Patrick Booth, East Coast Low (PEOPLE 2023)

East Coast Low - While surfers rejoiced over an east coast low that forms in the Coral Sea in July, it is, let’s just say usually a rare event, but with the effects of human caused climate change increasing the likelihood of these powerful tropical storms, the evidence is clear that we can expect to see more of these unseasonal destructive weather events in the future. When the Noosa points start breaking above 2 metres, just about every surfer within a couple of hundred kilometres started scrambling to put other less important things like work and family on hold so they can get up to the fickle yet fabled breaks to try and sample what Huey (The wave god) has dished up and get amongst it, but they must first face the first seemingly impossible task of getting a car park before a wave can be ridden! That July day a swarm of fearless local groms (young surfers) had taken off school and descended on the points like a pack of hungry wolves making it hard for even the pros to get a wave. The reality though, was that every surfer that had a dig that day was battling the elements with the term surfers use being Victory At Sea. That day only Julian Wilson’s filming crew and myself were game enough to shoot in let’s just say Cyclonic conditions. The winds were gusting over 40 knots with horizontal rain squalls stinging my face making the crappy five dollar umbrella I was using to try and stay dry repeatedly turn inside out. All four shots are using my 70-200mm f2.8 FL with a 2x teleconverter on a D500 + monopod with a raincoat. Modern Man - 420mm @ 1/1500 sec f11 Iso 1600 Foiling has become a popular alternative to traditional board riding and once out of the water with enough forward momentum, can travel kilometres on one swell. On this memorable day, crews had teamed up and were towing each other into these massive swells in the middle of Laguna Bay using jet skis. Waterworld - 600mm @ 1/1500 sec f11 Iso 1600 This shot pretty much sums up the day and the modern era of surfing. A young surfer watches on as a Foiler comes flying past and his tow buddy probably posting a photo of his mate on social media with recipients on the other side of the world getting eyeballs on it only seconds after it happen. How times have changed!

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.