ed’s letter

What an extraordinary bunch they are, Tasmania’s crazy-brave clutch of big-wave surfers. I’ve long been fascinated by the crew that takes on monster waves at legendary Shipstern Bluff. How they do it. Why they do it. How terrified – or not – they are as they do it. I hope you feel a vicarious thrill as you read our cover story by Peter Newlinds, with its terrific action shots by Andrew Chisholm. Also this week, we meet a remarkable young woman, Brutukan Melkamu, whom I first met at a Refugees Against Racism event in Hobart and who shares her story in depth for the first time. Today we also mark the end of an era at the Mercury, as we farewell food and wine reviewer Graeme Phillips after 20 years. It’s not always easy to walk the walk – to write without fear or favour about the good, the bad and the ugly in a smallish community – but Graeme has consistently done just that, with great dollops of humour and joie de vivre thrown in. Readers, please raise your glasses to a man who has given us his best.