PEDRA BRANCA – TASMANIA
Words John Carter & Finn Mullen // Photos Chris Carey/Red Bull Content Pool
Pedra Branca is one of the world’s gnarliest waves. It’s big, remote and never been windsurfed before, until now. We caught up with Alastair McLeod, the windsurfer who became the first to drop down this infamous wave to hear how his pioneering mission went down.
WS – Describe Pedra Branca
AM – Pedra Branca is about 30km from the last bit of land in Australia off Tasmania’s South Coast. The next stop is Antarctica. There are two giant rocks – Pedra Branca and Eddystone that stick out of the ocean. Looking at nautical charts you can see that basically there is an underwater mountain range out on the edge of the continental shelf. The wave breaks off Eddystone Rock on a bit of shallow reef that comes up out of deep water. The whole place is notorious for shipwrecks and wild weather. To put it simply it is not a really friendly feeling place.