Ferry waves are nothing new. In fact, at this point it’s surprising to hear about one that Ben Gravy hasn’t already been on. And yet fellow novelty wave hunter Dylan Graves has done just that – in Denmark, of all places.
The wave was actually first discovered by a coastal engineer for the Danish Coastal Authority named Freja Holme Barkler, who noticed it while she was sent to work on a project of extending a nearby jetty 300 meters. According to her, the project also meant this might be the last chance to surf the wave – at least in its current form. ‘We don’t know if that’s gonna make the wave better or if it’s going to destroy the waves, but the only thing we know is that the wave will never be the same as it is right now,’ she explained.
Imbued with a sense of urgency from that observation, Freja, Oliver Hartkopp, Tim Latte and Graves set out scouting the potential break. ‘I didn’t know this wave existed until probably like a week ago. Now we’re here, trying to figure it out and get our first ride on it,’ described Graves. ‘It’s taken all day to scope intel and try to learn what we can of this new crazy setup with ferry wedge waves. I don’t even know what they are. I’ve never seen anything like it before.’
It took a few sessions to figure out the wave’s unique intricacies because it turned out to be much more than just a simple bow wave. A shallow sandbar was amplifying the ferry’s output, creating much bigger waves than would normally be expected from the craft. As good as they were, though, the rides were far from predictable, requiring a healthy amount of trial and error.
Eventually, after regrouping and gearing up for one final, go-for-broke run, they managed to catch what the locals called possibly the best barrel in Denmark. Even then, Graves could hardly believe it. ‘That was nutty,’ he summed up afterwards. ‘We had all kind of given up. We were like, ‘No expectations on this one, because every other one we’ve just been getting so skunked. That was like one of the craziest battles I think I’ve ever had with a wave, just of cat and mouse and taunting and seeing epic waves but not being able to get them.’
