SOME BACKGROUND INFO TO BOMBORA MAPS
The maps started with decades of school-boy sketches of surfspots & 20yrs surfing the SW coast that somehow developed into a 5-year project of mapping every 'known' surfspot along the south west coast of Western Australia. This was done through local knowledge, followed up by hiking, drafting, scanning and digitising, creating a single continuous surf map of o
ur amazing coastline. The project is driven by years of wondering “what was just around the corner” or whether outer-reef bombora's have ever been surfed. The SW coastline, specifically the Cape to Cape stretch, has so many surf spots that are (very well) known (“*”). However, the crazy thing is, when conditions are good, every spot with access is packed, leaving countless bombora’s, kilometres of quality beachies and too-many-to-count reef breaks (hidden across nooks and crannies) left generally untouched. The Cape to Cape overall map includes approximately 90 'known' spots and an additional 50+ spots that I have personally seen in different conditions and each time look surfable. At current scale, the whole Cape to Cape map measures 5.5 metres and extends from Dunsborough in the north, long the northern Cape, then along the entire stretch to Cape Leeuwin and around again to Augusta. An underlying goal with Bombora Maps has been to try as best to accurately map the topography, and more importantly, to use quality aerial and topographic datasets to align existing headlands, cliffs, offshore features so that swell approach angles are properly captured as they approach each unique spot. Every spot marked with a “?” are those that I’ve seen whilst hiking or exploring which I reckon are surfable. And if it was located in a metro area, would it likely be surfed? On that, many “?” spots have no ‘common’ names and have been referenced on this map by looking at geographic features, or their resemblance to other waves around the globe. Have they been surfed? Are they named? Hard to say, but they look OK to me! Why so many unsurfed places??? It may be because of the (real?) perception of big hungry sharks lurking around the corner, however, hiking this coast it seems the real reason is the challenge of access... Huge sections of the coast with no access, not even 4WD, and are scarily isolated! To get to many of the 'potential' spots would often require a long hike with a likely crazy entry/exit off giant gnarly rocks…
Even then, many of these places are then located a serious paddle offshore across some pretty sketchy (sharky) channels! Safety considerations aside, my hope is that this map gets super stoked groms or old-timers to revisit, or start looking for those out-of-the-way spots that are rarely (if ever) surfed. Go searching with a mate for new waves or go hiking with the wife and kids along unfamiliar coastlines...
And what other crazy information is hidden away in archives such as wrecks, place names, diving and swimming spots etc... This is a crazily beautiful and untouched coastline that still has so much that hasn't yet been discovered! Bombora Maps hope to encourage everyone to go searching and look for the next bay around the corner! Enjoy!
