March 11, 2010
Eish I finally make it home- 10 flights, a busride or twelve, and plenty roadtripping - all for what? A few shots in some magazines and some half-hearted scrawls in my blog and maybe an article or two in a couple magazines? Time to shake things up a bit- not to mention the fact that my sponsor’s budget is already dry and now I have to wait for the mags to go to print before any photo incentives or articles are invoiced and paid for!
Now lets not take this rant of mine as a complaint, but I have to say as an aspiringly-conscious person approaching a new-era on our planet- lets face it- flying is so ‘last year’ every time I get on a long stinking flight I ask my self- “Why am I doing this?” Smelly feet, cramped seats and disinterested air hostesses hopelessly unaware of how ‘thirsty’ I can be on long flights- only to arrive somewhere and climb into a air-connditioned taxi and drive through Carbon Monoxide infested streets, arriving at the beach with trash all over- (in the line-up and on the beach) Am I really living the dream? Or is the only option left a Donkey cart with Bruce Gold rolling nowhere slowly but at least stepping out of the melee that modern society has left us living amongst- I mean aren’t we as surfers supposed to be the ultimate escapists?
yet we are so embroiled in society’s toils and ignorant of the environmental pressure pushing this planet past the point of recognition- the world as we know it has changed completely- not only is everything so damn expensive it’s borderline ridiculous! Living the life of a freesurfer I get to see and feel the extent of the pressure we are putting on this fine earth- be it ignorance of plastic on far-away islands, conveniently swept up with the coconut husks and natural fibres then chucked in the sea- out of sight out of mind- or the pressure of traffic on the Island of Bali- how many scooters with dodgy two-stroke engines, trucks with dodgy exhausts, people puffing cigarettes everywhere! What are we actually dealing with? Well, on the busride with Bruce Gold from East London yesterday, I decided to get to the bottom of it all- and calculate my own carbon footprint after four countries, ten or so flights, a dozen bus rides and who knows what else- all for a few waves shining glossy at you in a magazine..?
Well, all that carbon-footprint kak is hella confusing so I did my own bita math- Durban-Indo-Papua New Guinea-Indo-Joburg-Cape Town- East London those are just the flights! A good 30 or so thousand miles as the crow flies – never mind driving all over Bali, I mean all over! Missions by scooter, truck and bus all over Papua, and of course all the food, plastic wrappers, and life’s little luxuries in between- HAIBO! That’s a lot of junk to have accrued, a bunch of miles to have traveled and a loada crap to have left behind! So the bottom line then? I really don’t know- how much is enough? We are fed images of empty line-ups advertising easy holidays – easy for you maybe- but what about ya kids or their kids? Will they be able to hit the Mentawiis on a luxury boat trip? I think we all have to slow down a bit- maybe the donkey-cart ain’t such a bad idea? Maybe set-up shop closer to home and be on it when the waves arrive rather then chase them all over the planet? Or move to Indo with a wad of cash, a taste for Indo-women and village life? Chuck it all and bail to some poor country and try do something positive maybe? The bottom line then is to make the effort to be that little bit more aware? Think twice, make a sacrifice and you may not feel it straight away but like the ripples of fresh swell those thoughts might eventually gain enough momentum to give someone else a ‘ride’ further down-the-line?
Thanks to google for the hopelessly confusing search on various sites pertaining to the calculation of one’s carbon-footprint(whatever…)
 Would the world or this wave be a better place without me travelling across the planet for hidings like this?
March 9, 2010
 After 24 days at sea... Howzit!!
Day 22 of our blue water crossing: The autopilot spat the dummy at 1am and for a while all was quiet on shimmi as we contemplated life in the south pacific. I worked the whole night on stripping and re-assembling the thing, when i finally got down to pulling out the corkscrew type gear unit about 40 tiny silver ball bearings fell on the saloon floor, scittering and scattering in all directions. It was a Jesus Christ moment. The saloon by this time looked like a bomb had exploded in an Indo tool shop. But i got most of them back in, re-assembled the unit and re-installed it by 6am. I knew that the only way i was going to get sleep was if the autopilot could steer the boat as Andy had by then been hand steering the whole night in driving rain. But no. This little fable does not have an happy ending. The autopilot briefly sort worked and then the corkscrew gear just stripped out inside.
 Andy doing what he does best
Day 23: By midnight last night we were all so tired and me with my eczema just barely coping so we decided to park shimmi in one of the many empty parking spaces around us, turn off all the instruments and ALL GO TO SLEEP. GLORIOUS. We floated on a gentle ocean until 6am this morning when i was woken up by a light tail wind. Its now 630pm and we have been sailing slowly with the spinnaker the whole day, slowly getting closer.
At this pace we will arrive tomorrow night, so we are taking it easy, if the wind dies we will simply park shimmi again and all go sleep. There is no way we are hand steering and burning diesel at the same time. What’s the rush anyway when you have already been 22 days at sea?
 Thats land
Chantal - Golla stopped the boat yesterday and asked me to dive in with flippers and mask and check out the rudders to make sure nothing obvious was wrong (he’s eczema skin cannot handle salt water). “Sure,” I said. I have never been so freaked out. Imagine the ocean being 3000m deep and the only sign of life the Shimmi crew has seen in 22 days, besides 2 birds, is a freaken huge shark swimming right past the boat. It freaked me out! When I got back into the saloon, Josh and Indie were standing on the couch playing “air guitar” to Cat Stevens each with their own spatula, oblivious to my little drama.
Day 24: Chantal - The big boys steered the boat until midnight last night and then called it quits. Spinnaker down, engines off and we heaved to until sunrise. At midnight we had 101 miles to go. In the morning, after drifting for 6 hours, we had 96 miles to go. Oh boy, we floated a whole 5 miles with the current TOWARDS our destination. We sailed all of today in a 10 knot wind. Andy is our new auto pilot. He’s a machine. It is extremely difficult to steer the boat in such light wind conditions under spinnaker. We are all terrified of that sail. It’s a monster and you screw up just a tiny bit and it bites you back so bad. Lose concentration for a second and your spinnaker will rip itself to death. When we took down the sail last night the snuffer got stuck and the spinnaker landed up in the water stuck under the boat. My nerves are shot shot shot. Yet each morning is a new day and with it comes a new serving of guts.
Andy said he would shave off his blonde locks and beard when he saw land. Well, we saw land an hour ago! Just before sunset! I thought land no longer existed…Waterworld. Food has been getting better as we run out of stuff. Weird, but you just get more creative. Andy just fried up the last plantains in butter + rum and served them with cinnamon + sugar and cream!
 Hows that for an anchorage?!?
And then finally: Spicy salami, aromatic swiss cheese and tomato all stuffed into a crispy baguette, followed by another 2 of the above. Then a raid on the ice cream fridge in the shop. Andy was physically shaking as he was peeling the wrapper off his magnum. Then off to the local restaurant where we hesitantly ordered pepper steak and chips. But have no fear about the food when the country is run by the French! Washed this delicious meal down with a few ice cold Hinano beers. On the walk back to shimmi we demolished another few baguettes and ice creams. No this is not a dream Yes we have arrived in the Marquesas and we are safely anchored near the village of Atuona. The scenery is dramatic, the land is BIG. Towering green mountains and crags rise vertically up off the ocean floor, its similar to the area around Chapmans Peak drive and the Twelve apostels.
Andy spotted the islands first during his afternoon watch yesterday evening, just dark smudges on the horizon. We motored through the night with a full moon rising, slowly revealing a scattering of majestic mountains rising out of the ocean, huge cumulus clouds forming and dissipating above the peaks. By 6am we were getting ready for TOUCH DOWN. The Musty smell of wet soil hung in the air. We made it.
 6am in the morning. we made it. The most striking thing was the smell of the earth after 24 days at sea.
March 8, 2010
 The sponsorless James Taylor drops in on a gnarly brute during the 2008 Big Wave Africa.
Chris Bertish won the Mavs event and picked up an awesome US$50k first prize. As Chris has already mentioned, a fair chunk of that will go towards paying back the people (friends and family) that helped him get to Mavericks. Chris has also been fairly open about the fact that chasing the dream of surfing big waves and winning at Mavericks has been an exhausting and draining endeavour, physically, mentally and financially.
A week or so after the incredible Mavericks event, the Todos Santos big wave event took place, with Mark Healey winning. His prize? A sincere handshake and a bottle of Patron tequila.
There is an inequality in surfing, and it puzzles me.
Big wave surfers risk their lives whenever they go for a surf amongst heaving giants of water. Sometimes they die, like Mark Foo, Todd Chesser, Donnie Solomon, Peter Davi, Malik Joyeux to name some of the more famous surfers who have died while surfing big waves. Photographers, videographers, camera crew hanging out of helicopters and filming from mountainsides are present whenever some big wave event is going down, and even when it is monstrous and just a free surf. The mags cover big wave surfing ad nauseam, and the websites are full of cracking 50-foot barrels and puny surfers attempting to master them.
Yet for the whole, big wave surfers are ignored on a proper sponsorship level. There are exceptions to the rule, and immediately one thinks of Twiggy and Greg Long who get paid real money to traipse the world and surf giant waves, but on the whole the rest of the big wave surfing fraternity, especially here in South Africa, is on the receiving end of nothing from the surf brands. Big wave surfers are literally out in the cold when it comes to sponsorship and deals.
There are plenty of flow programs/product deals available out there – free wetsuits, free sunnies etc, but the big wave surfers need money to get to the various big wave destinations around the world, and nothing is forthcoming. What is it that makes big wave surfers so unmarketable and unpopular with the brands, yet groms and junior surfers can exact salaries from brands that would make a Jeremy Johnson, an Andy Marr, a Frank Solomon or a Mikey Schlebach very stoked.
It has been said that the very nature of big wave surfing is an egotistic pursuit, that underneath all the cool veneer and humility that many big wave surfers possess, they are all ultimately doing it for fame and glory. This is actually great from a marketing point of view. In fact, the very ego is something that sees these surfers making it onto covers of surf mags, and it is this temptation that pushes them over the ledge into hell when it is 50-foot on the face.
Groms who are sponsored often disappear into the wilderness when they reach a certain age and life takes hold. Big wave surfers are generally older and wiser, and know what they want out of life. Yet it seems that big wave surfers, except for a very few, are destined to surf these giant waves indigently.
So think carefully before you throw all your eggs into the big wave basket.
Readers, feel free to comment…
March 3, 2010
Making the most of Durban’s small but fun summer bowl waves. Video was shot by my brother TY Weare.
March 2, 2010
 Busting one for the stoke-project at Cianggu sandbar
The stoke project is the brainchild of master lenseman Gerhard Engelbrecht who has based himself here in Bali over the past year or so. Staying in a house full of photographers has given me a real insight into what it takes to create and shoot a great photo… I always thought editing was for video but it’s absolutely amazing what programs like Lightroom can do for a photo- this I believe is Gerhard’s niche; he can turn a pretty plain looking photo into a flipping masterpiece!
Gerhard says: ” I’m flattered by the statement that I can turn a pretty plain looking photo into a masterpiece. I’d like to elaborate on post processing for digital photography. Because I and most professionals shoot in RAW mode the photo’s come out of the camera looking a bit dull/plain as well as a little fuzzy. Post processing with Lightroom/Photoshop and other RAW processing software enables us to process the RAW files into what we envisioned when shooting the photo’s. There’s a saying that one cannot polish turds. The same is valid for digital photography. If the RAW file coming out of the camera is not properly exposed and photographed in suitable lighting it’s still going to suck regardless of how much post processing is done. Thus we work hard to shoot in the best light possible as well as nailing exposure and composition in camera. It’s probably easier for us film shooters who transitioned from film to digital. In the film days you had to get it right in camera.”
 Rollin' with the Ninjas- Saskia and Gerhard in the back, me and Mick Curley up front...
Gerhard has now launched The Stoke Project which he describes as: The crucible of Stoke, a vehicle of collaboration and community. Here I intend to create a dialogue with you the reader to explore and depict Unity, Kinship, Creativity, Adventure, Fun and Love in our Surfing Lifestyle. Because as surfers the Stoke and our Love for the ocean and the waves that pulse on her shores inexorably connects us and transcends all division. This is a constantly evolving project and I welcome your participation.
 Gerhard's always busy with something- slow shutter portrait...
So far there’s a really interesting profile on Sarah Baum and Davey van Zyl, two up and coming S.A rippers and I encourage any of you out there who are planning a trip to Bali and want to get some footage to connect with Gerhard and become a fan of The Stoke Project. Bali or Baliwood as I like to call it is an essential place to see and be seen if a career in surfing is what you’re after, everyone who is someone comes over to shoot in the glorious lighting, conditions and waves of Indonesia and especially Bali- so tune in and check it out- get stoked on The Stoke Project!!! http://stokeproject.wordpress.com/about-the-stoke-project/
 Getting ready to roll with the Ninja lense men Gerhard and Mick near Nusa Dua
So Gerhard what brought about the idea of The Stoke Project- besides being one of the most surf-stoked photographers and surfers i’ve ever met…
I’ve been inspired by free thinking photographers like Chase Jarvis http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/ who are embracing the power of the internet to share their skills, wisdom and work. There’s so many stories and images of talented individuals by talented communicators that don’t see ink in traditional print media for whatever reasons. The Stoke Project allows me to publish these and to share my photography skills free from commercial or political restrictions. It’s very early days yet and I’m excited to see where it takes me.
What/who inspires you in surf photography these days?
Good light, good colour and finding fresh angles really resonates with me right now. Renowned landscape photographer Galen Rowell used to say he would first seek great light then find something earthbound to match. I’m really inspired by the level of surfing of the Indonesian groms. These kids know how to bust out airs, get barreled and surf with style.
You’re based in Bali now right- Plans for the future?
I intend to base myself in Bali for as long as possible. I love the warm water, the cool vibe of the Balinese and connecting with people from all over the globe. I’d love to travel to other surf locales like Chile, Australia, Ireland and of course visit South Africa. I also intend to allow The Stoke Project to evolve into a true community. I’d love to share surf photography tips, do behind the scenes coverage of photo shoots, promote and support fellow artists, designers, free surfers and free thinkers. Share the stoke and provide a platform for others to do the same.
If you were re-incarnated on this fine planet as a bug with a thousand eyes- how would you stay inside that computer screen of yours?
Jeez bru that’s pretty far out. I’ll let you know once it happens, lol 
shot bru- stay stoked…
 It wasn't me...
So, im off to Cape Town for a bit of March action, i keep hearing about the Summer in the cape- peeps have been getting lambasted by swells by all accounts- Indo has been what Indo is- plenty goose chasing, a load of waves, Papua New Guinea an experience of a lifetime i cant wait to come back already!
 Pirate stylee
Im off to Mozambique for the end of March/April- going shooting with Alan van Gysen and a buncha other mullets- my brother Sean has been lurking around Inhambane since March last year- gona mission for some new spots in his boat, drink loads of 2M, and try not get Malaria again…
 See ya later Bali- Cape Town that a way!!
All photos by Gerhard Engelbrecht- check it out: http://stokeproject.wordpress.com/about-the-stoke-project/
February 28, 2010
Howzit everyone. Can you believe that we are still at sea? A lot of bad shit has gone down since I posted my last blog. But I’ve also realized that if I post one more blog of this endless crossing to the Marquesas Islands you will all fall asleep. So I am sitting here, truly in the middle of nowhere, and I am reading over our log of the past year. I ignore the angry ocean klapping shimmi all over the park because I’ve come across my log entry of our time in a Costa Rican jungle:
 This is Hog's Hollow
Howler Monkeys. I’ve been trying to come up with an adequate description of the sound they make. Then I realized that the Howler Monkey’s tortured sound has been used without modification in plenty horror movies. Its that sound the 5 million year old dragon makes when it finally wakes up really pissed off at the world. Or the sound King Kong made on his way down to earth when he finally fell off the top of the Empire State building. Basically the sound an empty oil tanker ship would make if it had to slowly scrape the entire length of its hull along a massive concrete pier. eheheWWuuuUUUUooOOOOOUOUAAAArgh.
 The Osa jungle
Very early, on the morning after our first night ashore in 6 months, a troop of these Howler Mothers were right above our jungle cabin. All I can say is that the whole family kukked themselves. It is an ungodly sound, unequivocal proof that aliens visited this area recently (and had sex with the locals). First Indie started tjunking, then Josh joined in. After frantically scrambling for dummies, teddybears and blankies, the whole family clung onto each other in bed, staring at the dark jungle outside their bed on the porch. Holding our breath whilst listening to the troop slowly moving through the branches above our bungalow. Then as the light of dawn slowly starts filtering through the leaves, a myriad of other creatures wake up and start making noises. Besides our howling friends, the loudest of these noises are made by the Scarlet Macaws. These are those big red parrots that are usually found on the shoulders of Pirates. Here they fly in large flocks, maybe 15 pairs at a time.
 View from our jungle shack: Across the bay behind this wave is the legendary Pavones.
We left shimmi on a safe mooring, and we now find ourselves in a rented jungle bungalow on the tip of the Osa Peninsula. It flanks the western side of the Gulf of Dulce, Southern Costa Rica, opposite the famous lefthander called ‘Pavones’. Most of the Osa Peninsula is covered in primary virgin rain forest and as a result it is also Costa Rica’s second largest National Park. But its the park with the least infrastructure (euphemism for ‘f$%ked roads’), so its seems to get relatively little tourist traffic. And on the tip of this headland, hidden in the jungle, is a small expatriate community, consisting of mainly American drop outs. And apart from their nationality, they all have one other thing in common: They all surf.
 This is a scarlet maccaw. they make a noise and drop shit on your head.
In the space of about 2 kilometers there are 3 bays, and each bay has a unique wave. You will find our little cabin, set back in the jungle about 60m, right in front of the southern most little bay, which is the location of the wave formerly called Hogs Hollow. Nowadays its just called Matapalo. Its an exposed and therefore super consistent right hander, very similar to Mossel Bay Outer, just a lot longer. And like Outerpool, on a small swell and low tide the rocks on the inside can be a problem. But with just a hint of swell it starts to show clean lines, offering lips to smack and faces to gauge.
A bit further down the headland is another beautiful bay with a low tide wave called Backwash. This is a full A-frame peak which like all good A-frames can offer a great back door barrel.
 Pan Dulce
The last wave into the Gulf is the least consistent but highly rated right hand point called Pan Dulce. This is the best wave in the area, but it needs a real swell. When we first arrived on Shimmi, this wave was firing. Its very similar in shape to Vic Bay, a real high performance wave with a lots of good sections to hit the top and get covered up. Chantal borrowed a long board off another yacht and within a half hour she owned the place! Some of her rides were so long that I had to go fetch her in the dingy and tow her back out to backline (I only did that 3 times!).
Anyway folks, that was a logbook flashback. We have been at sea for 20 days now.
Peace.
February 26, 2010
WOW what an amazing season we have had here. Surfed mavs at least 20times, surfed mavs,todos and the bay in a week.
Watched Chris win the mavs comp, Twigg in the Eddie the list goes on. Sadly for me i have to head home as my visa has run out, i have tried to extend it but that didn work out.
James Taylor left this week, Mike is down in hungiton i have spent the last couple days with Andrew Marr and Twigg who are sharing a house. The Three of us had a great session out at mavs on Wednesday was just us out for an hour and we all had some fun waves. Twig and Andrew are on there way to todos to surf the comp there, i tried everything i could to make it down for that but unfortunately i gotta go.
Its really been a great season for me, i cant believe its been 3months already feels like i just got here. Im looking forward to our winter i think its gonna be sick.
i got a 36hr flight ahead of me that im REALLY not looking forward to.
LUKKA
 i have been saying in my blogs that partys have been good too, so heres a pic;-)
February 24, 2010
Some recent surplus footage surfing around South Africa.
Davey
February 23, 2010
We are in the middle of our 3200 mile south pacific crossing. Here are the last 4 days:
Day 9: The day starts with a ‘Thud’ as another flying fish flies into one of the closed saloon hatches. Cant blame them as it is pitch dark outside. The kids are great, this evening we made a fish out of a cardboard tube which was duly painted in Nemo colours.
We are more than a third of the way but less than half… nobody is counting days as we have so long to go still …. its just a haze of holding on with one hand, listening to the mainsheet blocks ‘crack’ as they load and unload, playing with kids, feeding them, doing watches during a moonless black night…. we have not seen a ship or anything resembling humantiy for 8 days.
 middle of the pacific laundry day
Day 10: The sea is rough but the wind is good, the spirit on board is good, we have just finished a brunch pancake feast (Chef golla at his very best). Andy went for the double rolled up peanut butter option. He is still slightly sick, not strong enough for a beer. I have no fishing lines in the water, its too rough to worry about fishing and the possible ‘man overboard’ scenario that it could cause.
Shimmi is basically on a sleigh ride right now, with the autopilot fighting to stop her from broaching as we occasionally surf down the faces of the following seas. One of us has to be near the auto pilot all time in case the wind gets too much on our stern causing an accidental gybe which right now wont be a pretty sight. Every now and then you feel the boat roll wildly followed by either a loud ‘KaSHUMP!!!’ as a wave hits the underside of the bridge deck or a ‘KeRAK’ as the main sheets ruks tight. We’ve been doing this now for almost 2 weeks, amazing what the human body and mind can get used to. This crossing is without doubt the craziest thing we have done.
We are down to half a water tank so we need a nice rain squall soon. Our watermaker is only giving out a tiny dribble. Josh can piss four times stronger than this puny stream from the watermaker. But its just enough to keep 5 throats from becoming parched. No more showering.
Day 11: Today was crazy. Like driving at 200kms an hour down a bumpy gravel road, fishtailing all over the place. And trying to sleep in your bed is like trying to sleep in the trunk of this fishtailing car. Shortly after Chantal took over from Andy this morning at 4am the wind strengthened to 25-30 knots SE. The sea kicked up along with it, going from ‘quite rough’ to ‘oh my god’. Shimmi finally came out of the blocks, sustaining 8-9 knots with plenty of double figure surfs, our fastest was 15.5 knots
Andy is doing ok, he even played a few tunes on his guitar. I dont know how he is coping, he has been seasick for 8 days straight?? He saw a shark swim past shimmi, said it had the blunt head of a tiger shark. Josh and Indie are making lots of noise and carrying on as if we are on a Transkei holiday and Chantal and I are their personal nannies. They are the least affected by the solitude and duration of the crossing, in fact they seem to be enjoying all the intimate attention of close quarters. Thank god neither of them suffer from seasickness.
Day 12: 1500 miles to go to Fatu Hiva. Not sure how we are going to cope with another 10 stormy days. But it least we can count ‘down’ now instead of up. Pray for a smooth sea!
After lunch today I called a bosberaad. We simply had to make things more comfortable on board. So without further ado we whipped up the spinnaker and dropped the mainsail. We are now sailing with only the spinnaker which has allowed us to go virtually dead down wind and in the same direction as the waves. We are going more slowly but its way more comfortable.
Andy cooked up another fillet steak, crumbed potatoes and hot bean salad combo, what a meal. Best meal for 1500 miles, haha. Tonight i am trolling a big black and orange squid with a big stainless hook on 300 pound mono all the way to the boat. I wanna sea a big dead tuna bodysurfing behind the boat tomorrow morning or else i want my money back.
 wonder how long before this happens again?
I went to inspect our boards which are stowed in one of the forepeaks of the catamaran. With all the crashing and diving I was expecting a few dings, but they are fine. I am starting to hang for a surf.
February 21, 2010
 yep that's Balian
I landed back in Bali after my Papua New Guinea mission and went straight down the coast to Balian. It is kook and surfee doll paradise but is also the only waves for weeks around here, so no complaining! Papua New Guinea is the meanest, wildest, maddest place I have ever been too. Crazy cultures and scenery. It feels almost like it never actually happened. The Pacific is so blue and forests so green that it makes you imagine what this little island looked like a couple hundred years ago…
 some tree a day keeps the hunger at bay
Hawaiian brothers, Mikala and Daniel Jones joined us after a couple days in Papua, bringing with them some much needed supplies. Before that we were living on TREE! That’s right - they call it Sago. It is the inner core of a tree that grows there. It is ground up and baked into biscuits. It taste like eating old cardboard. So when Mikala and Daniel arrived with boxes of noodles, sacks of rice, coffee, biscuits and veggies we felt like kings! It was absolutely amazing to see how the entire village we lived in could survive on what simply was around them - like bamboo shoots, Papaya leaves, coconuts, the sea and of course trees.
 Papua kids
While we were in Papua we immersed ourselves in the village where we staid. After a couple weeks we figured out which kids belonged to who - and there were heaps of them! Like twenty between three couples! They had no school. Their classroom was the beach and the jungle. Their toys the simplest things like baby birds and giant grasshoppers. We had some crazy experiences in the dark, without electricity. The little mozzie nets were our our only respite from the sights and sounds of creatures large and small scurrying around at night.
 Dan getting amped
Oh ya, the WAVES! Well you gonna have to check an upcoming issue of the Zag to see them. It’ll be the one with me on the cover again! (ha ha…) No really, there are such GOOD waves and so many of them the only mission was getting to all of them. We discovered set-up after set-up, day after day. Lucky we had the feral Duracell bunnies of Mikala Jones and photographer Brad Masters, who pretty much lead us by boat, truck, scooter and foot all over the place. We’d mission to the spot we rode the day before, surf it, then cruise around the next corner only to find an even better spot. Daniel, Mustafa, Saskia and me could just hang on, trying to keep up with them. It was a real privilege cruising with these guys and our crew of six became tight!
 dawn
It’s amazing how you can get to know each other so well in such a short space of time when you together in an extremely foreign land. This is one of my favorite things about going on photo trips. And I can now count Dan and Mustafa as the tightest of friends. Their rock-solidness kept us tight and having been on more then a few missions with Mikala, Brad and Saskia I will even go as far as to say I’ll travel anywhere anytime with this crew (as long as Brad doesn’t try get us to pay for his extra baggage again!).
Daniel and Mikala let me stay at their house on the North Shore this winter, (oh and Mustofa let’s me get waves at Keramas!). Yeah, good times! I will definitely go back to Papua again. We were only the third crew of surfers to ever go there. It was a difficult place to get to, trust me. You need permits, a guide, maps and a truckload of patience. It’s definitely not a trip for the fainthearted, but so worth it indeed!
 jungle boogie
So now I am back in Bali and lucid memories and some photos are all we have of Papua now. Brad’s gone to the Gold coast of Oz chasing a big swell and shooting the Quik Pro. Daniel and Mikala are back in Hawaii. Mustafa is in Jakarta with his lady and myself and Sas are chilling at Villa Kayu.
Right now, there’s a lovely long range period swell on the horizon, so the it’s time to lay low for awhile and start plotting the next mission. There’s talk of Sumatra before the winds kick in. Righthand points to beat the band, but more of that laters. For now it’s time to put the Papua story together, get Brad to edit all the pics and convince the sponsors to conjure up the mulah for my next trip!
All photos by Saskia Koerner aka misfit girl www.misfit.co.za
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