Been surfing Cloudbreak all week its a fun great wave but hard to ride on the backhand. Kai Lenny & Robby Naish have been SUPing it every arvo on dark they are great to watch those two blokes are THE BEST I've ever seen surfing a SUP - fast & radical. I just been riding my 7'2'' medium gun short board just to make the waves.
Howdy all, howdy Phill
Just back last night on the redeye flight from ten days in Fiji and in a word AWESOME. Could have had waves every day but as this was a family holiday had to make do with seven out of ten. Three of those were on the SUP, four on the shorty, two SUP sessions at Cloudbreak and a mixture of shorty sessions at Swimming Pools and Cloudbreak. Agree entirely with Phill on the question of crowds. I was boating out from Plantation and for the most part got dragged along with the herd. At the moment Cloudbreak is flavour of the month and thats where everyone wants to go. As the sole SUP rider in a boat full of shortboarders its pretty hard to say "hey lets go surf Wilkes or Namotu" when everyone is frothing on Cloudbreak. Winds can tend to be fickle so you need to be there on daylight cos it often backs onshore or cross shore by ten in the morning. On the other hand, as Phill said, the wind would often back off in the arvo right around beer o clock. Unless you were on either Tavarua or Namotu you would have to be a really lucky punter to be on the spot.
Crowds at Cloudbreak varied from mellow to crazy. When I say everyone is having a crack I do mean everyone, from Fred Schmaltz whose sole experience of surfing has been on the Great Lakes in Michigan to Jonny Hotrat from North Narra and every skill level in between. At six foot Cloudbreak this definitely makes for interesting spectating. There are some really pissed off Seppos from Tavarua at the moment. Gets a bit hard to stomach when some bloke starts bemoaning the presence "of all these Jackasses in my backyard" in a broad SoCal drawl.
At the moment the place is a bit like the Wild West, anything gos. If you want to surf your SUP there, then providing you believe you can do it safely, go for it. Just bare in mind that your meer presence is going to ruin someones day and you are going to end up feeling like the only strait at the Mardi Gras. Lotta whingeing going on amidst the stoke. My last SUP session at Cloudbreak was over a week ago and I still have adrenaline squirting out of my ears. One head high wave from the outside peak that just kept growing and bending and warping through the middle and finally turned itself into a spitting, snarling bomb on the inside will remain on high rotation on memory playback forever.
One of my funnest surfs was at Namotu. I introduced myself to Phill and had a bit of a yack then watched the Hawaiins who were out in force and it was pure pleasure. Unfortunately in order to circumvent the herd mentality I had to get my own boat out there at about eighty dollars Fijian. Predictably the wind came up fifteen minutes after I arrived and after about forty five minutes it was all over. Still in my book that was money well spent.
Cheers
Sparx
All I can say sparx is that you missed 10 days of sleet and hail here in Melbs - it's been miserable. The surf has been pretty good but it's icecream headache stuff. I've got a trip planned later this year in Hawaii, but looking at all downwinders posts and researching options in fiji, that's where I'm going to be next winter.
I hear you Oliver.
Have been hunkered down in front of the heater all day. Cant even contemplate the ocean at this point in time.
Cheers
Sparx
I'm heading down tomorrow. Conditions look pretty good, but with the cold water and the current chill I've got it's kind of difficult to get too excited about it.
Some time before now and 8:30am I'd better HTFU. I'm sure when I get out in it it will be worthwhile - at least we have some sunshine is predicted.
G'day Sparx
Great read & SO TRUE going for a surf at Wilks in a minute its 7am 4ft right tide & off shore.
Scotty O'connor liked your read
Hi DW and Sparx, I see you guys mentioned Swimming Pools,I saw a segment on Getaway a few years ago. The guy at my local surf shop told my its not real family friendly as in remote and not much to do while your in the water.Is this the case and is it a sup and mal friendly break
Howdy Mac
Not the expert by a long stretch and I am sure Phill will be able to give you a more detailed answer so this is just my two cents worth. Swimming Pools breaks off the back end of Namotu, almost opposite side to the left. Not to much of a stretch to paddle out there if you had to (from Namotu) but a boat would get you from shore to take off in under two minutes. Swell needs to be pretty big to wrap in there so its probably one of the more fickle waves but well worth the effort. The wave bends down the reef and then comes out of really deep water at the Swimming Pools section. Its almost a ledge stlyle take off and then the wave bowls along the backside of a really well defined slab of reef. It's just a really makeable wave with the option for getting as deep and pitted as you want or stay out front and work the bowl. Surfed it last Saturday week and it was about head high and perfect. First surf on a shorty since around Easter so I was way rusty! Managed to snag a few bombs and basically went in a straight line real quick. Its one of those waves where you think no way am I going to make this and all of a sudden you're gliding into the channel after the end section screaming your lungs out. The swell dropped a lot on the Sunday and it was a whole different ball game, super fun and mellow. I took my eleven year old out there for his first surf in the tropics and he was stooooked! Quite doable on both mal and SUP depending on how big it is and how much of a dig you want to have. Phill had a crack at it on his SUP on the Saturday and was just paddleing for the beach when I arrived, on the Sunday the Naish team were out there having a ball. Only downside I can see is that it is a bit of a go to spot when the swell is up and has the potential to become somewhat busy.
Hope that helps
Cheers
Sparx
After reading this, you guys have got me so amped about my first trip to Fiji. Im leaving in less than two weeks.
One of my mates has his own boat for the week that I will be there, so hoping to score some good waves without having to follow masses.
Its going to be a family trip, so by the time I sneak a couple of short boards and a kite into our luggage, the SUP will have to stay at home. (not like my sup skills are ready for cloudbreak anyway)
Can't wait !
G'day Sparx
I heard last week that you was ripping on your SUP at Cloudbreak STOKED
DW
