Surfer rides one of the heaviest waves ever off the coast of Western Australia at The Right

Jaw-dropping footage has emerged online of a surfer risking life and limb to ride one of the world’s most dangerous breaks off Western Australia’s south coast.

Huge recent swells at a spot known as ‘The Right’ see surfers boldly take on Mother Nature – with some ending up being rushed to hospital as a result.

Big, dangerous and unpredictable are three common ways to describe one of the most challenging waves on the planet – with even decorated big wave surfers such as Laura Enever second guessing herself.

Given some of the swells rise to as big as 26 feet, you can’t blame the former competitor on the WSL circuit for not rushing out into the ocean about 1.6 kilometres from the coastline at Walpole.

‘I just couldn’t get rid of the negative thoughts,’ the North Narrabeen local said in 2020.

Jaw-dropping footage has emerged online of a surfer risking life and limb more than a kilometre off Western Australia’s south coast (pictured)

Huge recent swells at a spot known as ‘The Right’ see surfers boldly take on Mother Nature – with some ending up being rushed to hospital as a result

‘It was playing on my mind that everything was going to go wrong, and I just couldn’t get that out of my head.’

Enever told Surfer Today the notorious wave requires intense mental preparation.

‘Even if I was just sitting out there waiting for the wave, I couldn’t stop thinking about getting injured or the worst-case scenario,’ she said.

‘I had to get out of the water and get control of myself again.

‘I sat there for 30 minutes before I wanted another go at it.’

Big wave surfer Laura Enever took on The Right – and was terrified by the experience

Other surfers have been left equally rattled, with one stating the unpredictable nature of the wave leaves some feeling like they are having a heart attack in the ocean.

Aussie boardrider Ryan Hipwood almost died when he tried to ride the break in 2012 and later said, ‘You never know what you’re dropping into. When you’re on the wave and it shuts down, the ocean swallows you.’ 

Then there’s the fact that sharks are frequent visitors to the iconic reef break.

And if that wasn’t chilling enough, The Right is the only big wave in the world that has never been paddled into, because when the waves hit 15 feet-plus, doing so would be virtually impossible.

Surfers would then be exposed on the reef, with drowning the likely outcome, even if they are vastly experienced.

The key to The Right’s astonishing force is the fact it sits near the end of a 700-kilometre network of submerged canyons that feed powerful swells into it from the Southern Ocean.