Red Bull Cape Fear: The Best Barrels and Wipeouts
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Red Bull Cape Fear, the one-of-a-kind invitation-only big wave surfing competition, is returning to Shipstern Bluff, Tasmania’s home of slab surfing.
Aussie surfing legends Mick Fanning, Mark Mathews, and Laura Enever join 22 of Australia’s best big wave surfers set to take on Tasmania’s Shipstern Bluff.
This year’s event will involve an all-Australian line-up with Mick Fanning once again leading the field alongside a strong cohort of big wave surfers from across the country that will also feature a female category for the first time.
World Surfing League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT) competitor Laura Enever and rising star Lizzie Stokely will be among the women competitors for the competition.
“I’m honored to be one of the first female surfers to take part in Red Bull Cape Fear, and I’m excited and nervous to push myself and compete against some of the best female slab surfers in Australia,” said Enever.
“It’s going to be one crazy event. When I left the World Tour to venture into big wave surfing, my eyes were opened to what it takes physically and mentally to surf the heaviest waves around. Shipstern Bluff truly embodies that challenge.”
The competition window officially opened on March 3, and the contest can take place any time between now and August when conditions are optimal with the competitors in question given 48 hours to make their way to the venue in order to compete.
Red Bull Cape Fear last took place in 2019, and a returning Fanning said he was relishing the chance to tackle one of the world’s heaviest waves.
“My expertise definitely lies in high-performance surfing, so taking on these crazy waves is definitely out of my comfort zone, but it’s an epic challenge post-retirement all the same,” adds Fanning.
Red Bull Cape Fear had previously taken place in Cape Solander in Sydney’s Botany Bay but relocated to Tasmania back in 2019 in a shallow reef with waves breaking only 10 meters from the bare rocks at the base of the cliffs.
“Red Bull Cape Fear is an event big-wave surfers across the globe keep an eye out for, and Shipstern Bluff is known for taking no prisoners,” concluded Mark Mathews, the Red Bull Cape Fear founder.
