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When Saxon McCorquodale heard a cyclone was barrelling down the coast, his first instinct was to grab his board and head to the beach.

“I knew the cyclone was upon us and knew the swell would be pumping, so got some food in me and went straight down the coast,” he said.

Footage of him surfing an epic wave at Kirra Beach on the Gold Coast has gone viral among Aussie surfing legends, especially because McCorquodale was using a vintage, slightly broken seven-foot surfboard he had picked up in a second-hand store for less than $20.

He had snapped his regular board the day before, spending eight hours in the wild waves, and was hesitant to use his op-shop find. But after seeing the hundreds of spectators, surfers and jet-skiers cheering, he decided to risk it.

The Gold Coast-based artist has been surfing since he was four.

Waves were up to 15 feet high, he said. He’d been surfing for a few hours when he saw the wave captured in the footage with an “incredible shape” barrelling toward him. As he came through the deepest part of the wave, he started screaming as fellow surfers cheered him on.

Surfing legend Mick Fanning was among his fans, congratulating him on his catch.

“I just started crying and screaming – the mongrel came out of me,” McCorquodale said. “It was the wave of my life.”

His vintage board, however, didn’t survive. The footage was captured by Charlie Cullen.

Surfers and beachgoers all along the coast are embracing the wild weather. Reporter Angus Dalton said the Byron Bay surf is nearly as busy as on Christmas as daredevil surfers draw massive crowds.

Meanwhile, the Herald’s chief photographer Nick Moir has snapped some epic photos of wave spectators almost getting washed off the Brunswick Heads rock wall.