Turtles and waves on the North Shore

Sunset, Diamond Head

The last 10 days of my trip have been spent on Oahu with my friend, Steph. I met Steph through a mutual friend in Bali at the very beginning of my trip and spent the first week with her surfing Canngu and Kuta. I love the circular motion of my trip....starting and ending a long journey with a wonderful new friend on a tropical island.

Steph lives on the south side of Oahu and surfs Diamond Head, a great longboarding wave breaking over reef. It is an incredible beautiful 'local', a very long and crowded ride, full of that Hawaiian spirit of Aloha. The swell was pretty small but we still had some super fun sessions on 9 foot longboards.

We also spent a few days on the north side of the island checking out the famed breaks of Pipeline and Waimea Bay. I loved the North Shore and really hope I will be back at some stage to stay a little longer. Some how, amid the circus that is professional surf competitions and heavy tourism, the small town of Halie'wa has maintained its beauty. The first day we visited the swell was huge with 8 - 10 foot sets coming through. The famous breaks of Waimea Bay, Halie'wa and Pipeline were all breaking and full of professional surfers waiting at the start of the HIC pro. I didn't paddle out. Heavy was a understatement.

We drove back to the North Shore several more times over the week. Both days were incredibly beautiful and made me fall in love with this little piece of paradise even more. On Thursday, I watched sea turtles feasting for an hour on one of the reefs and surfed a super fun Lani's on Steph's 7'2. The winds came up early on the Saturday so we spent the morning with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii cleaning up one of the beaches up from Waimea Bay. Marine debris is starting to wash up on the Hawaiian islands from Japan - fridges, old bombs, washing machines. Its quite amazing what a big shake up like a tsunami will do.

I was really inspired by the clean up and will definitely look for opportunities to organise / participate in similar events in my home town of Fremantle. I'd also love to initiate / support similar events in Bali. The issue with plastics in Indonesia is unbelievable, incredibly sad and really takes away from the surfing experience. I am not sure what the answer is considering waste management practices are primitive but its got to begin with something.

Steph and I at the Sustainable Coastlines clean up

I head back home on November 13. I'm looking forward to settling down for a while, unpacking my backpack, sleeping in a king size bed and catching up with families, friends and my boy.

Nor Cal.......Ocean Beach

My friend Brad and I headed out to Ocean Beach for a late afternoon surf while I was in San Francisco.   Surfing this part of the world takes the sport to a whole other level. Hoodies, gloves, 5ml wetsuits are the norm. It definitely goes above and beyond what I am prepared to give on a regular basis. I'll take my bikini and 25 degree Indonesian water any day!

Ocean Beach is a well known, world class wave which handles some serious size. Peaks line up for 3 miles breaking on sand banks and still peal on 15foot faces. I'm not a big fan of beach breaks. For starters it can be challenging to get out the back with regular close outs and shifting banks. Increasing in size by one foot can take them from super fun to extremely scary. My worst wipe outs have been at beach breaks and they can hurt. Being slammed into wet sand feels the same as being slammed into concrete.

I have struggled to surf well in California. I've found the temperature of the water extremely challenging even with a thick wetsuit on. I also find the density of the water different to the tropics so I feel that I sit lower and can't paddle with the same strength and speed that I am used to. The cold water makes me sluggish and my body just doesn't respond the way I want it to. Needless to say, I had a really bad surf, lasted little over an hour and took three really bad waves.

I met Brad at Cactus Beach, South Australia while he was travelling Australia four years ago. He was on an 8 month 'radical sabbatical' through Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand carting around four boards and a desire to nail his backside tube riding. He had thrown in his job, his girl, saved a bunch of money, bought a car and was driving from West Australia through to Victoria surfing as much as possible along the way. He surfs with a finesse that I will never have, a skill level honed after starting early in life and surfing as much possible over the last 30 years.

Cactus Beach is on my surf hit list. I have been there several times driving from Melbourne to Perth but never really caught it on a good swell. It is one of the Nullabours famous desert breaks full of isolated barrels and great white sharks. It is a surreal place, wind blown, salty, lonely but it has this amazing energy and attracts a very interesting traveller. Its beauty is intensified by the fact that it is 4 hours from the nearest town of any decent size. You basically pull up on the sand dunes, pay $8 for a site and camp in the elements. One day I'll take a wave.

I'm heading to Hawaii today for the final week of my trip. I've been craving the routine and rhythm of home for a while and am looking forward to seeing friends and family. I am missing working and being part of something bigger then myself. Naval gazing is good for the soul but too much can be self destructive. It will be strange though, being on the other side of this trip. 

Advice from a pro......

Las Flores, El Salvador, day 3

After surfing Las Flores and Punta Manga receiving coaching and advice from Holly, I asked her for one thing that I could work on over the next 6 months that would improve my surfing. She gave me two..........but this was her response -

Hey Bec

    

I think one of the things you could work on is to relax and not be as serious about it. I feel like you are a perfectionist which is what makes you so awesome at things but in your surfing it may lead you to get frustrated which is counterproductive. If im off base, feel free to disregard.

You're surfing really well i thought. riding a thicker/wider but not longer board might help too. your board doesn't carry speed very well because it's thin, so you have to work really hard to make sections. you looked really good on those longer boards that you rode, but they were so long. riding something like 6'0 or 6'1 but 19" x 2.5 or even 2.25 thick might really be awesome. if you have mates at home with boards like that you should ask them to try theirs to see how it feels.

Ok, i know that was more like two things, but in the end it just comes down to enjoying it and having fun.

See you in the morning!

: )

hb

Kinda what I have known for awhile. I love to surf, I really do but I am ridiculously competitive with myself and with my friends who surf. I get so caught up with wanting to improve and getting better that I forget what I love about the sport. Why I wanted to surf in the first place. That its all about being in a beautiful place with great friends enjoying the moments as they arise. My ego and wanting to be the best I can be get in the way of love. I have only just realised how much this pervades so much of my life. 

Most of the sessions we surfed with Holly were recorded so that we could watch ourselves surf and receive some critical feedback. If a picture speaks a thousand word then video footage gives you a million. It is a mortifying process but provides so much information..........Holly kindly made 2 minute clips of our waves and posted them on You Tube. Maybe one day I'll surf like her.

Anyway I am in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua at the moment. I surfed Playa Maderas yesterday and caught some super fun stormy waves. It reminded me of my days surfing Woolamai, Phillip Island in Victoria. I wish I had more time to surf some of the other breaks but the swell has been pretty inconsistent and the wet season is well and truly settled in. Tomorrow afternoon, I fly to San Francisco for the second last stop on my trip. Hopefully I'll fit in at least one or two surfs in Nor Cal.....anything to give to reason to hauling this 4/3 seam sealed wetsuit for the last five weeks. 

Surf Camp with Holly Beck

Las Flores, El Salvador, day 1

My girlfriend and I are spending the week at a surf coaching clinic with Holly Beck. Its day 3 and already we've clocked up around 12 hours in the water. The camp is based at Las Flores, El Salvador, an incredible rippable long wave in the south. It is super fun and allows a nice amount to time to practise and link together turns.

There are six girls on the camp with Holly and Steph providing coaching and Jess running a daily yoga class. I thought I'd be mixing it up with twenty something rippers but the group is quite diverse in age and experience. Two women, Frazer and Isabel and particularly inspiring. Frazer has been surfing for over 30 years and still shreds on a short board. Isabel picked up surfing when she moved to Nicaragua for work and has developed such a beautiful style.

Each session is filmed and we spend the afternoon getting some critical feedback from Holly. Its is fairly confronting. Feeling yourself surf and seeing yourself surf are two different things. Over the past few years I've become more dynamic constantly shifting position in response to my placement on the wave. I have finally started turning and after a week of surfing rights in El Salvador, I am feeling pretty good on my take offs and heading down the line.

I've managed to put on 5 - 6 kilos over the last five months (care of trail mix) so I am not enjoying seeing myself on film and in photos. However, I've paid to much to be vain and understand the value of watching myself. I can see the tension I carry in my shoulders and how tight my upper back are, limiting my movements on the wave. 

I set several intentions for this week.

1. To relax in the surf and select better quality waves.
2. Refine my pop ups on the right side.
3. Work on compression and using my lower body to drive the board.

Attached is a short video that Holly made of our first session. I am at the 45 second mark. Its a small one but such a fun wave. 

Wanting to head home........El Tunco, El Salvador

So with a really heavy heart, I caught a flight from LAX to San Salvador for the final five weeks of my journey. I really want to be flying home but I've already made some commitments in Central America and I want to make the most of this opportunity. I'm unlikely to return soon. The final five weeks is nothing to complain about - a week with Holly Beck (ex pro surfer) on a surf camp in Las Flores, six days in San Juan Del Sur, five days in San Francisco and a week in Hawaii with my wonderful friend Steph.

It has been an incredible ride so far full of fantastic adventures with some amazing friends both old and new. I've surfed a lot less then I thought I would, fallen in love with the beauty and diversity of the United States, crossed Central America off my bucket list, been sicker then I've been in a long time and spent a huge amount of time distilling what I want in my life. I've ridden a motorbike in Java, surfed Bingin (Indonesia) and Punta Roca (El Salvador) on low tides holding my own and found my guru. But now my funds are running dry and my heart is just not up to the challenge of travelling solo through sketchy countries.

Its ironic that I'm hanging out for the routine and rhythm of life back home. To play down at the beach with Bear, drink good coffee with friends in Fremantle, have a glass of wine and a plate of pasta at Gino's on a Friday night and surf a wave that I know like the back of my hand. My friend, Christina asked me what would the first thing I would do when I got home..........I don't think I answered properly but it would go something like this...............grab the dog, drive down to the beach, walk barefoot through the white, white sand and the water in the setting sun, drive past the Boatshed in Cottesloe, pick up some fresh Salmon, kipler potatoes and a bottle of local Sauvignon Blanc and have a huge cook up at my house.

This time 10 months ago all I could dream of was quitting my job and thinking about me for an unforeseeable amount of time. Wondering around the globe following the waves, learning some Spanish and meeting new people. I had dreamed about surfing the waves of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Now I just couldn't care less and can't bear another day of this routine. I want something more then hmm, time for coffee, okay, where am I going to sleep tonight and jesus, time for dinner again. Ironically, I feel that my surfing has gone backwards despite all the time in the water.

It really is all a question of balance. This time last year I was out of control. My job was incredibly stressful, surf rowing was tougher then I ever remembered and my body was not up to the challenge and I was trying to fit part time study around full time work. If I've learnt anything over the past five months, its that I just have to find balance in my life when I return home. I need to apply those lessons I learnt in my yoga teaching course earlier this year and spend more time being and less time doing. More time breathing and less time running around.

Enough waxing lyrical and whinging about my situation.............its time to change the wax on my surfboard and bring out my fins.

LA Style with the Dump Rider Crew

I was lucky enough to surf with some locals while transiting through Los Angeles. Considering the size of that place, having access to a car and some new friends is necessary to get around. Public transit in LA is a pretty scary concept and it would take a committed surfer to bus to the good surfing beaches.

My Hawaiian friend, Randy who I met in Pacitan, Java put me in contact with Matt, his younger brother. Through Matt, I met various members of the Dump Rider Crew - a group of local LA surfers.....'struggling to improve' (ain't that the truth!) and surfing at every opportunity possible.  'Leave egos at the door, and surf for the love of it!' is this crew's philosophy.

Old Man's, San Onofre State Park

My first surf was at San Onofre State Park over a long weekend. A 4 - 6 foot swell was forecast and Matt had a friend with a beach side campsite on the army base. Christina, a fellow yogi, surfer and good friend of Matt's, picked me at from the hostel at a very early hour and together we drove to Matt's place in El Segundo. From there, we piled into one car and took off an hour south in San Diego county.

The swell was rolling through when we arrived with a number of different peaks firing nicely. Being a long weekend and all, it was unbelievably crowded but a wave is a wave is a wave and its always nice to get wet. I didn't even stop to consider that the water temperature would be significantly less the Costa Rica and my bikini's and rash guard were not going to cut it. 

The first duck dive was a killer and I was lucky enough to score six on the head on the way out. It is always nice to time the entry well. I tried to take off on a few but struggled to find my rhythm. It was really crowded, really cold and my buoyancy in the water was different to that of Indonesia and Central America. I felt like I was sitting lower in the water and just couldn't move through it at the same pace as I had. I gave up after 45 minutes, sprinted out of the water and run to Rick's campsite to warm my hands up over the stove top. 

The rest of the crew - Khang, Sheryl, Rick, Christina and Matt dribbled in over the next few hours and joined me for coffee and breakfast. I'm not sure anyone had an epic surf, with that crowd it was almost impossible but each had a few fun waves. 

The wind picked up for the rest of the day, so we sat reading, eating, chatting and waited out the late afternoon glass off. I managed to borrow Matt's wettie for the session which made all the difference. I had such a fun surf at Old Mans on a 6'1 Spyder (similar to a fish) belonging to Rick. At 22 inches wide, it was so easy to paddle on to the waves and pull down the line. After such a dismal surf in the morning, I was relieved to have some fun and take nice little waves. 


My final surf with the Dump Rider crew was at Manhattan Beach, their local break. The wave is a series of beach breaks running from the sewerage factory along the coast for a few kilometres. It reminded me way too much of surfing Scarborough Beach over summer to really enjoy myself but it was nice to meet more of the local crew and catch up with Christina and Matt again. Looking forward to surfing waves in the warmer waters of El Salvador!

Wise words from a well travelled friend

Pavones, Costa Rica

Niall and I hired a car and drove to Pavones, Costa Rica to ride the second longest left in the world. We timed it on the back of a large swell coming through for the weekend hoping that we would avoid the crowds but still get to surf this amazing point break at its best.

It was here that the homesickness hit. It pervaded every thought, feeling, moment and took the happiness and enjoyment out of everything. The swell was pumping, my travel buddy, Niall was having the surf sessions of his life and I just wanted to go home.

I felt so lost, so far away from everyone and everything I loved. I emailed a good and well travelled friend. Here is what he wrote back. 

Travelling is not easy.
Everything is heavy.
The food, the little risk, the bad beds, the roosters, the rats, the annoying people....
I understand you when you say that you are tired.

Take it easy...slow down...eat well and try to sleep well.
So you will soon have the batteries full again and you can continue to travel.

but remember...all the heavy things are actually good for your spirit and your knowledge.
I am sure you are learning a lot during these days...
A lessons that only travelling can give you.

Ancoro Imparo.

Surfing with las chicas at Santa Teresa

Fun peaks at Playa Santa Teresas

After five weeks of intense travel driving a motorbike through Java and staying at a shag shack in La Libertad, I was excited to catch up with my friend Niall in San Jose. We planned to head straight to the coast, find a cute little apartment and surf fun waves for two weeks. 

Santa Teresa seemed like the best place to do this with a plethora of yoga schools, restaurants and a mixture of reef and beach breaks within easy reach. It is a tiny jungle village on the Nicoya Peninsula, a five hour bus and ferry ride from San Jose. As long as I have good coffee nearby, fresh fruit and vegetables, things to explore, a running route of some description and good waves to surf, I am a very happy camper.

We totally scored with the accommodation staying at Hotel Meli Melo paying $30 a night for a twin room, shared kitchen, wifi and living area. The waves were crazy fun. We were so lucky to time our arrival with a building swell. Playa Santa Teresa is a series of super fun peaks that easily holds a crowd. Its a great wave on a smallish swell maxing out at around 5 foot. On the other side of the peninsula are several reef breaks that fire when the swell gets bigger.

Aside from the waves, the town was full of chicks that ripped. Every session there was at least 3 – 4 girls in the water, more then holding their own. I got to meet and chat to a couple and was so inspired by their stories...................Evie Johnstone is a Jaco based surfer trying to break into the professional circuit, Josie Green had been surfing for four years and blogs about surf life and surfing chicks in Santa Teresa, Veronica Quiros designs surf bikinis (Tica surf) and teaches Spanish and Margerit is a local artist and owner of Zwart Cafe / Art (a perfect local whilst on vacation). These were just the girls I chatted to in the line up.

I was also stoked to discover a wicked brand of surf bikini – Calavera. Every girl that surfs has a ridiculous obsession with bikinis and finding the perfect pair that will stay on when wiping out is pretty important. I don't know how many times I have paddled out the back, sat up on my board and realised my bikinis are undone and my nipples are pointing to the line up. I spotted Evie wearing a pair whilst surfing and paddled over to her to ask her who made them. Luckily for me, she is a Calavera sponsored rider and had a few pairs for sale. They are the only bikini I have ever surfed in that truly stays on in all conditions and their pretty damn sexy as well!

Avoiding Mama Roca at Punta Roca – El Salvador part 1

Punta Roca, El Salvador.

I flew three days from Bali through Malaysia, the United States and into San Salvador, El Salvador overnighting in Kuala Lumper and Los Angeles. My friend James had arranged a pick up for me at San Salvador, so I headed straight to La Libertad, a little town on the east coast. Without exception every one of my friends who had travelled to these parts had told me not to stay in this town but James was staying at one of the surf camps and I was excited to hang out with a friend from home.

Punta Roca and La Paz were the two local breaks, both right handers breaking over rocky bottoms. La Paz was the easier of the two capable of holding a nice sized, very fun wave that you could ride from the point to the shore. Punta Roca on the other hand, is a nasty bitch of wave. It has a horrible entry over barnacled covered rocks with a nasty shore dump. It is super fast, a little critical and crowded with rippers.

I was pretty scared. Punta Roca really pushed all my buttons but I surfed it twice a day with James and managed to take a few nice ones each session. I found the entry incredibly quick and could do little more then speed down the face holding on. The wave in the photo above was taken by an American photographer, Seth. I remember that particular wave so clearly as it was the first one I made without going oner the falls. I was stoked that I looked relaxed as I certainly didn't feel it.

Going right has always been one of my weaknesses. Although I am regular (my right foot is at the back of the board) I spent my formative surfing years in Western Australia (lots of lefts) and surfing around Indonesia (amazing lefts). I am so much more consistent on my backside particularly at the pop up and feel more in control when turning. El Salvador has a lot of rights which means I am forced to spend more time facing the wave and working on my rhythm.

Ciao Bali

An empty line up, Kuta Reef, Bali

I said good bye to Bali on a swell of 6 – 8 foot sharing Kuta Reef with 70 of my nearest and dearest. Sometimes you can jag that wave with 4 or 5 others in the water but with a big swell running and school holidays there was no chance of that. It was horror and I really felt the three weeks I had spent out of the water riding Red (my motorbike) around Java.

Needless to say the Australian men surfing those last few days were not the countryman I am proud of. It only takes one or two overly aggressive men (or women for that matter) to ruin a surf. People were dropping in, snaking and yelling at each other, generally committing every single surf sin possible.

I love surfing Kuta Reef. It is a really fun wave that can handle some size, even barrelling at the end section. I have surfed it with good friends and a handful of other surfers. The downside it is the closest decent wave to Kuta/Legian area so when the swell is on it, so are a million others.  

And life is my guru, relationships are my teacher........

Canngu, Bali

I have been practising yoga on and off for the last 15 years. I'm not much of a church goer or overly spiritual but I do believe in a higher power of some sort. Yoga, I find, connects me to this higher power and provides me with space and peace. I've been wanting to deepen my practise for a while now and get a better understanding of the other limbs of yoga outside of the physical practise. Although I am not truly interested in teaching yoga, I thought a teaching course would expose me to the Ashtanga in a way going to a yoga class does not.

The course I signed up to do met all my needs - based in a beautiful location (Canngu, Bali), near to the beach and good surf, run by a surfer - Sunny Richards-Glasser and a curriculum that included sessions on Ayurveda, yoga philosophy, kirtan chanting and meditation. Sunny through her company Santosha has run surf / yoga / teacher training retreats in India, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia for close to a decade. She used to compete on the pro womens surfing circuit before becoming seduced by the yogic lifestyle.

By the time the course came around, I had been hanging out in Bali for three weeks and having an amazing time. After working solidly for 6 years, I only had myself to think about, endless days where I decided what I wanted to do and answered to no one......surf now? Nusa Lembongan today? coffee now? food now? I was meeting so many people and enjoying having the space and place to do what I wanted to do. One of my closest friends had just arrived in town from London and I was loving spending time with her and her family. A four week, six day a week, 10 hour a day yoga school was the last thing I wanted to do. I was also a little fearful of the type of people that may be attracted to a yoga teaching course - incense loving, group hugging hippies.

I was late to the first session and grumbled my way through a four hour lecture (in my defence I was a little sick). I refused to stay in the hotel, Villa Serenity preferring to drive 30 minutes back to Seminyak and stay with my girlfriend. I am pretty sure I was late to the first yoga class the next day.

Slowly Sunny and the other students seduced me. None of them were incense loving hippies (well there were a few), people came from everywhere, all drawn to teacher training for a love of yoga and a desire to deepen their practise. I fell in love with the girls I shared a villa with, the other students and slowly I fell in love with the small village of Canngu. I learnt about the ashtanga of yoga (See picture above), the ethical guidelines to living and the purpose of our daily physical practise. I tried to practise meditation, grace, surrender and to be kind and I tried to remember to approach things with a beginners mind.

The bamboo villa - Gina, Danielle, Amanda, Raquel, Ebony and me.

Through the duration of the course, I was sicker then I have been in long time. And I fought this sickness. First it was a blocked nose, endless coughing and a sore throat, then it was food poisoning, then it was passing out in a Seminyak restaurant for no real reason. I pushed through, run every day, surfed every morning, got up and went to yoga, sat through 10 hours of lectures, took zinc, spirulina, ate garlic, drank lemon tea, caught up with friends outside the course and wondered why I wasn't getting any better. I've never been one to relax particularly well preferring to fill my days with activity and purpose. My body, had other plans, and finally, after Sunny eventually called me out, I surrendered.

In the last two weeks, I gave up the running, the surfing every morning, I dropped the intense physical practise and started to approach yoga as my inner practise. My time for stillness. I fell in love with Kirtan chanting, took lessons from my meditation and practised daily pranayama. I never realised how much of a control freak I am until I took this course, how much I need to know whats going on and how much I use my physical body to feel like I have control in my life. I guess its that fiery pitta energy.

I also realised to further my practise, I need to teach. With 4 months of travelling still ahead of me, I won't get the opportunity to put these skills to use but I plan to attend as many different classes, different styles and different teachers as possible, hoping to learn through observation. The other lessons will be very important. Long term travels provides plenty of opportunity to test the soul whether it be eating bad food for weeks on end, not being able to practise regularly, staying in dorms, waiting out a flight to another place or just missing home.

The title to this post was something that Sunny and the other teachers repeated over and over again. No matter who you worship or where you live, life will be your guru and the people in it, our teachers.

Shanti.

Quiet possibly the coolest thing I'll ever own.

I brought a motorbike. My girlfriend Ang and I have plans to ride from West Timor back to Bali stopping at surf breaks and checking out the different islands to the east of Bali.

Foreigners in Bali can't own anything outright so I've had to go though a 'friend' who essentially owns the bike. I, however, have the blue book.

Its a 125cc, blue and white, 4 gear manual, Honda Supra X. I've called him Red.

I also picked up an Indonesian motorbike license. This was pretty simple to do although I am not sure it was entirely legal. I went with my 'friend' to a local police station and sat some tests. Having a local license will mean less hassle at ferry crossing. Its also pretty cool.

Surfing with soul

I've been surfing Bingin on the Bukit Peninsula for the weekend. I met these awesome girls Alexa, Chrissie, Kathleen and Roxie whilst surfing Nusa Lembongan last week and arranged to meet up with them. This place is almost perfect. A beautiful cliffside community, friendly locals and an insane barrelling left hander.

My accommodation was pretty low key but very cheap, AUD$8 with a view to die for. I thought I'd be completely out of my league but Bingin on a high tide is actually really fun. I had my most stand out surf of the trip so far. Alexa and I took at our short boards pre breakfast and took a few but really nothing to write home about. One of the local guys, Edy convinced us to take some mini mals before lunch............so much fun.

It was a good reminder for me to watch Edy surf. Without a doubt he was one of the strongest surfers out there but he gave up his session to help Alexa and I. I lost count of my wave count pretty early on. Edy's in is mid forties and surfed all his life. He just loves it, you can see it on his face. By the time Alexa and I hit the water for the second time, he was into his fourth surf. He had no intensity, made no mistakes and surfed boards of all sizes and surfed them well.

I often get caught trying to hard. I think that is the one thing that lets me down in the water. I want it so badly that I get so frustrated when I make mistakes and have a bad surf. I carry a tension in my shoulders and jaw and that means I just can't let go. In surfing you need to relax your shoulders, your upper body and your hands so you can throw them around releasing the energy and creating the turns. I know the best thing I can do for my surfing is just to go out there, relax, have fun and love that I am in the water................those tubes will come in time.

Let the games begin

So I've quit my job, saved a bucket of money, sorted my mortgage, packed my backpack and bought a new board........I have six months of surf travel ahead of me with the one goal to be surfing waves that will eventually get me in the green room. All going well, I'll be surfing most days in waves that will challenge me.

Once a journey is designed, equipped and put in process: a new factor takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness, A journey is person in itself, no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing and coercian are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip. A trip takes us. (Rolf Peters, Vagabonding, The Art of Long Term Travel).

Quitting my job and bucking the trend is one of the scariest things I have ever done. In general people have been supportive but there a few who find it a little hard to digest. I am not in my twenties any more and I am supposed to be seriously thinking about children..........However I have a really strong belief that there are a million ways to live a life and the lessons on the road are as important to an education as an MBA or a PhD. Particularly when those lessons are learnt in developing countries........Monday - Friday, 9 - 5 is an honourable way to earn a living but its not the only way......I'm going to live my dreams regardless of what others say.

My travels will take me through Indonesia and Central America with a little of the US thrown is for a bit of fun. My focus is predominantly on surfing, a little on language development and a lot on self development. I'm starting out with yoga teacher training in Canngu, Bali and ending with a few weeks in Hawaii. In between, I really don't know and that is half the fun!

The artwork is by a Hawaiian artist, Heather Brown..........I'll definitely be picking up some of her work when I am surfing the islands......

My Quiver

Introducing Zak......welcomed to the family at 2.34pm this afternoon, 6'3 / 183/4, 21/2.......mum and board are doing fine.

I bought him from Yahoo surfboards in Dunsborough (awesome guys, great service and a real, authentic surf shop!). He was shaped locally for Renee, whoever she is. Not a ding on him.

Zak joins the Grubb (6.3 / 19 / 2 1/4), Len (6'3 / 19 / 2 7/8 ), Dicko (who is permanently retired due to ongoing injuries), the Mini Mal (7'2) and the blue spacca board (my very first). He will be accompanying me on my travels to Indonesia and Central America later this year. Yew!

Trigg Point

Trigg Point is the most crowded wave I surf on a regular basis. To be honest, I've only just started surfing the point.........not because I don't think I can't make it but because its full of little rippers who have that place wired, WIIIIRRRED.....there is little room for a mid thirties women who hasn't quite nailed her right hand takes offs...........

But today.........something worked. I finished training at 8.30am and thought I'd check out the point on the way home. There were 10 people on it........which for a Saturday morning with swell was something very unusual......I waxed up, zipped up the wettie and headed out. I sat right on the Point.

And I took it and I made it.......the bomb wave of the biggest set of the day. It was the third wave and the first two cleaned everyone out. I was there in the spot and I pulled it off.

I swear people where cheering as I was heading down the line. All. The. Way. To. The. Beach.......

It was the only wave I took all day but I've been smiling all week. All goddamn week.