Taming the Infamous Cloudbreak

 

The judges podium

Sets rolling in

             Cloudbreak

A boat from nearby Tavarua Island watches on as surfers in the distance catch massive waves at Fiji's Cloudbreak

  When I first saw the movie "Endless Summer II" I wanted to be good enough to travel the world to surf. Luckily after a few seasons in Hawaii I am just getting to that level where I can handle most anything that is thrown my way. However I never thought that I would surf a wave like Cloudbreak. In the movie the two stars head to the outer reef, about an hour boat ride, only to see a low lying cloud hovering over the ocean. It turns out this is just the sea spray and white wash from massive waves crashing against the outer reef near Tavarua Island. This was is known as cloudbreak to the international community and that movie really put it on the map. It is still a 45 minute boat ride to get there from the main island, and it is still a beast of a wave. In recent years a famous surfing competition occurs here with pros like Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning fighting for the deepest barrels. It can get big, real big. And I had a chance to surf it at the peak of a swell.

I snapped a few pics before paddling out to tame the beast

  Luckily it was only a 4-6ft swell and not a 14ft swell but I must admit I was still a little nervous. Like most other waves here in Fiji, Cloudbreak is quite shallow and break on razor sharp coral reef. But after surfing Frigates and Fiji Pipe on the south side of the island I was ready to try it. I snapped a few pictures of surfers dropping in on overhead sets before strapping on my leash and paddling out.

Nicely formed lefts at Cloudbreak

Kelly Slater's view

  Overhead sets were the norm for the first few hours. One huge double overhead plus set came in. A couple of surfers were caught on the inside and ended up way over the reef. Luckily I made it over the shoulder as a surfer raced by on the wave of his life. The crowd was very spread out as the waves were peaking in different areas depending on their size and angle. It took a while to break the mystique and catch my first wave but when I did I felt like I had just gone skydiving or bungee jumping. The energy you get from surfing a place for the first time is always satisfying, the adrenaline I got from surfing Cloudbreak for the first time was incredible! As the tide came in and the winds picked up the crowd got thinner and thinner. I ended up staying for hours until there was just four of us out there picking off the set waves. I was so lucky to have catch Cloudbreak with a decent swell. When I finally paddled back to the boat I felt an immense satisfaction and smiled to myself for the whole ride in.