|
Final Update: Tue 26 Jan 2010
We’re all on our way home now after almost two weeks in Morocco, and what a trip this has been. We’ve surfed about ten different spots in everything from heaving right-hand tubes to racy sand-bottom points and incredibly fun beachbreaks. Friends were made, boards were broken, local beers sampled – and Jason Hearn’s new film, the Africa Film Project, is one step closer to completion.
We’ve been missioning a lot over the last few days. Having driven to Safi – home to one of Morocco’s best waves – but just missing a swell there we opted to head off to Marrakech early. Marrakech can be considered as the cultural hub of the country, with the Medina – a city within the city – and the Souks being two of its greatest drawcards.
The Souks are basically a labyrinthine network of narrow corridors and alleyways that, for the most part, are completely covered overhead, enclosing you in an ancient Moroccan marketplace. It’s here that the Saharan and Middle-Eastern worlds collide in an explosion of colour, fragrance and sound. Scarves and shawls, spices and foods, paintings, ceramic work, rugs and traditional Moroccan garb interspersed with ‘genuine’ designer clothing line the streets and populate the hundreds of stalls along each corridor. Money changes hands between vendors loudly haggling back and forth with the tourists
“Is good price for you but no good price for me! You are keeling me!” or silently making a sale to a local for much closer to an item’s actual value.
It can become quite overwhelming and the term ‘sensory overload’ came to mind more than just a few times. So after securing some wares and dropping them at the hotel, we organized a taxi to take us to the mountains outside of Marrakech. Morocco must be one of the only countries in the world where you can be surfing in 20+ degree water at breakfast, drive a few hours and then be standing in snow after lunch. And so it was that Shaun, Greg and myself donned snowboarding gear for the first time – in Morocco of all places! Old hats Frankie and Jason comfortably took to the snow while the rest of us found our feet in our rented equipment (only R100 for a snowboard and boots – insanely cheap!), but before too long we’d figured out how to turn and, probably more importantly, how to slow down before reaching the cabled fence at the base of the slopes.
We left the mountains tired, stoked, and utterly in awe of just how much this country has delivered. This was one of those trips that just worked, with a good crew, good waves and perfect conditions for shooting both photos and videos. It’s without exaggeration that I can say that this has been the best trip of my life, and it wouldn’t surprise me to hear the other guys say the same as well.
Have a look at the Africa Film Project to read Jason’s daily blog updates from the trip, and www.morocsurf.com to book the best stay in Morocco.
Update 2: Fri 22 Jan 2010 Click Here to go to Greg Ewing's Morocco Gallery Update 2
 Three more days in Morocco, and three more days of missioning around the Taghazout area, hunting down the best surf on the Agadir coast. As with any surf trip, however, you’ll have your slower days when the wind is just not right or the swell angle is a bit off, and the spots we enjoyed for the first few days didn’t really operate. Denny, our host and surf guide, took us on a 4x4 mission up north to check out a lesser-surfed wave. The spot wasn’t doing its thing, but the trip itself was insane and Jason grabbed some great footage for his upcoming film, the Africa Project.
Driving over soft sand, through sun-baked and wind-weathered dunes, we were fortunate enough to see more of this amazing and unique landscape. As a result we’ve browsed grazing camels, local markets, banana fields, insane mountain-backed landscapes and much more. Jason’s had both the HD and 8mm cams on the go, and having seen some of the raw footage I’ve got no doubt the Morocco section’s going to be laden with video gold.
Tuesday afternoon saw very little in the way of surf so Jason, Greg and myself took a stroll through the village (with me acting as tripod caddy – and those Manfrotto’s are not light, hey…). All the little Tamraght groms were missioning down the road with their satchels and wheelie school-bags in tow (did you know that kids have wheelie-bag satchels now?), an Imam was walking into the nearby Mosque moments before evening prayers bellowed over the loudspeakers, and the local cats and dogs were cruising the streets as normal. In fact, there are a serious amount of cats and dogs roaming all over the place in this area.
On the surfing side, the boys had some fun waves during an onshore session at what is usually a barreling slab, with a few big airs and some thick close-out tubes. With a new swell arriving and some winds out of the west (onshore over here) a lot of the spots that have been going off the last few days were not really operating, but they managed to snag some goodies at Anchor point, which they surfed most of Thursday. Frankie broke the tail of his 5’11 before creasing another board (my 6’1, sadly…), upping the broken board count of the trip even further. These waves have been unforgiving, but it also stands as testament to the fact that the guys have been going hard out here.
In other good news, Rudy’s boards and bag finally arrived. He’d been riding borrowed boards from Shaun (and managed to damage two of them), Frankie lent him a wetsuit and I even contributed a pair of socks to the cause. But Iberia finally pulled through after almost a week of to-ing and fro-ing, and after a R600 taxi ride to the airport and back a very stoked Mr Palmboom Jr dragged his belongings into the house.
There’s more swell on the way for the next few days, with a big swell predicted for the weekend. Look forward to some more good shots from Greg Ewing with the next blog, out Monday morning. Check out The Africa Project Film to read Jason’s daily blog updates from the trip. And go to www.morocsurf.com if you’re amped to book your own stay in Morocco Denny and his operation are the best – just ask Taj Burrow.
Update 1: Tue 20 Jan 2010 Click Here to go to Greg Ewing's Morocco Gallery Update 1
The Kingdom of Morocco! What an incredible surfing destination. We’ve been here only four days and already I’m calling this as the best surf trip of my life. I’ve been lucky enough to document the filming of Jason Hearn’s Africa Project section on Morocco, with Greg Ewing grabbing still images and Rudy Palmboom, Frankie Oberholzer and Shaun Joubert the fortunate surfers on the trip. We’ve been joined by Shaun’s dad, Anton, a classic guy and a great addition to the group.
 We’ve been so blessed by the conditions, having surfed a variety of spots both north and south of the small village of Tamraght that we’re calling home for these two weeks. Everything from heaving slabs to long right-hand points to a high-performance skatepark of a wave – this place has got a lot of surf on offer. We’ve already sampled six different spots in only four days, with more than a week left to go. Rad.
So, after missioning on a four-hour hell ride from Marrakech along what the locals consider the most dangerous road in the country, we arrived at our destination of Tamraght at 3:30 in the morning of the first day. Following a quick and friendly greeting from our host and surf guide Denny of Moroc Surf, we were all in bed by 4am... then up again two hours later and straight off for our first surf. Those of you who have seen the movie Campaign 2 will probably remember a wave on which Shane Dorian gets an 11 or 12 second barrel. Well, it was that spot. No 10-second-plus barrels were on offer for us, unfortunately, but still some very fun waves and a few sneaky tubes for those who could find them.
I made the mistake of paddling out in a 4/3 under the impression that the water was cold and ended up sweating for the next couple of hours. The water is uncharacteristically warm at the moment, so much so that I progressed on to a spring suit and then just a pair of boardies and a t-shirt. Speaking to the locals revealed that a 3/2 is as much as they ever need… the 4/3 was complete overkill. Lesson learned.
I’m not going to give too much more away right now, but just know that the guys have been absolutely pitted at an undercover slab, gone to town on Morocco’s version of Lower Trestles and lit up a completely off-the-radar secret spot down south. Our surf guide has been really dialled in to the conditions and taking us wherever is best on the day, and Greg and Jason have been capturing a great variety of images of both the surfers and the incredible locations we’ve visited. We’ve come home surfed out every day, stoked and tired, yet amped for what Magic Seaweed and WindGuru have promised for each new day.
Check out Greg’s photos on this page, and head over to the africa project film to get Jason’s personal take on the trip. I’ll be back with more in a couple of days.
Cheers,
Craig
|
