BIG wave enthusiasts got an early Christmas present after the Cribbar wave broke on Sunday.

Tom Butler, Pete McNicol and Rob Fowlie were among a group of 10 surfers who tackled the giant swell, which was “four times overhead.” One surfer drove from Bournemouth especially for the occasion.

Pete McNicol ended up with his surfboard ripped in half after it became tangled in his leash in the whitewater. A crew from Newquay RNLI lifeboats paid the surfers a visit during a training session.

The huge swell also awoke the Zorba reef off the end of Pentire Headland.

Photographer Geoff Tydeman who caught the action said: “The peaks were shifting all over place so there were only couple waves ridden in two hours.

“I would have said it would have been more appropriate to tow into the Cribbar on the day because of the shifting peaks. A number of the surfers got caught out by set waves and ended up having to duck dive mountains of white water or ditch their boards and dive under.”