Few were spared from the wrath of Kandui Left's sinister
end section when the swell of the year arrived last week.
Cheese-gratings, knockouts, near deaths, and that's just the travelling
pros. Keeping in mind these guys are the best in the biz, that doesn't
bode well for the rest of us mere mortals.
Freight trains of perfection were aplenty, but you can be sure of one
thing, all those who sat on the aptly named left paid a visit to the
taxman at one point or other.
Billy Kemper hits the eject button.
© 2015 - Kandui Resort
© 2015 - Kandui Resort
I'll be okay but my body is really sore and bruised, my knee and hip pretty damn bad.relieved to hobble home with just a minor foot injury himself. "Billy Kemper got rolled across the reef, hitting his head and slamming his hip. Koa Rothman got his face and chest ground on the reef and Dean Morrison blew open his shoulder and got KO'ed underwater."
The worst of the lot though was reserved for Parker Coffin. Failing to penetrate the surface after pulling the pin on a bomb, he was forced head first into the reef. Blacking out from the initial impact, Parker regained consciousness just in time to wear another bomb on the head. Dazed, he reached down to unshackle himself of his leash, only to discover a large section of his foot was missing. "He nearly died," remembers Koa. "Ended up with a total of 13 stitches on his foot and shoulder."
Parker's foot, post-wipeout.
© 2015 - Parker Coffin
© 2015 - Parker Coffin
Saturday afternoon overcame anything I ever imagined it being.
"I've always obsessed over Kandui footage," explains Koa. "I used to watch Bruce and Andy clips out there religiously. But I had no idea it got that big and that good. It seemed like the bigger it got, the better it got too. I can't wait to get back there."
In the same sense that you might pay currency to stay and surf at the likes of Pasta Point in the Maldives, a fair whack of skin is the apparent price of admission to Kandui's perfection. And there's a stream of chargers willing to part with a chunk of flesh.
You
can run, but you can't hide from the taxman. Billy's final wave that
saw him ragged straight across the reef before lunch and omitted him
from the rest of the swell.
© 2015 - Kandui Resort
© 2015 - Kandui Resort
Dean Morrison blew open his shoulder and got KO'ed underwater.For him, bagging the wave of his life far outweighed the potential consequences.
"The swell straight up blew my mind," says Billy. "I spoke to a few of the boys who have Indo wired and they said if there's ever a swell I should go for this is it, so I had pretty high expectations, but Saturday afternoon overcame anything I ever imagined it being."
Two sides of the sword, captured in one frame.
© 2015 - Kandui Resort
© 2015 - Kandui Resort
"Seemed like I was waiting for a wave that wasn't coming," he recalls. "Then I got a pretty mental 8 footer and found my mojo, so I went out the back and just waited." Thirty minutes later and the one he'd waited for appeared, silver platter and all. "I ended up knifing under it and kicking out to Koa Smith and Koa Rothman screaming their brains out. I'm pretty positive that was the wave of my life."
Billy
Kemper rolls the dice with the end section as he pulls off the wave of
the swell: "He was so deep I thought he packed a 15ft closeout, recalls
Koa Smith who kicked out of the previous wave to see Billy pulling into
the biggest of the swell. "The wave blew its guts out and Billy flew out
after the foamball. One of the craziest paddle-ins I've ever seen."
© 2015 - Kandui Resort
© 2015 - Kandui Resort
I'm pretty positive that was the wave of my life.Whilst Billy may have snagged the best wave of the swell, that simple fact didn't grant him immunity. Billy's payment was well overdue.
"Sunday morning it was still pumping, but really shallow at low tide," he said. "I got a few sick ones and told myself I was gonna get one more before going in to get lunch and rest 'til the tide filled in. That one more sent me straight to the reef, leaving me with cuts from head to toe and out of the water for the rest of the swell."
Billy Kemper's painful aftermath.
© 2015 - Kandui Resort
© 2015 - Kandui Resort
I had pretty high expectations, but Saturday afternoon overcame anything I ever imagined it being.
At the end of a somewhat bittersweet day in the tropics, Billy booked himself a flight out of there to spend some time with his newly born son. "After that wave it seemed like all the boys started dropping like flies getting ripped across that reef," he said. "He's only a month old so I'm on daddy duty 'til I'm healed up and ready for another strike. I'll be okay but my body is really sore and I bruised my knee and hip pretty damn bad."
Remember, there are only two things certain in life: death and taxes.
