A big-wave specialist says he is lucky to be alive after escaping relatively unscathed from a massive wipeout at a notoriously dangerous surf spot in Tasmania.
Mikey Brennan was surfing at Shipstern Bluff, a remote slabbing wave that can only be accessed by a 30km jetski ride or a two-hour hike, when he was gobbled up by the giant waves off the Tasmanian Peninsula coastline.
The 38-year-old, who is no stranger to the location known as “Shippies” – or big wipeouts – was towed on to the wave by a jetski before he lost control and disappeared from view as the wave crashed over him.
“I’m amazed I’m still alive,” Brennan told the Mercury.
Brennan, who suffered bruised ribs and a minor concussion, was thankful for the safety protocols in place after he was pulled from the water on to a jetski.
“I kind of remember the wave, like coming into the wave and then hitting the big step, which just felt so big, like one of those monumental kind of moments,” he said. “I just sort of went down real hard. I just couldn’t control it to kind of stick that landing.”
He said he had little recollection of the moment he went under and was confused when he resurfaced and was rescued, before being taken to Royal Hobart hospital for scans.
“I pretty much just had bruised ribs. I didn’t break anything,” he said. “They put me through a CT scan and checked all that out, and then I was with the trauma team and they checked me all out. I just have had a massive headache, a minor concussion, so I am pretty lucky.”
It is not the first time Brennan has diced with death in the water – in 2010 he broke his back while surfing another dangerous Tasmanian wave at Governor Island.
“To be honest [the Shipstern wipeout] was the closest to death because even when I broke my back on the east coast at Governor I was conscious for the whole time. It was equally as dangerous, but like this was just being knocked out and going unconscious. I really can’t quite explain it.”
Despite his experience, Brennan vowed he would get back in the water. “I love the ocean,” he said. “I was pushing it. I knew that I was pushing it against my fear and I guess you have to be willing to go into that place, and that’s what I did.”