"The first time I swam Pipe was small day, several years ago, a better day of the Pipeline Masters. I had explored the reef when it was flat, so I knew how much room I had beneath me: not enough. After this I was ready for size. Well, probably not -- but who cared?" she says.

"I carried on swimming Pipe when Third Reef was feathering on larger textbook days in late January. I was scared of the swim out and getting deep enough under the wave as it broke. I was shooting an 85mm so had to sit further in rather than in the channel. Sometimes I was swept back as there is only a margin of room between the wave above and the reef below, and sometimes I would have to hold onto the reef to swim through. The sounds were like bombs exploding."

But Third Reef isn't even the biggest worry. As a female traveling the world alone with thousands of dollars of gear, she's been a target of attacks by dirtbags from London to South Africa. At J-Bay, she had to hide under the bed, terrified, while a thief cleaned her livelihood out of the apartment. There have been jellyfish, inexperienced surfers landing on her melon and camping in a Sri Lankan rice field with elephants, cobras, crocs and as she puts it "shagging mongooses."

In addition to working with all sorts of clients in action sports, her work has appeared in Foam, Surfergirl, Carve, Mens Health, Cooler, and Maxim. The girl has it dialed.