Awesome Oz Surf Photos

Someone posted a link on the yahoogroups surfski newsgroup a couple of days ago.  It simply said, "rough stuff" and gave the link: http://www.harvpix.com.

We checked it out to find a series of great shots of surf skis going out through some mean surf...

The Event

The event was round four of the 2007 Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Ironman Series at Coolum beach, north of Brisbane on the east coast of Australia.  Click here for the article on the race.
 

I emailed Harvie Allison and he gave us permission to show some of his photos - here are two sequences that show how to go get through a wave and how to get sucked backwards down the falls...

(Harv also said something about being under the impression that surf ski was invented in Oz...  Jeez!) 

Doing in right

Lining up (Photo: Harvie Allison)

Up, up... (Photo: Harvie Allison)

...break through... (Photo: Harvie Allison)

...and over (Photo: Harvie Allison)

How to get sucked backwards down the falls (generally considered a career limiting move)

Hmm... doesn't look good (Photo: Harvie Allison)

The guy on the left has got through... (Photo: Harvie Allison)

But I'm going backwards...! (Photo: Harvie Allison)

And finally, a bonus shot which I think is spectacular.  Here in SA we'd expect the paddler to be missing some front teeth after the wave hit - because he's holding his blade flat in front of his face.  Another way of tackling this would be to hold the paddle at an angle so that it slices through the wave.

Help, my teeth! (Photo: Harvie Allison)

Many thanks to Harv at Harvie Allison Photography in Australia.