Surfing in Fiji- Cloud Break!

[benjl]

The internet in Fiji was a little slow but i've just gotten back and been able to post some pics and give a run down on my experience at Cloudbreak!

We visited 3 different breaks- Namotu lefts (a rippled, semi-fat 2-4ft left hander with some awesomely long rides), wilkes (a 3-5ft fast, steep, super clean right) and then Cloudbreak (4-6ft epic, heavy, steep, left).
The report only said it was going to be around 3ft the day before but it ended up being A LOT bigger than that!

I ended up having to rent a board and the board they provided me with a 6'3 fishy / swallow tail that was 6'3 x 20.75 x 2.75 with two different kinds of fins from left to the right side and a heck of a lot of dings.
It was a bit of a dog after recently surfing my firewire dominator and way to much volume for my weight on these waves. Very hard to turn, dig a rail and carve on! I eventually got used to it and carved up some good sections at Namotu but it was it a handful at Wilkes and Cloudbreak. The volume would make it get stuck up at the lip before the drop. I only got 1 wave at cloudbreak where the board got sucked to the top and left me with a near vertical drop!
I called it a day after that and didn't feel confident that the board would stick out the drop on those size waves or break and leave me with a replacement fee or coral cuts!
I would love to do this again, but bring my own boards next time to really make the most of it and have absolute confidence in what you're riding. one very talented young Hawaiian guy snapped his board in half and also had his leash snap clean through the cord.

Was a new and very scary feeling seeing the coral only a few meters underneath you and even less so as you rode the wave in to shallower areas! I never dreamed that less than 2 years ago I would be doing something like this, let alone surfing at all which I had never tried!

It's crazy to see Cloudbreak and these heaving big waves just forming in the middle of the ocean with no islands or land around it like normal reefs or beach breaks!

I found a couple of shots that one of the photographers got of me at Namotu lefts. Left is my goofy side but it looks like I am setting up my turn well from the bottom turn and about to approach a carve back up the wave? Any technique critique welcome?

look at the size of the whitewash through the wave!

cloudbreak

ue welcome?

[oldmansurfer]

Cloudbreak looks awesome. I hate it when you can see the reef in the wave while you are surfing. I don't surf those kind of breaks often because of the danger involved.

[Big H]

Looks like fun size....good times!

[dtc]

great report - awesome you gave it a go (I'm in the old man school...). Cloudbreak is such a weird looking beast

As to technique, I'm sure waikikichan will come along soon to say something about that front arm.. but, hey, you cant expect to be looking brilliant in the circumstances (different board, visible reef etc etc). Just trying is a great effort.

[RinkyDink]

Looks like a blast. I agree with you that it's a bit spooky surfing out in open ocean. Make sure they get your name in the head count for the return trip How many people were out with you? How does it work to get out to the break? Do you rent a boat with other surfers? I'm just curious how it all works in terms of a surfing vacation.

[benjl]

Thanks guys, the photos that I took on my phone really do it justice- especially a few hundred meters from the break. Some of the sets were solid double overhead!
The other strange thing I noticed is that the sets there came in much larger numbers which one set having 10 solid waves in it! In nz we tend to only get sets of 3 waves but Fiji often had 5-6wave sets? What causes this? Sometimes I'd take the third wave in the set and then still get hammered by another few after it!

@rinkydink- there was a boat of about 10 of us from various hotels and locations round demarau and Nadi in Fiji. You just book through the hotel and they plan it with the surf company (fijisurfshots.com). They pick u up from the hotel and then boat out to the breaks, about 30min boat ride away. They know which ones are working on any given day and go with that.
Cost $160 for a half day (7am pick up, 2pm drop back) or $200 if u had to rent a board. It's a mission taking your own board but worth it to make the most of it, specially if it's going to be a surf trip.

Personally, I preferred Bali (although I only surfed at Kuta) but I know they have equally good breaks and local guides are like $30 a day or something instead of $160!
If u do the Fiji option just make sure that you're paddle fit before going! They tended to just leave us at the break for about 2hrs at each break and it's not easy going, some of the reefs around an island will have ocean currents that mean constant paddling just to stay in position. I've been surfing a lot recently and I was absolutely wrecked the next day!!!

@dtc- my gf said that I wave or
Move my front arm around a lot when I surf but I remember Waikiki telling some other people that they had no power because their front arm wasn't doing anything so hopefully I'm on the right track. I'm just stoked that it at least it looks like I seem to know what I'm doing ie. Made the drop, cruised down to the flats, started to stand back up vertically with torso / head turned towards wave peak and initiate a turn. I didn't know I had been photographed so this all happened naturally, and on my goofy side on a foreign board. Wish I'd had my dominator at that break, it would've been soo much fun!!

[Big H]

Money comes and goes....now you can cross "Surf Cloudbreak" off the bucket list....money well spent IMO!

[RinkyDink]

If u do the Fiji option just make sure that you're paddle fit before going! They tended to just leave us at the break for about 2hrs at each break and it's not easy going, some of the reefs around an island will have ocean currents that mean constant paddling just to stay in position. I've been surfing a lot recently and I was absolutely wrecked the next day!!!

That's really good to know. My all time worst surfing experience was not being able to handle a current. I was just too tired to make any headway against it and it started taking me with it. I tried to get to the beach, but by that time the beach had turned from sand to huge treacherous cliffs with pounding surf. It was not fun getting slammed into the walls of a huge cliff as I climbed my way back to the sand beach along the base of a sharp and slippery cliff. Got a few dings in my board and my head. Lesson learned.

[waikikikichan]

moving your front hand to :
1) point in the direction you want to go
2) lead the shoulder/chest to open and close the body
3) create momentum to twist the body ( like a ice skater starting their spin )
are good things.

having a lot of hand jive movement, what some people call " Rolling up the windows", is not good. That type of hand movement is to try to counter balance, or reactions to falling. Not sure if that's what your GF was talking about.

in the photos, your back hand ( right ) has gone behind your back. And your front hand (left ) is cocked in front of your chest. Thus your shoulder/torso is going clockwise and "closed" to the wave's face. Going backside / Lefts for a regular footer, you should have your back hand in front of your chest and your front hand rotating counter-clockwise around.

20130502_595106.jpg (85.32 KiB) Viewed 1035 times

But those 4 photos doesn't tell the whole story, it could be your out on the shoulder and about to turn back .