mutant slab that’s reached almost mythical status: Shipstern Bluff. It’s a churning reef break on the wild southern edge of Tasmania, where freezing Southern Ocean swells smash into dolerite cliffs, and this year it’s again playing host to Red Bull’s Cape Fear—a one-of-a-kind, invitation-only, big wave surf event.
When the window opens on March 3rd, Cape Fear can be called ‘ON’ at any time, which gives 24 of Australia’s best big wave surfers just 48 hours to beat their way to Shipstern Bluff. It’s not an easy trek, either. ‘Shippies’ is seriously remote. It’s only accessible via a 30km jet ski ride, or a two-hour hike through the Tasman National Park.
When the surfers arrive, they’ll see one of the most fearsome slabs in world surfing: sets of meaty, grinding, stepped barrels, rolling in direct from the South Pole, with four-storey breaks and one of the trickiest technical rides around.
Mick Fanning is just one of the surfers who've been invited to take on the challenge. “Surfing a wave like Shipstern Bluff gives a sense of satisfaction and relief,” says the three-time world champion. “But it’s a whole different ball game in an event like Red Bull Cape Fear. To test myself against the ocean, but also against my favourite big wave surfers, will be a real honour. I’m going to relish the challenge.”
The ‘Stern’ is a wave like no other. From the infamous step to the cliffs where it breaks and the cold water and rogue wildlife, there’s no shortage of vicious variables at the Southern Hemisphere’s most famous slab.
The end of the world
There’s nothing between Shipstern Bluff and Antarctica. Look south and you’re looking at 2000 miles of freezing, open ocean. It’s the perfect runway for huge ground swells, rolling in from the south west, pushed up by beefy low pressure systems. The first thing they hit is the jagged reef at Devil’s Point.
The wave is also exposed to Tasmania’s famous ‘Roaring Forties’, wild, gusty westerlies that howl across the Southern Ocean at speeds of up to 24 knots. The water temperature hovers somewhere around 12°C (53°F). The thing is no joke.
Talk of the Towner
© XXL Photo Chisolm
Below the surface of Shipstern Bluff
© Stu Gibson
Mick Fanning pitted at Shipstern Bluff
© Andrew Chisholm
Jarryd Foster at Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania
© Stu Gibson
Climbing the steps
What makes Shipstern particularly tricky is the geometry of the reef itself. It’s a super shallow, stair-step slab, which rises suddenly, shelf upon shelf, straight out of the depths. The ground swells gallop forwards at roughly 70 kilometres per hour, and when they slam into the reef they get jacked up, over 30-feet high, and fold over in thick, grinding barrels.
The jagged dolerite also causes mutations on the surface of the wave; these are Shippies’ famous ‘steps’. Imagine waves within waves, sudden random jackknife humps, which cause the water to drop out from underneath your board. Now imagine freefalling with 300,000kg of ocean surging just over your shoulder. It’s probably the wildest, most unpredictable eight-second ride in Australian surfing.
Mick stands tall and strong at the ’Stern
© Adam Gibson
Watch the rocks
Like The Boneyard at Mavericks, the rocks at Shippies are almost scarier than the wave itself. This is arguably the heaviest wave in the South Pacific, and the margin for error is razor-thin. Wipe out early, before the real barrel starts, and you’ll be pushed down onto the shallow reef, with 15 semi-trailers worth of water overhead, and washed towards the cliffs.
Depending on the tides and swell, surfers can pass within metres of the slab itself. Another 10 metres beyond that and you hit a series of sharp, dolerite teeth. Surfers have fallen headfirst into the boulders here, and it’s too easy to get your leash wrapped around a rock.
Laura Enever charging down the line
© Joel Everard
What lies beneath
If all that wasn’t enough, Shipstern is also home to the sort of marine life that makes surfers keenly aware of their own silhouette. The fur seal colony at Cape Raoul, just nextdoor, tends to attract Great Whites. Surfers have even spotted killer whales lurking just behind the break.
All told, Shipstern Bluff is a rough and windswept spit of land, miles from civilisation, and it produces one of the wildest waves on the planet. And that’s just the way surfers like it.
How to watch Red Bull Cape Fear
The event site for Red Bull Cape Fear will be strictly closed to spectators, however the entire competition will be broadcast live and free at Red Bull TV.
