Terrigal’s Ross Clarke-Jones to compete in inaugural Nazare tow-in competition
He very nearly lost his life there last year but Terrigal’s Ross Clarke-Jones is heading back to Nazare to compete in a new big wave invitational.
Central Coast
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Former Terrigal grommet turned big wave journeyman Ross Clarke-Jones is competing with `Team Australia’ in the inaugural invitation-only Nazare Tow Surfing Challenge.
The unique event kicked off on Friday and runs through to the end of March.
The 53-year-old is teamed with West Australian daredevil compatriot Mick Corbett and will take on eight other pairings with Justine Dupont, of France, on standby should one of the other 20 surfers not be able to compete.
Considered one of the most dangerous waves on the planet, Clarke-Jones is no stranger to Nazare, which breaks close to the iconic red lighthouse at Praia do Norte on the rugged Portuguese coastline.
He almost lost his life there early last year after getting washed onto rocks.
“We’re great mates. There’s a lot of trust between us, which is important when we’re both putting our lives on the line to ride the epic waves of Nazare,” Clarke-Jones said.
“We’ve each towed one another and surfed together, and now we’re teaming up to fly the Aussie flag at this global competition — we’re stoked and excited to get amongst it.”
Corbett said he had learned a lot from surfing with Clarke-Jones who was regarded as the `Godfather’ of big wave surfing.
“His fearless approach to big wave surfing is something I’ve aimed to emulate,” he said.
“You can’t hesitate — with us, it’s a split- second decision to go, and then you need to back yourself all the way against these monster waves.”
Nazare is expected to turn it on for the Tow Surfing Challenge — with the window for the competition from November 1 to March 31 falling during the peak Northern Hemisphere winter big wave season, with Clarke-Jones and Corbett hoping for 30-35m tall waves when the green light is called.
“They’ve done a ride-in competition at Nazare before, but they couldn’t run it when the really big waves were breaking,” Corbett said.
“With this new tow-in format, we’ll be able to get on the massive big waves the region is famous for. It’ll be spectacular.”
Clarke-Jones has been based in the big wave mecca of Nazare for four months of the year for the past three years and before that spent 30 winters in Hawaii.
“No two waves are ever the same, and when you’re talking about 80-130 foot (24-39m) waves like those in Nazare, you can’t ever afford to drop your guard,” he said.
“I learnt that the hard way last year when I wiped out and had to hop my way back up the cliff face to safety after being smashed on the rocks below. I’ll be the first to admit that day I was complacent, and I very nearly paid the ultimate price. It taught me a big lesson.”