So, here we go! Let's get rid of some...
Still day 3 at Cloudbreak. Halfway decent top turn... if it wasn't for the usual "dead" front arm.
Here I finally figured out that it's better to kick out before the end (shallow reef), even though the next section looks doable.
Lil drop/bottom turn mini-sequence.
Considering the position of the boat where Stu is taking photos from, this must be one of those waves I was catching in the very end section. I had the most fun there.
Fuck yeah! I wonder why Stu didn't add any photos of this sequence to the dvd... maybe the wave got in the way?
Little cuttie on the right of Namotu (Pools) on that magic session on day 5.
Back to Cloudbreak day 3: another beautiful wave right in front of the lifeguards paddling out. One of them (Nathan) was quite impressed by my surfing after "only" 9 years of practice.
Well, they're paid to please the customers...
Another barrel opportunity...
...carefully avoided.
Pools. What a session that was.
This is Lefts in the morning of day 5. Compared to Cloudbreak, Namotu Lefts is a mellow wave: the lip is not throwing... at least in this session! In this case, I'll manage to duck dive, but overall I have to confess that I had to let go of my board (after having checked that no one was behind) soooo many times. That is a clear sign that I was surfing waves a bit too hard core for my skills. I got very lucky that my leash or board didn't break. I would strong recommend a new thick leash for a Fiji trip.
Lefts again. We're sitting quite relaxed thinking that we are wide enough even for that big one...
Ok, better paddle just a little bit more over to the side...
There will be one last Namotu post after this. And after that, you guys just want to hope that wireless internet connections will be available in Indo.
Oh yeah! Check out the video that one of the Aussies on the same trip did. Good job, Andrew!
2 comments:
Hi GP, you were at the center of the surfing world on that tiny island! All the surfing websites are posting about the fiji swell...
I just wonder how Polakow, Levi, Kauli, etc could have performed in those conditions if they were there along with the top kiters... The clips from Namotu from the 90s are amazing and the level is way better now....
Cheers
Marcos
Hi Marcos,
good question. I think kiting was a better option that day because the kite can catch the wind way higher than a windsurfing sail.
I had the feeling that huge waves were blocking some of the wind on the face... which is what happened on the second wave of my short two waves wave sailing session on the Lefts that day.
But I'm sure they would have been out there ripping it up.
Today's boards are better than the 90s and the young kids throw all kind of new moves off the lip, but when it's down to big waves sailing, I think the level of the 90s sailors was just as good as now.
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