Surfer Survives Life-threatening Fall on Huge Wave
A SURFER was airlifted to the Royal Hobart Hospital after a death-defying wipeout at Shipstern Bluff yesterday.
Alex Zawadzki took on the 10-metre waves at the world-famous surf break yesterday morning but fell foul on one of the biggest waves of the day.
“I was trying to get down the face, but the water was being sucked up so fast that it was pushing my board in all sorts of directions,” said Mr Zawadzki, who was in a stable condition in hospital last night.
The 25-year-old ended up losing control of his ride, being engulfed in the lip of the wave and pile-driven into three metres of flat water.
“I went over in a position like I was sitting in a car seat, but when I hit the water everything exploded and my legs got ripped into the splits and backwards,” Mr Zawadzki said.
“I knew straight away that something was wrong, the pain in my legs was excruciating.”
I’m surprised that this type of thing doesn’t happen more often. Look at the wave he was trying to ride: