Dungeons: Red Bull Big Wave Africa
The Red Bull Big Wave Africa contest goes down every year close to Cape Town at the epic Dungeons. The Billabong XXL Award for the biggest wave surfed on the planet in 2006 was awarded to this monster, surfed by Greg Long at Dungeons:
We've been expecting big swell during June for weeks now, but Monday was to be especially big, with swell of about 28 foot (that's just about 8.5meters!). Knowing that the BWA went on amber status, I decided to head out to Dungeons on Monday afternoon to see what the fuss was about. What i saw and heard was a little bit terrifying. I don't see myself paddling into this place soon.
The only way to see the wave from the land is to climb over the "sentinel" - a mountain peak next to Hout Bay. Sitting on top of the sentinel, a few of us could stare at the waves way below us. The crashing sound alone sent chills down our spines as we watched a few guys towing into monsters in preparation for the BWA. Unfortunately I wasn't armed with a camera any more decent then the one on my cell phone, so this is all I could get on the day:
Where some people go to the pub, others see their shrink, and few use weird chemicals to make them feel cool, here is a great alternative therapy I can highly recommend to anyone close to the coast: get yourself a surfboard mate!