Core Stories | Aron Cox

Core Stories | Aron Cox

How A Broken Femur Led To Epic Follow Cam Footage 

After a horrific surfing injury, hard charging Aron Cox concentrated on filming his good mate Lennix Smith.

Kiama’s Aron Cox was lying prone on the inside rocks of a rare, local slab. Whenever a wave hit the shore, the whitewater would move Cox a few inches inland. Each adjustment was met with a howl of pain. Over the 45 minutes, till the ambulance arrived, he was rolled about a metre west.  

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“It was big, and I took a steep drop,” Cox told Core Stories. “On the bottom turn, the lip hit me in the head and compressed me into my board. Underwater I heard a snap, like the crack of a big stick before you whack it on the fire. I made the decision not to look at it. I figured it wasn’t good.” 

He’d find out later, when the surgeon put a couple of titanic rods into the biggest bone in his body, that he’d broken his femur in three places. He made it to shore, had to crawl up the rocks and then wait for help. The initial assistance wasn’t much good. Cox was surfing with two mates who tried to use his board as a stretcher and carry him up the stairs to their car. Two metres in, they dropped him, a recollection that still makes Cox go a pale shader even three years later.

When the wave breaks here, don't be there - image by Ben Lang

Wisely they opted instead to go for help and call an ambulance, which arrived a cold, excruciating ¾ of an hour later. 

Up until that point, Cox had been one of the underrepresented underground chargers on the South Coast. In and around his job as a concreter, Cox would chase any serious swell that looked good on the charts. He’d logged sessions at Shipsterns, Skeleton Bay, heaving Nias and Cloudbreak as well as big-wave slabs near home. 

“He’s off his head, an absolute lunatic, and easily the biggest maniac in big waves that I’ve surfed with,” said good mate and main surf buddy, Lennix Smith. “And he’s also a really talented surfer.”

Post operation pits featuring bionic Coxy - Screen grab by Big Z

However, the injury meant Cox had 12 months out of the water. With time on his hands, he decided to try his hand at filming. Despite never having owned a camera before, he jumped in the deep end, buying a RED camera and a Go-Pro. He trained his eye on Smith and started filming his mate at every opportunity, often when he wasn't even keen on getting wet. “He's a frother, but who’d have thought that absolute meathead would go all artsy fartsy? But once he gets onto something, he won’t let it go,” laughed Smith. 

“It helped that at most of the spots, I know where the currents are, and where the best part of the wave to film is,” Cox said. “That helps predict what the surfers are going to do. And I don’t mind wearing a few 10-footers on the head to get the shot.”

Cox returned to the water to surf but reckons the surgery had meant his front foot is now shifted 10% off-kilter, which has affected his surfing. Even at 90% capacity, he was still charging. Inspired by Russell Bierke and his filmer Leroy Bellet and their “follow cams” on the South Coast slabs, he teamed up with Smith and his local spot of ******. 

Follow cam or party wave!? - Image by Aron Cox

“You gotta trust each other and Lennix is probably the only guy I’d follow to film in waves like that,” said Cox. “His success rate especially at ******* is incredible. But it’s really hollow and heavy, with an almost dry ledge to navigate. I’m not sure how long I’d want to keep that up.” 

“The footage was so sick, some of the best I’ve been involved with,” said Smith. “But from the land angle, you see how dry it is. Aron was so deep and getting so lit, it’s a miracle how close he came to making some of them. My old man actually often says be careful what he talks you into.” 

That lip isn't kidding around - Image by Bernt Bruns

Cox has continued to mix his work concreting, with his passion for surfing and filming, primarily with his co-partner Smith. Most of Lennix’s clips feature his water angles, while they’ve logged surf trips to Indo and Namibia. The filming remains primarily a hobby, and despite some offers to work with other brands and surfers, he’s happy to film his mate and be involved with the creative process, both in the water and in the editing room. 

“I wouldn’t want to go through that 45 minute of punishment on the rocks, or the 12 months of rehab that came after, but in some ways, the injury was a positive thing,” finishes Cox. “It opened my eyes that there’s more to life than just surfing. I learned a lot of new skills and found some new paths. We’ll just see where it goes.” 

Words: Ben Mondy

Filmed: Aron Cox | Ben Lang | | Zach Bowden | Lennix Smith | Bernt Bruns 

Edit: Ben Lang


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