Destroyer swell hits Australia’s east coast: “This was the biggest and best wave ever ridden in Sydney! The wave of the day, the wave of the swell. A freak!”

"I've been shooting for ten years and it's the biggest and best wave I've seen for sure."

It ain’t no lie to say that Australia’s east coast lit up like a Christmas tree these past couple of days. 

Didn’t matter if you were curled up away from the brunt of the swell at Snapper, easing into six-footers among the Whites at Lennox like Longtom or seizing control of a Sydney reef with refrigerated composure, these were the days when surfers became, like days of yore, the Gods of Olympus. 

And yesterday, Sydney’s Chris Lougher, pictured below, slammed his excalibur into a wave at Deadman’s, a reef halfway between Manly and North Head, filmer Spencer Frost describes as “the wave of the day, the wave of the swell. A freak. I’ve been shooting for ten years and it’s the biggest and best wave I’ve seen for sure.”

This joint, Deadies, will yank you out of your bean-bag and crack you over the head with grenades of power.

Breaks on a cliff.

A little chip-shot into a section that, usually, don’t have an exit door.

“For a paddle wave, that’s incredible for Sydney,” says Frost.

Frost has been busy as hell fielding calls from news outlets and surf sites since he threw the frame grab from his RED camera onto Instagram.

“I went and did some training, didn’t look at my phone, came back and it had gone absolutely bonkers. Missed calls from everyone. Local newspapers trying to call me. Stab, Surfer, Coastalwatch, every surf media outlet. I didn’t think it would blow up like it did.”

What makes the image even more remarkable is that it was shot using a giant 800mm lens with a two-time converter from Freshwater Beach, a couple of nautical miles further north.

“Getting cheeky with a long lens,” says Frost.

So far, the bidding for his RED footage has hit two gees, but Frost is hoping for a little more.

Whatever happens it’ll be loosed in a day or two.

In the meantime, here’s a reel of raw footage shot from the cliff.