HUGE WAVES SMASH COAST

HUGE WAVES HIT OUR COAST

HUGE swells produced waves the size of two-storey buildings off the Surf Coast at the weekend, with a group of tourists narrowly escaping the high seas.

A vigorous polar front swept from southwest of Tasmania to Victoria’s central coast on Saturday, producing waves higher than six metres.

An American family visiting Bells Beach were reportedly underwater for two to three seconds when a giant wave swamped the base of stairs leading to the shore. The tourists escaped unharmed from the Saturday afternoon swell although a teenager was less fortunate at Apollo Bay yesterday when she was injured after falling out of a boat.

An Ambulance Victoria spokesman said the teenage girl was taken to Apollo Bay Hospital with shoulder pain after the incident around 1.20pm. Surfing Victoria spokesman Liam Robertson said many professional surfers waited all year to take on the challenge of huge waves like the ones presented at the weekend.

“We had waves of more than 20 feet (6.1m) down at Bells Beach on Saturday, which is one of those once-in-every-year events,” he said.

“There was a lot of anticipation in the days leading up to Saturday, with the forecast showing the swell coming from the south past Tasmania.

“It was one of those days for very experienced surfers. There were plenty of spectators down at Bells checking out the waves.”

Mr Robertson said 14-year-old surfers Bella Wilson and Angela Ball lit up social media by taking on the Saturday waves at Bells Beach.

“They were easily the youngest out of the surfers out there on the day and they really made an impression,” he said.

Conditions yesterday were smaller by comparison with two-metre waves recorded along popular surf beaches in the region.