Turning Turtle in Paradise

Thurs 23 December 2010

Chris Bertish gets into the groove of the North Shore, and revels in the beauty and profoundly unique energy it exudes. He finds that in the seven years he has been away from Hawaii much has changed, from his own psychological makeup to the amazing growth of SUP surfing, which is now accepted at almost all the breaks here.

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Something about Hawaii is special.

Whether it's the clear blue Pacific Ocean in boardies, or the course, warm sand sticking to your toes, or the palm tree that bends over your head. Maybe it’s the hypnotic sound of the ocean that never sleeps, or the warm humid air as the tropical rain falls softly on you without dampening your smiling spirit.

Is it the clean beach/ surf lifestyle here, which keeps you in the ocean hour after hour and making you never pull back from the ocean’s allure - the crystal, clear blues of the North Pacific? Is it the clean, healthy sushi diet, complimented by plenty of bananas, lots of water, smoothies and Starbucks Coffee?

It's not just about the waves, it's about the lifestyle ... hanging out at the beach all day ... never having to really get out of your boardies and knowing a T-shirt is extra addition to the wardrobe essentials, only on occasion, over and above the norm of board shorts and flip flops ...

There is amazing energy here, whether spiritual or an ocean that is somehow different, bringing a relaxed vibe and calming effect. There's just something about being here after returning from being away so long. It was weird, but I felt like I had come home.

Driving back through the pineapple & coffee fields on the Kam highway to the North Shore, the sea salt in the moist air, the familiar sights n' sounds & immediately all the good memories and a reminder of who I once was, when I did this pilgrimage years before and who I have now become and what I'm really about, all coming flooding back like adrenaline to my system.

I'm a surfer, I belong in the ocean, it's an extension of me and when I'm in it, I'm home!  If you want to see me happy & content, take me to Hawaii and just add water.

After The Eddie Ceremonies, I got to surf at Chuns & Mariwanna's, super fun right reef break, with an outside and inside section off a beautiful beach with a channel through the middle, with a left hander off the other side.

What I never realised is that Stand up Paddleboarding has become huge over here, and very much accepted at many breaks, especially when it’s small. It’s SUP paradise.

I managed to hook up with guru surf photog Craig Kolesky for a shoot. The best have been hijacked and I'm sure they'll pop up in the next couple of Gust mags shortly.

After shooting with Craig, I headed to the East shore to hopefully jump out of a plane from 15,000ft, the highest tandem free fall skydive in the world, which was siiiick! Can’t really describe it, besides saying “Unbelievable!" I had been wanting to do that for the last 10 years, but always wanted to do my Virgin jump in Hawaii, as it's the most beautiful place to freefall on the planet,  but I couldn't afford the $350 price tag.

I was lucky enough to hook up with ex-Capetonian and Skydiving legend, Johan Wolly Wolfard who works at the skydive centre, and he sorted me out. Thanks buddy, you are a legend!

That afternoon, I went for a SUP paddle at Waimea - Pinballs is the inside section of Waimea and I ended up surfing it by myself for an hour, before an old friend came out and joined me to share a couple late afternoon barrels of joy. We surfed & supp'd while we caught up on times passed, in the most idyllic backdrop of paradise and my personal favourite beach and wave setup on the planet. Pinballs & Wiamea, where as the son slowly sinks softly over the horizon, behind the silhouette of Diamond Head and the sky starts igniting into the most amazing colours & lighting up the glistening barrels with all the rays of purple & pinks the paintbrush could combine.

It's only then you realise, life is pretty good right now, you could've actually just died and been beamed to heaven, cause this is about the closest you going to get, without getting flattened by a bus and even if that happened, the imprint on the bus would be a big smiley face.

The following morning, with the forecasts predicting over 8ft today and 10-12ft tomorrow, I cruised down to surf Off the Wall, the place where it all happens, the million dollar mile for making and breaking your name on the North Shore.

The Surf Paparazzi are thick and every surfer and wanna be surfer guy is frothing on the beach to try get the next centre spread and be the next big thing, gain respect and try be one of the lucky few out there who actually get a set wave.

I got there pretty early, 7.30ish, finished my ceremonial Starbucks Soy latte while watching guys in the first rays of morning light getting barrelled off their pips, as the world awoke to 6-8ft, thumping & gaping pacific ocean pits.

I grabbed my trusty 8.0 DVG and stood on the beach to wait for a gap and not get pounded into the reef by a poor call on timing.

You get your paddle timing wrong here and you seriously get hammered. Five on the head here will leave you with a broken board, badly shaken, some reef reminders & rude awakening, you not on the mainland no more brah!

I managed to get two on the head, shaken, but not stirred and then sneaked out before the next set came a’ looming.

Once out you realise how much power is actually out there and how close you actually are to the beach, maybe 80m from the sand.

I got a couple good ones, but pulling into barrels at off the Wall is a fine art.You have to choose your waves carefully otherwise you have zero chance of making it out. Waves caught out there, six. Number of barrels, six. Barrels made, Zero! Welcome to the North Shore.

After a couple hours, I couldn’t work out why I hadn't got a wave for a while, until I got a big, "Hey Chris", from legend and personal childhood hero & big wave legend Shane Dorian. I looked around me in the water and it suddenly all made sense, Timmy Reyes, Taylor Knox, Makua Rothaman, Bede Durbage & John John Florence.

But I realised something pretty awesome, I never got dropped in on and I actually got some wavesI realised I might not be getting many more waves, with that crew sitting right next to me, so I waited for a good one, took off, got barrelled and hammered & went in.

But I realised something pretty awesome, I never got dropped in on and I actually got some waves, I had finally come full circle, coming back to the North Shore 7 years later a really different guy.

I never realised it, but over the last  seven years I had been surfing and competing in big & serious surf all over the world and have come to know as friends and gain respect from of the most serious and heavily respected watermen on the planet, without even realising it.

As the swell builds, in the morning I wake up to clean 10ft lines stacking the Pacific horizon and a pumping North Shore. The swell was predicted to peak at 1pm. It’s an exact science in Hawaii. You can get it spot on with real time buoy readings.

So I head to surf Sunset early as the swell continues to grow. I grab my 9.4 Mavs gun to get extra time on her, before surfing Waimea later, to get a feel for her.

we had been sitting together for a half hour before a beast of a set feathered on the horizonThere are only twenty or so people in the water - awesome for Sunset, which is normally super busy. I head out to the back and slowly filter to the outside lineup on my bigger board. I end up sitting 50m further out than everyone and just wait for the bombs and with a building swell, that's exactly what you get. I surfed for almost three hours and got a couple of smokers towards the end sharing waves with Joel Tudor and long time friend and Hawaiian inspirational legend Clark Abbey.

My last wave we had been sitting together for a half hour before a beast of a set feathered on the horizon. We all scratched out to try and get in position. I took off super deep and late deep inside Clark and somehow managed to crank a bottom turn straight off the bottom and sneak straight under the lip coming down toward me. I re-adjusted high in the pocket and re-set my rail to slide down the face with maximum speed as I watched Clark riding ahead of me through the eye of the barrel. I could see the barrel ahead of me starting to pinch closed.

I dropped my line and tried to punch through the lip coming down on the side ... hold it, hold fast, feel the weight on your shoulders, stay low, take the pressure and you are through. Another great wave and the smiling face of old friends to greet you when you emerge from the raw power of the North Pacific ... what more could you ask for from being a surfer.

I came in, dried off & re-charged the batteries with Sushi, Water, banana’s, nuts & Starbucks and by lunchtime I was walking down the path to Waimea Bay and the first boil.

I walked to the corner keyhole of the bay, jumped in and paddled out. The swell isn't as big as we had expected, but still building ... Only the sets are breaking, but just enough to get the heart pumping a little faster and have you scrambling for the bigger ones. I had about 3 hours of beautiful 10-12ft drops before the waves stopped coming and I knew it was time to go in and head for the airport.

After my surf I left my 9,4ft Mavericks gun for the Eddie at a friend’s house, jumped in my rent-a-car and headed to the airport to get a flight to Hilo, on the Big Island & SUP World Championship Finals.

SUP World Championship Finals

For this event, everyone was going to be there. It’s the last stop on the SUP World Tour.

For me to keep my top 16 slot, I need to make the Quarters at least, which was going to be a huge undertaking in itself, as the trials for this event had 64 competitors and I have seen a lot of the guys training in Oahu, on the North Shore and everyone rips. Nervous is an understatement!

Fly the flag for RSA, that I can do and will always, but quarter, holy smokes, we'll just see how it goes! I arrived the day before the trials in the evening, straight to the Naniloa Hotel, right on the water in Hilo. I went and jumped in the pool and trained for a bit, before settling in, catching up on work and getting my board and equipment sorted for opening Ceremony and ready for action in the morning.

I wake up early to a beautiful Hilo day, blue skies warm and tropical paradise. I grab a Starbucks Soy Latte. My brain kicks in, and I am ready for a special day. I decide to get exercise by paddling across the bay. Great idea at first thought.

Grabbing my board and paddle, I jump into the water. All good. I do a 4km circuit and start heading back. I hear four blasts of a horn and realise one of the cruise ships is probably leaving shortly. I gauge where I am and realise I'm crossing the shipping channel. I quicken my pace a little and then I see it. A beast of a cruise liner heading straight out the harbour, coming my way!

It looks like it's going really slow. But 20 seconds later, I realise it's not. My paddle stroke quickens dramatically and I aim for the closest channel marker buoy 500m in front of me. Every 10 seconds the ship gets larger and closer & my stress levels increase in equal measures.

I make it to the Channel marker and jump on. Safety! Ha ha, my heart beating like a Hawaiian drupo at a Luau. You gotta laugh. Lesson 101. Don't get run over by a 500ft cruise liner the day before competition.

I make it in laughing at myself a lot and get ready for the ceremony and parade.

We head down with our National flags and join all the others to do a nation’s parade down the promenade before attending an ancient Hawaiian blessing and ceremony for the event - unique, spiritual and special, in true Hawaiian style.

That afternoon, I headed down to Honol'i, where the contest site was and went for a paddle to check out the conditions and get a feel of my equipment. Super fun waves, in warm water under blue tropical skies, what more can you ask for.well maybe about twenty to thirty turtles in the lineup!

I have never in my life seen so many turtles in one spot at one time.All eagerly balancing themselves in the current coming through the lineup of the river as it courses its way into the bay.

After an hour or so of super fun waves, I traded my SUP for goggles and went turtle crazy.It's hard to swim with turtles and then wipe the smile off your face for the rest of the day. Awesome experience, pure joy and stoke is the only way to describe the positive feeling you have after swimming & gliding with these little friendly creatures for a couple of special moments.

I headed back to the hotel and caught up with work & prepped for the day of competition ahead.

The first day was the Trials and good to see the waves were fun and contestable and the level of surfing really good. Kids aged 10-16 surfed so good they got wild cards into the main event!

A layday was called the following morning. Time to get use to the conditions and have fun. I ended up prone surfing my Naish Hookoa 8.4ft for a couple hours without the paddle - super fun. It's amazing how well the new Stand ups ride as surfboards, especially my little 8.4ft rascal, the flying banana.

After a great surf, I paddled up the river, much to my delight, to find the most insane Rainbow Falls ...

Paddling up rivers is definitely not over rated, believe me, what a blast, dodging rocks, taking in the lush vegetation negotiating rapids & eddies, it’s awesome and finding an amazing waterfall at the end of the journey was a huge bonus!

I ended up ditching my SUP and swimming across and finding my way up the rocks on the side of this 20 metre high cascading beauty and to my amazing surprise, discovering a cave that had scoured it's way behind the waterfall. Insane, I sneaked in, under and behind the curtain and just beamed the hugest smile for the next half hour as I found every possibe way to take pics from within, around, under, over the waterfall.

After being mesmerized by the beauty and splendour of the falls, I headed back rejuvenated and re-charged and smiling like a Cheshire cat on acid. Wow, what an awesome day ...

Competition day

I get down early, well that is after the second round of Starbucks of cousre and am greeted by heat lineup! Local wonder kid, Peyo Lizaro-World #2 Supp'r & Leco Salazar-Winner of the Brazil event and the best Stand up paddler I have seen to date. Oh well that's the way it goes. You can only do your best and hope for the best.

Moral of the story. Hmmm tough one. Is there one?I watch a couple of heats and the conditions look super fun, clean and rippable.ok, Game one, we can do this. Ten minutes before my heat the wind switches and goes onshore and everything within minutes, goes to sh&^%T!

I head in for my heat, amped none the less, but the tide is turning and the waves go flat, I wait for a couple bombs as wave choice is key, but no sets, not one come in our heat, I get three or four smaller ones in the last ten minutes of the heat and that was it, I end up narrowly missing 2nd by 0.5 and so it goes, competitive surfing, one bad heat and you’re done!

Moral of the story. Hmmm tough one. Is there one?

Sometimes things are not within your control and sometimes it just doesn't go your way. Call it luck, fate, whatever you want, but sometimes that's just the way it goes

I was bummed, but not for long. I’ve had such great results this year in a numerous events, it's sunny, the water's warm, I'm surfing in boardies and I'm in Hawaii, what can I really bummed about? haha.

I put my head back on my shoulders and ended up watching some of the best stand up paddlesurfing I have ever seen, as Leco Salazar and Kai Lenny put on a show second to none. Kai, with his super consistent repertoire of full rail turns mixed with fluid board and paddle control beyond his years and new hot and charging Leco Salazar, displaying surfing so fluid, lightning fast, and explosive.

Leco was impossible to compare to anyone, including Kai, a new breed of Stand up paddleboarder, just exploding onto the scene.

This athlete will blow minds and show the world that Stand up Paddle boarding is not to be sneered at, but admired and respected, because his surfing is fast, loose & red hot!

The future has arrived and it's really incredible to watch. Between Kai Lenny, who ended up taking the finals with super good, full rail & innovative progressive surfing, Leco just couldn't find the waves to demonstrate his skills in the final & 18 year old Kai Lenny makes history by achieving a milestone in his own career today, but also for the sport of Stand Up Paddlesurfing, as he not only won the Hawaii Island Finals, but also the World Title, with a dominant performance across all 5 events in 2010.

Despite great performances from his arch rival of the year, Peyo Lizarazu, Antoine Delpero and Leco Salazar, the Brazilian phenomenon that joined the Tour in Brazil with a win, Kai kept his cool and rose above the odds to win the event and the Title in an emotional close to the 2010 Stand Up World Tour.

Congrats Kai, consistent & all round great performer, great kid, all round waterman, surf, kite, windsurf, kite & Sup'per with a huge future.

This is Chris checking out from Hilo-The Big Island-Aloha

Chris Bertish

CMB Agencies- Western Cape
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