The list of parents and their children sharing waves of mortal peril is a small but celebrated group. Dave and Bronte Macaulay love Western Australian slabs. Peter and Jon Mel sit side by side at Mavericks. Coco and Mason Ho still look up to Michael.
Over the past three years, Dylan Longbottom and his daughter Summa have been doing what few fathers and daughters have ever experienced together: bagging a variety of the best (and most dangerous) subterranean cylinders around Australia. Adding to the intrigue is that 21-year-old Summa is on her backhand at the rights, a different approach than her father’s frontside.
Dylan needs no introduction, but he deserves one anyway. At age 50, he still has a grom’s froth, and when he’s not searching for barrels he’s making boards under his label Dylan Surfboards for some of the world’s premier thrill seekers like Matahi Drollet, Laura Enever, Laurie Towner, Lucas Chianca. Out of his shop in Cronulla, he builds blades based on decades of experience. You might recall his bomb during the legendary Teahupo’o Code Red swell in 2011.
Photo: Peter Balmer
It’s been a gradual progression for the family from the South Coast of New South Wales to get to this point. But there were early signs Summa was up for the challenge. When they were based in Bali during Summa’s childhood, Dylan recalled how she followed him around lineups. Most kids do this with their parents, except Summa tailed her pops to proper Outside Corner and G-land. At age 13, she towed 15-foot Nazaré. There was no coaxing or nudging necessary. Recognizing her commitment, Dylan eased her into bommies in NSW and abroad.
“I keep telling my dad, five years ago I would never have seen myself doing this stuff,” Summa said. “We didn’t have it in the books.”
Undertaking waves of this magnitude, however natural it may feel, comes with inherent risks. On her first trip to the South Australian desert in 2023, Summa was on the beach when her dad broke four ribs and partially collapsed a lung after colliding chest-first with the reef below a notoriously heavy slab. After popping some Advil and a couple beers, Dylan stayed the night in Nowheresville rather than drive 12 hours to the nearest hospital. Summa had exercised caution and did not attempt a wave the day her father was injured. But the following morning the swell dropped, and Summa took her shot. It was her first time towing without her father by her side.
“Jerome Sahyoun and Kipp Caddy took her out,” Dylan said. “It was the first time I had no control because I wasn’t out there with her. And she nailed it. She got three bombs. It was heavy for me just watching.”
With dad on the sand and a minimal crowd in the water, Summa had to read the wave without the usual marker of paddlers, and she found herself deep into a cone coughed up by the Great Australian Bight.
“I was thinking I may not get it right because I didn’t know where the wave was going to start,” she said. “But I just tried it. It was my best wave, the one I was deepest on. It was crazy.”
Asked what it’s like to watch each other on waves of consequence, both gave illuminating and varying answers. There’s an element of parental protection, but who better than Summa’s father to teach her and share these remarkable rides with her?
“We’re a tow team now, and I’m teaching her how to drive,” Dylan said. “I tell her, ‘I can’t just drive you all the time, you have to tow me!’ But it’s definitely a lot more challenging teaming up with my daughter than anyone else like Laurie or Matahi or Chumbo. Because I know the waves we surf. But I’m staying positive. Between waves, I tell her ‘Do this! Focus! Bend your knees over the step! Don’t hit it at an angle.’ It’s all pep talk and teamwork.”
“It’s definitely scary, but I feel like he’s more nervous for me than I am for him because he’s so experienced,” Summa said. “But I still get worried. I remember at the last Shipstern’s swell, on his big wipeout my heart stopped for a second. It’s weird because I’ve seen it so many times now, but every time he falls I still get that feeling, even though I know he’s probably fine.”
Photo: Peter Balmer
Kipp Caddy, another of Australia’s finest slab aficionado, has gotten close with the Longbottoms since they moved to the Cronulla years ago.
“It’s been pretty crazy watching Summa’s progression from the start to now,” Kipp said. “It’s such a cool environment in the sense of picking the moments, finding the conditions that will be best for her to surf.”
Summa knows she can improve her backhand technique, and she’s exposed to plenty of talent in her family’s inner circle. But she’s keen for bigger lefts and wants a rematch to paddle and tow Teahupo’o. Last year at the bottom of the continent she whipped into one of the waves of the day, frontside, at “one of the craziest big left slabs in Australia,” Dylan recalled.
“I try to watch guys like Jerome, who we go on trips with, or someone on their backhand and study their lines,” Summa said. “Then I’ll try it for myself and see how I go. Usually, when we go to a new wave we study it for a bit. You don’t want to just go out there on the rope or paddle and wing it. You want to know what your line is going to be.”
No slab lesson would be complete without a field trip to Shipstern Bluff, and Summa has made annual trips to Tasmania with her father since she was 17. Prior to a run of swell at Shipstern’s last April, she’d yet to wipe out. Summa bided her time before snagging one, then caught rail on another and got worked inside.
Laura is one of Summa’s most encouraging supporters. The Guinness World Record holder rides Dylan’s guns and has seen firsthand how the father and daughter work together. That April day at Shipstern’s, Laura and Summa sat in the channel for a long while discussing the line they wanted to take over the infamous step. Laura said watching Summa take the first crack at it fired her up to get a gem.
“Summa is such a chiller,” Laura said. “She’s a cruiser but she loves a challenge. She’s a really sweet girl.”
“Even the really good guys with experience were getting smashed,” Summa recalled. “I was like, ‘Shit, I don’t know if I can do this day.’ But I was on the boat thinking if I don’t get another one I’m going to be devo-ed.”
After catching her breath, her father whipped her into another one. Summa fell again, only to get whacked in the face by her board, fracturing her cheekbone. Like daughter like father, she didn’t see a doctor. She stayed on the boat the rest of the day, watching the scene and taking notes.
“It’s a hard wave forehand, let alone backhand,” Dylan said. “Not many goodies over the years have even wanted to try it. It’s so hard.”
What happened next exemplified the Longbottoms’ commitment to heavy water. Five days after the Shippies swell, Summa was towing at Cape Solander and negotiating the rocks inside Ours with a black eye and a not-full-healed skull.
“My first wave I went over the handlebars,” she said. “My helmet ripped off. The zipper on my hoodie ripped off, and my necklace ripped off. Straight after that, I got another one, but it was shit. So I pulled off near the paddlers and I nearly got two rouge set waves on the head. I was shitting myself. It was so heavy.”
Photo: Sam Venn
In some respects, Dylan and Summa are like many families who surf together regularly. During this interview, they talked excitedly about chasing swells to Indonesia and Morocco. But then there are things that remind you of the larger scale they’re attempting. They both received invites to the Pico Alto Tow In Challenge at Peru’s Punta Hermosa. The waiting period runs through July, and they’re slated to compete against a field of 23 other men and seven women, including Lucas Chianca, Andrew Cotton and Justine Dupont. In regards to Ours, while Layne Beachley and Laura Enever have built a portfolio there, Summa is believed to be the youngest female ever to ride the wave when she first did so at age 17.
Photo: Peter Balmer
Both of them recognize the unique position they’re in. A family bond strengthened by surfing is not a novel concept, but they’re putting themselves in positions few have ever experienced, let alone a parent and their child. It’s an opportunity for Dylan to share, and Summa to learn, decades of knowledge accumulated in some of surfing’s most extreme arenas.
“Sometimes I don’t even think about it because it comes so naturally, that we’re father and daughter,” Summa said. “But then I see people say how cool this is, a father-daughter team. And some people trip out on it because it doesn’t happen a lot. So I guess it is pretty cool.”