A short illustrated story about a four day wave chasing trip to the coast down south. Four days, four surf spots, four cars, nine friends, nineteen photos. It’s called the last report because…well…it’s the last one.
So it begins, my trip down south. One hour delay thanks to my bad memory and some things I had to pick up back home. Finally on the highway and after 10min of driving – traffic jam. I was watching snowflakes fall for a good hour before we could move on. That’s 2h delay all together…First stop. Windy and lonely. I was so late I only had an hour and a half to surf. It has been a while since I was alone at this spot….I guess all the time wasting usual suspects were somewhere warm, somewhere snowy or busy.Few hours later I was munching on some Gorgonzola pasta and waiting for my boat trip to begin. This whole big ship for just two cars, this is how owning a yacht feels like:)? Thoughts like these were quickly bumped out of my mind by a steel wall that crossed my path as soon as the waves started rocking…ouch.
This is a shortcut that leads to the surf spot. It also leads to some sheep and to “PRIVATE” sign. And to 1 hour of walking in circles through the jungle. I love shortcuts like that.Finally – the beach. All the walking through the mosquito infested swamp was forgotten as the mirage of waves appeared in the background.
it looks like a wave, it breaks like a wave, it sounds like a wave and it smells like seaweed. This must be it!
This is where the smell comes from.And this is where A-frames are born.A little something for our friends that prefer to put their left foot forward. And don’t mind getting smashed into the shallow rocks or constant paddling in the current.And a little something for our friends that like to put their right foot forward. And don’t mind getting washed over the rocks, smashed into the reef, tearing their wetsuits, and having water pushed into their inner ear.I managed to get the content of the text message that was written right after the session: “Hi babe! Dinged my board, got thrown into the rocks, torn my wetsuit, had a blast!”After the session and some local pizza time, another ferry, another surf spot… Now, all we have to do is find a tavern in which the captain is arrrrghhetting drunk.Naaah. Cold, blown out and dangerous. Let’s go some place else?Some place not so close to a smoking volcano?When there are long lulls surfers find all sorts of things to amuse themselves with. Here is – can you touch the bottom test combined with – is my leash tied to my surfboard test and – where did these dings come from headache.These bushes are really dense. Someone carved out a cavern like space between them and laid the ground with rocks in a circular pattern. Stepping into the center of the rocks you are energized and ready for another 5 hour surf session. A sandwich, some chocolate, and warm tea also help.On the way home the countryside slowly started turning from normal to frozen scary fairy tale. Because of rain and freezing temperatures everything was covered with a thick layer of ice. Broken trees, broken utility poles, torn power lines, closed roads… mayhem.
