Big wave surfer Ryan Hipwood ready for some fear
BIG Wave surfer Ryan Hipwood doesn't know the meaning of the word fear, but he knows where to find it.
Cape Fear. The infamous Red Bull-run surfing event at Cape Solander off Botany Bay in New South Wales.
The 31-year-old from Casuarina will join some of the world's bravest big-wave chargers willing to risk life and limb in monstrous swells known to reach up to 12-feet.
"It is the best wave in the world for spectators because the waves break so close to the cliff."
The Cape Fear event has a four-month window in which organisers are willing to wait to ensure the biggest and gnarliest waves are on offer.
Cape Fear action
Hipwood will join 20 competitors including Taj Burrows, Russell Bierke, Laurie Towner and Makua Rothman when the competition is inevitably "called" sometime before August 31.
At that point he will have 48 hours to get to Sydney.
Hipwood said last year's event proved that Cape Fear was, pound for pound, one of the heaviest waves in the world and definitely not for the faint-hearted. He made the final four last year.
"But I feel like you couldn't do what I do if you didn't love it."
The event is closed to the public but can be watched live on Red Bull TV.
BY THE NUMBERS
• 20 surfers in event.
• Surfers towed into 8-12ft waves (almost three stories high).
• 27 Olympic pools worth of water breaks over a reef.
• Waves break 10 metres from rocky cliff.
