"If you’re after doing cutbacks on a fat wave then it is your wave."
Taj Burrow is one of the most beloved surfers of all-time. The now-47-year-old burst onto the scene, nearly three decades ago, as a do-it-all phenom out of wild and wooly Western Australia. Burrow enjoyed a long Championship Tour career as a bridesmaid, coming second much, but also never seemed to take it too seriously and gracefully exited at the appropriate time, leaving surf fans wanting more.
Well, as you certainly know, the aforementioned CT swings into Burrow’s back yard in just over 24 hours and the World Surf League turned to the towhead to deliver a robustly positive spin on the waiting period forecast.
Burrow, ever the rebel, went the other way, opening with, “The forecast looks…” before scrunching his face into a negative scowl “… pretty wild.” Finding the happy thread for a moment, he continued, “Day one looks amazing then it looks like a huge storm incoming. It’s gonna be big and wild and onshore. But there’s always something so it’ll be entertaining, that’s for sure.”
Then came the dagger.
It will not be running at fan-favorite The Box, Burrow definitively declared, an alternate site often teased by the WSL and thus Mainbreak will be where our heroes and heroines bob halfway between Australia and Madagascar.
Sad.
Once, many years ago I was in Western Australia with Craig Anderson and I asked him to describe Mainbreak. He said, “I’d reckon it’s shit. One word shit. But if I had to give an in depth description I would say a fat left and right. Depends what you’re after. If you’re after doing cutbacks on a fat wave then it is your wave. I have surfed there a bunch of times and not once have I had any fun. I’d reckon it’s absolutely fucken shit.”
Burrow’s forecast, I suppose, not so negative by comparison.
Still, devastating news.