26th Parallel: Further North

Former PWA wave world champion Scott McKercher and Red Bull Storm Chase champion Jaeger Stone teamed up with Geraldton based photographer / fireman, Mathias Moerman, for a mission further north than their normal haunts on the West Australian coastline; the crew tell the tale of an epic score.

- Scott Mckercher, Jaeger Stone & Mathias Moerman 

Scott – “It’s been over a decade since I haven’t turned left. A left hand turn in the road on a desolate West Australian highway that leads to one of the best wave sailing locations in the world. But as scribed on Ken Kesey’s bus back in the 60s, this bus was going “Further”.

The inspiration for me not to turn left was one of the best surf trips of discovery I’ve ever been on, on many levels. 13 years ago we arrived to a beach not having a clue where anything was, eventually finding it and then scoring epic conditions. Immortalised on my living room wall ever since, it’s been a constant reminder of having to go back. On that memorable trip, once the swell subsided, we then joined up with another local windsurfer who had a tinny (small aluminium boat) and he took us to one of the region’s many outer reefs. It was small that day, but was such a perfect setup that grew and became cleaner as it wrapped around the reef. Having recently just bought a little baby Zodiac inflatable for tow foiling, these outer reefs were also in the back of my mind when making the purchase. A little surf machine that wasn’t too heavy to tow, or get onto the beaches. So when a little window of opportunity to get up north opened, with Jaeger and Mathias also able to make the trek, I was pushing for “Further” because it’d been so long since I’d last been and now had the wee rubber ducky. There was some concern voiced by the boys saying they wanted to turn left, when I might have called them certain names in order to make sure they went the extra mile. Whatever I said must have struck a nerve and they followed through and stuck with the original plan to follow me up.”

SOMETHING DIFFERENT