Bombora Maps

How the hell did Christmas arrive so quick!!! Wtf!!!

We have limited stock available. Final date for Christmas orders Friday 8th December.

Happy to answer any questions by DM, or email [email protected]

Cheers 👌🤟👍

Found my old diary from 1994 surf trip along the coastline of France, Spain and Portugal.

I remember each of these beaches like it was yesterday, particularly Rodiles in northern Spain that was amazing for an hour, only to turn into a sudden paddle-fest when the tide changed. And what a super cool campsite located right on the beach... I wonder what it looks like now, 30 years later .. hopefully not taken over by development 🤔😬🤨

Coming from the east coast of South Africa it was bizarre to surf a rivermouth knowing there were no sharks to stress about!!!

Biggest map yet... 2970mm X 400mm map extending from Bunker Bay to Contos, all in a single map frame.

Wow!!! It's so, so big!

(Unfortunately it was about 10cm too long to fit into the normal delivery station wagon, so had to 'MacGyver' a transport system onto my trusty Triton).

Thanks heaps to for getting this stretched on a really difficult, non-standard frame structure... Your work is amazing and always absolutely spot-on... These are very tight alignments that you manage to nail every time!

More pics and vids to follow once map delivery to an awesome client is finalised.

Pretty pumped to see how this new canvas comes out. Rottnest Island in stretched canvas, 1400mm X 400mm in thick stretcher bars. Canvas roll was big and heavy which is always exciting.

Looking forward to seeing how Frank from Artframe67 manages to turn this into another amazing canvas!

New # # horizontal map currently in production,

120+ surf spots extending from Bunker Bay through to Contos in a single monster 3000mm X 400mm stretched canvas. Two days of resetting labels and arrows while streaming Marg's mainbreak turning it on for the .

Waves look like they're absolutely pumping. Hopefully the finals will get something solid once this front settles.

I will definitely be posting some pics of this 3m bad boy once printing and canvas stretching is complete.

PM me if your interested in placing an order... Probs 2-week turnaround for an awesome conversation piece for that hallway or wall!

PM for all other orders for framed prints and custom canvases.

Name change reminder... swsurfmaps is now called Bombora Maps

https://www.instagram.com/bomboramaps

Love the SW Cape to Cape coastline? Marg's, Bunker Bay, Yall's, Inji or the Bay?

Short format framed prints are perfect little stocking fillers for anyone that loves the surf or the beach.

Surfmugs also available!

Frame dimensions are 425mm X 220mm.

These frames are super easy decoration for a desk, shelf or any small space that needs something small.

PM Chloe for details.

Short format framed prints available in horizontal orientation:
Sugarloaf Rock to Eagle Bay
Injidup to Yallingup
Ellensbrook to Gracetown
Boodjidup to Cape Mentelle
Kalbarri

Short format framed print in vertical orientation
Bunker Bay to Bears
Yallingup to Canal Rocks
Canal Rocks to Mufflers
Hangmans to Cobblestones
Gracetown to Ellensbrook
Kilcarnup to Gas Bay
Redgate to Contos
Hamelin Bay
Kalbarri

Hamelin Bay? Or Kalbarri?

Short format framed prints... Perfect little stocking fillers for anyone that loves the surf or the beach.

Surfmugs also available!

Frame dimensions are 425mm X 220mm.

These frames are super easy decoration for a desk, shelf or any small space that needs something small.

Short format framed prints available in horizontal orientation:
Sugarloaf Rock to Eagle Bay
Injidup to Yallingup
Ellensbrook to Gracetown
Boodjidup to Cape Mentelle
Kalbarri

Short format framed print in vertical orientation
Bunker Bay to Bears
Yallingup to Canal Rocks
Canal Rocks to Mufflers
Hangmans to Cobblestones
Gracetown to Ellensbrook
Kilcarnup to Gas Bay
Redgate to Contos
Hamelin Bay
Kalbarri

Surf Spot Naming Backstories (Cape Mentelle): Naming backstory for some crazy waves watched behind Cape Mentelle...

Kilcarnup Bombie... has always been a topographical wave disappointment, with perfect direction for large SW wrapping swells but unfortunately the reef is so, so broken up that it always seems awful. I've seen it surfable once but wasn't game enough to paddle out there by myself :-( Probably pretty fun for SUP'ing?

Racetracks... An inside reef RH'r that I've seen reeling off the inside shelf a few times on small summer swells - reminded each time of Racetracks at Uluwatu. It might be too shallow? I'm sure someone has tried it and knows the answer?

Cape Mental... As I started to add landmark names to my maps, I went for a visit to the back of Kilcarnup on a 12ft+ swell which was too messy for surfing, but clean enough to see how random spots would break - just inside Cow Rock was this 10- 15ft behemoth of a reef breaking left and right, possibly surfable. I revisited this spot a few times and have seen it break in the same spot, always in a way that you'd think would be surfable on a cleaner swell... One day someone will, maybe? (Or maybe someone has already!). Funnily enough, the original spot I'd been watching was the LH'r that broke onto the inside reef. 'Kilcarnup Backdoor' had these ridiculously surfable LH bombs (back-in-the-day... Lol!) that would reel down a well-formed reef into shallow channel. That said, it also had lots and lots of close-outs that looked very Backdoor Pipe-y.

'Kilcarnup Backdoor' nearly made the cut, but after seeing 'Cape Mental' on a couple of different big days 'Cape Mental' ended up looking a bit more surfable so was added to the map... maybe both are surfable on different swells???

Go and explore carefully and hope you get some epic waves!

Wilyabrup to Kilcarnup has to be one of the most amazing stretches of coastline in the world for high quality waves... Not forgetting the amazing little summer nooks like Joeys Nose that are perfect for a short 4WD adventure onto the beach.

Map available in long format in oak, black or white frames.

***NEW MAP IN PROGRESS***
Bukit peninsula including Uluwatu, Padang, Impossibles, Bingin and Balangan...

This has to be one of the most insane stretches of surf coast in the world and a map that I've been itching to draft!!!

The map will be at least a few weeks away, hopefully ready for any Christmas pressie orders... At this stage the format will match my SW SurfMap series, long and skinny long format framed prints for the full map extent, and a possibly a short-format framed print version of Uluwatu to Impossibles.

I'll keep posting progress updates and availability.

I first surfed this stretch 20+ years ago which included my first visit to Ulu's after an early morning arrival at maxxing Uluwatu. The swell was massive with no-one out... Got directions from local warong on how (and where) to paddle out and made my way to the cave... somehow managed to get through full wash-through's into the cave, eventually popping out 2/3 down the line of Racetracks.

No-one was out so there was no way to work out where to sit other than waiting for sets which came through hard and fast. Super solid new groundswell that had 8-10 foot bombs washing through the entire lineup (and were near impossible to catch on my 7' step-up). Got a few smaller ones as more crew started to get into the lineup.

Around mid-morning everything went quiet for about an hour and all the new arrivals started to sit mid-reef. Just as I started to question my position (too far out?) the ocean woke up again with a bona-fide 12ft+ set (Marg's sizing scale) that came through and absolutely decimated the line-up. I had to paddle for my life and luckily scratched through the feathering lip of one of the biggest waves I've ever seen in the water... after wave #2 there would have been at least 3 broken boards tombstoning and another 5+ surfers swimming with snapped leashes. I've never seen carnage like that after a single set before. It was so, so heavy!!!

What an intro to Ulu's!!!

Bombora Maps...

Classic down south bombora...

Bombora (noun) | bommie, bombie

Definition: Submerged offshore reef that sometimes creates a surfable outer-reef wave. Bommie's are often located far offshore, across scary deep channels which are patrolled by large and very hungry Great Whites... Be careful and good luck hunting for waves!

Bombora Maps is doing a down south delivery run for Xmas orders on 27th and 28th of November. We offer framed maps, canvases and mugs. Flick me a message if you'd like to place an order, or receive any info on what we offer and prices or have any questions. Cheers..Chloe

New Rottnest map looking pretty speccy!

3x canvasses (or should it be canvi?) hot off the press… literally!

A couple set aside for friends and family and one for me!

An updated draft with a few tweaks off to printer tomorrow.

Contact Chloe for orders.

First draft Rottnest island map complete ✌️👌👍

Frames are on their way to WA from my supplier for framed prints. Canvas print complete (as 30% larger print) and got dropped off to get stretched.

It’s always a little nerve wracking awaiting this final step before seeing what a new map looks like as finished product!!!

Some early draft prints of new Rottnest Island map. Info review underway looking for errors and gaps in information.

Final maps likely to be 730mm X 330mm (standard size framed prints, excl actual frame). Frames still being shipped for full test run...

Orders will open once the frames for prints are finalised.

Getting very close...
Exciting!!!

Whoooo Hooo!!!

Soon to have new FB & Instagram page name, Bombora Maps.

Previous IG & FB pages were under 'swsurfmaps', but due to broadening information now included in my new maps, and absolutely woeful support from Instagram to close down my original ha- ck *d account (”swsurfmaps___”), I decided it is time to branch out into maps that aren’t all about surf...

***NEWS FLASH***
Bombora Maps will soon be releasing the new Rottnest Island map with surf spots, snorkeling spots, shipwrecks, shark incidents, place name origins and every location name that I could find on an array of historic and current maps. It's pretty detailed!

Heaps more fun researching, and more for everyone to look at.

[BTW, don't use the 'whole' word ha- ck*d otherwise you'll find yourself getting spammed by 'bots from around the world offering help on your ha- ck *d...

WTF!!!

Out of the frying pan into the fire!!!

I'm having a real hard time with Instagram and FB atm... It is absolutely essential to marketing artwork but so, so frikken hard... They provide no support when their system is compromised and enable A-holes from around the world to create networks of compromised accounts...

Who are these f*ckers that sit at their computers trying to sc- am, sc- am, sc- am???

I hope that karma strikes you muther-f*ckers down with furious vengence...

Go and do something decent with your lives and try add some value to society!?!?
(Rant over)]

Rottnest Island map is coming along slowly.

Main features are now drafted including coast, beaches, cliffs, buildings and trees. Now working on swell and specific waves, which has been made a bit more complicated as my normal source ref, Google Earth historic aerial imagery, has next-to-no images taken with any decent swell 🤔. This makes it a bit more difficult to get the correct swell refraction angles as swell wraps around the island. Luckily the island has many drone and plane shots to assist with this dilemma.

Other info to be added includes original explorer landing sites, shipwrecks, snorkeling, WW2 artillery sites and other POIs. This is a super cool island that has some super coll stuff for a map!

Final finished Sumba map from my May surf trip with a few pics added to personalise.

Unfortunately not for general sale as there are too many out-of-the-way spots that aren't yet ready for online exposure. Happy to discuss if you've been to that part of Sumba and want something for your wall.

Sick place to go on a surf trip!!! Many more unridden waves along that stretch of coastline. Definitely going back one day to have another look!

Here’s a bit crazy trivia that I found when revising Map 5… The storm that sank three (or four maybe?) ships moored in Hamelin Bay on 22 July 1900 had winds recorded to 85 knots!

Wonder what the surf was like that week!

From WA Museum Shipwreck Database:
“The force of the wind was such that the Katinka dragged the timber company’s mooring, consisting of three anchors each over 2 tons in weight and over 200 fathoms (366 m) of chain cable, more than half a mile. ‘Nautical men will understand the force of weather necessary to do this’ (West Australian, 30 July 1900: 4i).
About midnight the first mate thought that the Katinka was breaking amidships, and advised those men with him on the mizen mast to jump and attempt to swim for the shore. Two men reached the shore but four, including the mate, drowned. One of those who reached the beach later died in Fremantle Hospital from internal injuries.”

One of my reference maps for the south-west, circa Crown Lands and Surveys Department, drafted sometime around 1873 - 1890. These maps were all done manually using handheld measuring and survey tools. I've transposed these old maps onto modern 1:250,000 and they're so ridiculously close to accurate it blows my mind! Surveys and cartography is a lost artform, (un)fortunately replaced by high accuracy digital imagery drawn off aerial imagery.

Do you see a weird alien creature in the pink lakes of Rottnest Island? (as seen during collation of aerial imagery of Rottnest Island map).

Rottnest Island map started. With all the amazing sites, super cool topography, shipwrecks, non-surf activities like snorkeling trails and other historical POIs, this map is going have broader focus than surf (probs more like the Contos to Hamelin Bay map).

Map size likely to be 22" x 12".

Hopefully it'll be ready in a few months.

Finally finished a little personal project of the spots we surfed during a surf trip to Sumba I did with a couple of mates. Thought I'd knock up a map quickly which as normal, ended up being a tad more time consuming than I expected 😄.

Anyway, map complete.

I did manage to do some cool little videos if the drawing process, which I'll post in the next few days.

😡😡😡