PERTH, Australia, June 29, 2015 (AFP) - An Australian big wave surfer whose leg was snapped by monster seas said Monday it was “totally worth it” for the thrill of riding huge swells generated by a low pressure system in the Indian Ocean.
Justin Holland, 35, jetted to Western Australia from the country’s east coast when he heard that giant waves were being generated over the weekend by the weather pattern.
Australian media cited meteorologists as saying the weather front would bring the “swell of the decade”, sending surfers heading for the beaches in the hope of catching record waves.
Holland was one of the few brave enough to venture into daunting surf on Saturday that reportedly built to 18 metres (59 feet) around the Cow Bombie break off Gracetown, some 270 kilometres (167 miles) south of Perth.
He had been pulled into several smaller waves by a friend on a jetski and surfed them successfully before disaster struck and he was wiped out, shattering his femur and narrowly avoiding severing an artery.
“I felt like I got hit by Australia,” he told The West Australian newspaper from hospital after having two titanium rods inserted into his leg, adding that he was only alive because an inflation suit propelled him to the surface.
“When that thing hit me, it was literally like a bomb going off. We have a saying that,‘If you wanna play, you have to pay’. I’ve just paid. It’s a pretty heavy price to pay but it’s rewarding.”
When he finally surfaced, his friend, fellow big wave surfer Jamie Mitchell, managed to drag him onto the jetski and take him ashore.
“Once the leg snapped and I was actually screaming underwater, which you generally don’t do because you want to try and hold your breath, I pulled the cord and I was up within probably 10 seconds,” Holland added to Perth radio station 6PR.
Despite his ordeal, he said “it was totally worth it”.
“You’re going so fast, the sun’s out and that’s what we live for.”
Renowned Australian sailor Jon Sanders was another casualty of the unusually large swell, needing to be rescued from his sinking yacht on Saturday evening when it started taking on water off the Western Australia coast.
Sanders is best known for breaking world records in 1988 when he completed a triple circumnavigation of the world alone and is still sailing at the age of 75.
Indonesia has also been affected by the swell, with the head of the weather agency in Bali, Wayan Suardana, telling AFP that waves of 3.5 metres were seen around the south of the island at the weekend, considered “extreme” for the island.
He said there were reports of two anglers missing after being hit by big waves.
“The tourism ministry has warned hotels near the beaches... and people about the waves,” he said.
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