Women to surf menacing Shipstern Bluff for the first time

Laura Enever and two other women will this week join the men to ride the wave surfers regard as one of the most menacing in the world.

The waves at Shipstern Bluff are regarded as among the world’s most menacing

Laura Enever admits she froze on seeing the wave surfers regard as one of the most menacing in the world.

“I couldn’t believe how close the waves broke to the rocks,” Enever, 29, said. “I thought: ‘I’m not going out there.’ ”

But soon the waves at Shipstern Bluff lured the young Australian. This week she will join Lizzie Stokely, 17, and another woman to compete with men for the first time in Red Bull’s Cape Fear event at the bluff in Tasmania, about 110km east of Hobart.

The waves at the site thunder in from the Antarctic to reach heights of nine metres before crashing on a reef. Surfers reach speeds of up to 50mph. Enever was wiped out when she tackled the wave in 2018, but she fought back.

She had toured in the World Surf League and finished 10th in the 2014 standings but quit to train for the big waves. She is among the 24 chosen surfers ready to compete. When conditions are right they are given 48 hours to get to the Tasmanian coast and reach the bluff, which is approached by a long track walk.

The Times