



Two weeks ago I was sitting in Tahiti trying to enjoy the tropical weather and 2ft waves that were on offer while the beast of my home state finally awoke after a long, flat summer spell. The discomfort I felt knowing I was missing the first big day at The Right this year was intense.

After months without waves at home I finally came to Tahiti to surely score something epic and it turns out that Tahiti is flat for the month I’m here and home is pumping. I felt cheated on by Mother Nature.

Only a special breed itch for a slice of this. © 2020 - Kim Feast

It took me a few days to accept that I was going to miss the swell. Instead of dwelling on the fact that I would miss a day at The Right and thinking that life sucks, I started to focus on all the positives. I was on a holiday in a tropical paradise surrounded by good mates after all.

I forgave Mother Nature for not holding off the swell for another three days and enjoyed the end of my trip in the playful 2ft waves on offer in Tahiti. However, that’s not to say that I wasn’t praying for another swell to hit WA during the two weeks that I would be home in between Tahiti and my next trip to South America.

It was all sunshine and happiness for a few hours until I finally got the wake up call from the ocean.

Maybe it was written in the stars or maybe I just got lucky but either way, after only five days back at home I saw another swell coming, although this time it was only half the size. Normally I would have been a bit iffy on driving all the way to The Right for a forecast that doesn’t guarantee a breaking wave but I knew that this was my one chance to surf out there before I left the state again. After a few phone calls, I met up with my good pals Damo Martin, Davis Blackwell and James Strickland before convoying down the coast with our 4WDs, jet skis and fingers crossed for big waves.

Fingers crossed did the trick... © 2020 - Kim Feast

We woke in the morning to ice flakes on the window of our room and the live swell buoy hovering around 2.5m, which we knew wasn’t big enough for it to be breaking properly. With the hot brews saving us from hypothermia we drove to The Right to check it from land and sat there for a couple of hours hoping that we’d see the ocean start to power up. Sure enough we started to see some set waves standing up on the reef by about lunch time and before long we saw a beast unload into the channel.

With no one else in the line-up to compete with, we just picked off the best of the occasional 10 – 12 foot sets.

I barely managed to squeeze into my wet wetsuit due to my fingers feeling like huge uncoordinated sausages stuck to my hands because of the freezing weather. To be this cold and uncomfortable really made me question why I didn’t just take up footy as a kid, but the thought of situating myself inside a 10ft slab was instantly enough to reassure me that I made the right decision to follow bodyboarding instead.

We froze our sausage fingers all the way out to The Right and the rest was history. With no one else in the line-up to compete with, we just picked off the best of the occasional 10 – 12 foot sets on offer and began filling our baskets, much the same as an obese kid filling up on the free tasters in a chocolate factory. It was all sunshine and happiness for a few hours until I finally got the wake up call from the ocean, showing me who’s in charge once again.

Throwing air forwards at The Right! Now this is just getting silly... © 2020 - Kim Feast

I jumped off the ski at the sight of a nice set wave rolling in, got towed for about 5 seconds and let go of the rope only to realise that the wave wasn’t as big as it looked when it was still marching in from the depths. What I didn’t realise, until it was too late, was that this wave was not a small wave, it’s just that the whole swell line was behind me and was yet to stand up on the reef.

The shocky exploded into my face and cartwheeled me into the air. I felt weightless for a frighteningly long time.

So here I am stalling on what felt like a 6ft wave when all of a sudden I start getting sucked up the face of a monster. It kept growing and I started to feel butterflies in my stomach when I realised that I had nowhere near enough speed to make it. The heavy end bowl wrapped hard around the reef as I was struggling to find the best way to ride out and before I had the chance to catch a breath, the shocky exploded into my face and cartwheeled me into the air. I felt weightless for a frighteningly long time.

As I landed back in the trough of the wave, which felt more like concrete than water, I got shoved really deep and didn’t have the time to try and equalise my ears. I heard some hissing in my head followed by crackling in my inner ears. “My ears are gonna blow,” I panicked to myself for a split second. There was so much pressure inside my face. It felt like the weight of the world was squeezing my head from every direction. My ears were making all sorts of unnatural and most likely, unhealthy popping and cracking noises but then, as if the wave heard me submitting to it, I was let go and allowed to swim back to the surface.

About to be blinded. © 2020 - Kim Feast

Every part of me was shit scared of catching another wave. I opened my eyes at the surface and was completely tripping out. The world was spinning in every direction and the ringing in my ears was deafening. Luckily Damo rescued me really smoothly and drove the ski back to the channel as I was struggling to even stay upright. Then the pain in my head began. It was an intense throb, pulsating from my ears through my brain and into my throat. My initial thought was that I did indeed blow both my ear drums out. I had heard stories from people all who said when it happens your equilibrium is totally out of whack when you resurface. After fingering my ears to check if they were bleeding, I gladly realised that there was no blood and although I had done something to my head, burst ear drums was not the correct diagnosis.

I took a ten minute breather to let the pain in my head settle down. Then Damo asked if I wanted another one and that’s when I realised that I was now terrified of surfing The Right ever again. I had been pretty shaken up by the wipeout but didn’t realise it until the thought of catching another wave entered my mind. The danger of surfing these waves became so real for me at that moment and all I could think about was all the things that could go wrong if I wiped out again.

Yep, Damien Martin made this... © 2020 - Kim Feast

Every part of me was shit scared of catching another wave, but I knew that if I wanted to get over my wipeout and not let myself become permanently rattled from it then I simply had to do it. I had to man up and get it over with so I could move past this newly formed mind hurdle. I jumped back into the water, ears ringing, head throbbing, and waited for another wave to come my way.

Without trying to think too much about it I let go of the rope, set my line and sat up in the glassiest, most picturesque wave I caught that day.

Within 10 minutes a thick line rolled in. It wasn’t the biggest of the day but it was one of the heaviest, draining twice as much water off the reef than most of the set waves. Without trying to think too much about it I let go of the rope, set my line and sat up in the glassiest, most picturesque wave I caught that day. The shocky tried its best to explode me again but I was better prepared for it this time and managed to hold on to my board and bounce out of the foam and into the channel. I was so stoked.

The wave in question. That'll shake the nerves. © 2020 - Kim Feast

After going through such a torturous wipeout on the previous wave it felt so nice to get blown out of a big barrel unscathed. I was well and truly done for the day after that. I had pushed myself to my edge and luckily came off without a bad injury so I retreated back to the driver seat on the jetski and managed to whip Damo into a handful of bombs.

It’s hard to explain the feeling of what it’s like to tow your good friend into a cracker to anyone who hasn’t done it before. The jetski driver truly is the unsung hero of the tow-in game and when you do manage to get your friend into a good one it’s just as rewarding as catching the wave yourself. I was totally ecstatic to whip Damo into a couple of waves at the end of the day which he deemed to be the best he has ever had out there. It filled me with joy to know that I helped him get into them turning what was already an epic day into one I'll never forget.

Damo Martin as whipped by Lewy. © 2020 - Kim Feast

After seven hours at sea with only lollies for lunch, I quickly cooked some pasta at the hostel before packing it into a container and hitting the road, headed for home sweet home. My ears were cracking and popping for the whole drive and I had a constant headache at the front of my forehead. My skin was scaly and my lips cracked in the corners every time I opened my mouth for some pasta, but deep down I was content. Happy, grateful, in a bit of pain, but perfectly content.

I don’t know how I would feel about surfing The Right again if I hadn’t have caught that wave after hurting my ears. I’d imagine that I would have obtained some sort of lingering fear of the wave, maybe even second guessing myself about my approach to surfing waves of that power. Thankfully, however, I don’t feel fear towards going back there. Only excitement towards the endless potential of scooping into some of the best waves that this planet can provide.

Lewy's forward in full. © 2020 - Kim Feast

Damien Martin. © 2020 - Kim Feast

... © 2020 - Kim Feast

You can understand why Damo deemed some of these his best ever at The Right. © 2020 - Kim Feast

© 2020 - Kim Feast

© 2020 - Kim Feast