Several years ago, producer Chris White stumbled upon a remarkable natural phenomenon: a wave where two distinct swells collide and shoot several meters into the air, located 60 kilometers off the southern coast.
“It’s been on my mind ever since, and I’ve always wanted to return,” White shared.
“It’s truly an anomaly. I’ve traveled worldwide in search of waves like this one,” he added.
After initially discovering the wave by chance, he decided to revisit the secluded spot years later, accompanied by his friend Ben Allen.
Together, they documented the awe-inspiring sight using a drone launched from a jet ski in the remote waters.
“It’s incredibly daunting because you’re so far away from any form of assistance,” Allen remarked.
“The video doesn’t actually capture how big that wave was,” White said.
“To be that close to it. To hear it and to get all the spray over you. The energy coming from that. It’s like nothing else.”
The footage was posted to Instagram and viewed more than 7 million times in two days.
“Every time someone talks about it or I see the video, I get goosebumps. It was pretty special when we arrived and saw that spout going,” Allen said.
It’s even attracted the attention of experts at the University of Western Australia, who are keen to take a further look.
“It seems to be some sort of combination of the perfect swell conditions and then the reef geometry and the water depth at the site,” University of WA Oceans Institute Dr Arnold Van Rooijen said.
Allen and White are planning to return to the site with their surfer mates who hope to become the first people to ride the incredible wave.
But they’re keeping the location a secret for now.
“I couldn’t even tell my family or my wife where I was going,” Allen joked.
