well so says this blog.
Worlds Most Dangerous WavesFrom Tofino, B.C., to Hawaii, to Australia's Bondi Beach, travellers are hungrily pursuing the perfect wave every day.
While surf pros make tackling walls of water look like an easy task, many other dare devils are easily injured, whether raked across coral or battered by the thunderous wave.
Rhys Stacker, an avid surfer from Australia and writer from MatadorTrips.com, compiled a list of the world's 10 most dangerous waves. Even if you have advanced equipment and utilize swell tracking, think twice before you tackle these waters.
1. Cyclops (Western Australia): "This ultra square-shaped, below sea level, one-eyed monster tops the list for good reasons. It’s impossible to paddle into on a surfboard and almost unrideable towing behind a jet ski," says Stacker.
2. Teahupoo (Tahiti): "Falling off here is almost a guarantee of hitting the razor sharp coral reef below, which wouldn’t be so bad if the locals didn’t insist on using fresh Tahitian lime juice to sterilise the reef cuts," says Stacker. "Ouch."
3. Shipsterns (Tasmania, Australia): "Raw Antarctic swells come out of deep ocean and jack up into a roaring right hander in front of the cliff which gives the spot its name," says Stacker. "The uneven reef causes weird steps and bubbles in the wave, which are always a pleasant surprise when you’re still trying to navigate the drop down the face."
4. Dungeons (Cape Town, South Africa): "It’s not that shallow and it doesn’t break in front of any rocks, but it is located off the tip of South Africa in the freezing Southern Ocean in shark infested waters," says Stacker.
5. Pipeline (Oahu, Hawaii): "The shallow lava reef that shapes Pipe’s famous round tube is actually full of trenches and bumps -meaning a nasty old time for anyone falling out of the lip from 12 feet above," says Stacker. "Which happens with surprisingly regularity, even to the experienced locals."
6. Desert Point (Lombok, Indonesia): "This beautiful left hander peels over very shallow coral somewhere off the dusty island of Lombok," says Stacker.
7. The Cave (Ericeira, Portugal): "With all the ingredients that a dangerous wave should have, including a shallow reef, urchins and hot-tempered Latino locals, its not surprising The Cave has been described as Europe’s heaviest wave," says Stacker.
8. Lunada Bay (California): "Visiting surfers have reported slashed tyres, rocks thrown, fist fights and a seemingly disinterested local police force. You’re on your own here," says Stacker.
9. Gringos (Arica, Chile): "Chile has a bunch of waves as equally as heavy and urchin-infested as this one but El Gringo is included in this list because of the damage it did to the pro surfers who surfed it in 2007’s WCT event," says Stacker. "There were numerous broken boards, embedded urchin spines and slashed heads."
10. Tarqua (Lagos, Nigeria): "The good news is that this beach break located at the entrance to the Lagoon of Iddo in Lagos is often a fun, wedging peak. The bad news is the 60 million litres of raw sewage and tonnes of industrial waste produced by the 8 million inhabitants of Lagos every year that flows out into the ocean," says Stacker.
Makes you want to grab a surfboard, doesn't it?