Cyclones! Amazing waves at Barra…
The first tropical storm to be upgraded in early January – Bansi – was graced with the accolade of being a Level 4 cyclone! She is moving away from Madagascar where she was hovering a while, and now has a newly born sister in tow!
Tropical Storm Chedza is right in the channel, our side of Madagascar, and also been upgraded to a tropical cyclone, but is also headed away from us – the two together have produced some epic conditions.
The water is super warm, around 27 degrees, and the airflow has steadily moved from onshore to side/offshore, and it’s finally raining. The light during the day is silvery blue, and as I write this, thunder is forcing it’s way overhead giving us even more to think about.
Surfing waves that can clean cut you in half can be fun once you get used to it, but the purported twin of The Donkey – a shifting superbank in Barra, is by no means easy. The drop is straight out of the sky and 6ft waves disgorge themselves onto a two foot deep sandbar that runs for hundreds of metres. When it’s perfect it can almost be easy, but the last few days at Barra have registered only about a 4/10.
It was lumpy, mean and yet still super hollow. Young Sung Min Cho was the star of the show – he was seen disappearing deep into pits that are easily heavier than any KZN South Coast break can be. The wave literally empties out on itself, is so fast, yet so perfectly difficult. And at 6ft it’s insane stuff.
And! It’s all captured, by Min himself. He and his two brothers, Sung Min Cho and Tae Sung Junior Cho only started surfing a year ago and the level they have achieved is astounding. In fact, Tofo is now littered with groms ripping up anything they can paddle into.
Enjoy the clip!
