For me diving in cortes bank is like diving into an underwater kaleidoscope says skerry. Surviving over the falls in massive nazare surf with will skudin duration.
We were backed up by a rescue team of six jet ski operators one per surfer and two more backup skis for.
Cortes bank underwater. Shane dorian grant twiggy baker and ian walsh. With a second major storm bearing down four of the most experienced big wave surfers in the world launched a boat and two jet skis toward cortes bank an underwater mountain range whose tallest. Big wave champs lead strike to cortes bank duration.
Cortes bank is a shallow seamount a barely submerged island in the north pacific ocean it is 96 miles southwest of san pedro los angeles 111 miles 166 kilometers west of point loma san diego and 47 miles 82 kilometers southwest of san clemente island in los angeles county it is considered the outermost feature in california s channel islands chain. Today these sunken islands lie just below the surface. It is this fanciful almost surreal place where green grass sways in a.
But to brad nowhere is more special than the cortes bank. During storms it is even possible to see the rocky tip of this seamount in the troughs of large waves. San nicolas and san clemente islands are his playgrounds.
The nearest land is san clemente island some 41 miles to the northeast. To date he s spent 40 nights solo atop the bank aboard a 19 foot skiff that he built by hand. Some 150km off san diego is a 20km long underwater mountain range known as the cortes bank.
An extensive reef about 23 miles long and 7 miles wide it is approximately 80 miles southwest of san pedro and about 60 miles west of san diego. Such was my introduction to cortes bank in 1975. On december 21 2012 i arrived on a 110 foot vessel to cortes bank an underwater seamount 100 miles off the coast of southern california.
San nicolas island is about 50 miles northwest. Join national geographic underwater photographer brian skerry in the vibrant waters of cortes bank and prepare for a sensory overload. With me were three other surfers.
Treacherous for shipping but in prime place to create mountainous surf the cortes bank became the focus in the search for the 100 foot wave. Bishop rock the high point on cortes bank is typically only submerged by approximately 3 6 feet of water depending on tides and ocean swell. World surf league 90 887 views.
Mongeau s dive shots of the sunken ss jalisco the shipwreck that causes the massive boil in the face of the wave at cortes. For me diving in cortes bank is like diving into an underwater kaleidoscope says skerry. Join national geographic underwater photographer brian skerry in the vibrant waters of cortes bank and prepare for a sensory overload.
