I definitely might'a missed something, but did ashton gaggins do a whole routine in front of his own cameras about being nervous to go out and then they don't have a clip of him out there?
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Level of surfing on Tavarua
- Thread starter casa_mugrienta
- Start date
thanks bud, it’s framed and hanging at home and my office lol…The second to last day. Friday. Boatmen were calling the biggest sets 20 feet (whatever “scale” they use, it was big, and I was the only Tavarua client out. In fact I was only one of about 5 guys total.)
I’ll type the long version because it’s a cozy Saturday morning, no surf, suns not up yet, I have coffee and a couch, and feel like story telling
Big and perfect as usual. I was super cocky (even by my standards) by then, after a very solid and successful week at cloudbreak (solid more often than not) with a smattering of small restaurants and the rights….anyway, I was way up the reef, again, with that confidence one can only earn after a whopping 7 days at a place lol.
I took off on the first wave of a set, a solid 12 footer that only stayed open for one brief section off the drop before I kicked out in THE worst possible place. Look at the horizon. Stacked with bigger waves than I had seen the entire trip. easily 50% bigger than the size of any sets I had seen on that pretty-damn-big morning. I took most on the head, the first 5-6 (breaking top to bottom cloud break style) no more than a few feet from where I was laughing to stay calm, (always works for me YMMV)
I would dive to the bottom and try to glue myself to the reef but each time- ear popping detonation and a trip over the falls several times, before popping back up to do it again…and again. maybe a 20 wave set?
other than one broken leash incident at Middles when I was 24, this was a time, in between my weird little giggle fits I get whilst being drowned, that I actually thought “hmm, drowning or a bad bounce off the reef could actually kill me right now.”
I just kept diving, holding on to the bottom, getting steamrolled and bounced off the reef, before ultimately being washed far enough in that I could at least get back on my board (leash and glass intact somehow, thanks Dennis) and start paddling and duck diving my way towards the channel.
i was STILL past the old judge tower, so I had to contend with that too as I made my way to the channel with this non stop set continuing to pour massive amounts of water over the shallow reef. Almost hit the tower..scraped up my hands scrambling across kebabs. Finally made deep water, paddled slowly and depleted to Cloudbreak II, the adrenaline dump already subsiding and leaving me Wiped and giddy.
I get to the boat, exhausted and barely able to paddle. I guess after that beating I expected the boatman to be like “holy sh!t dude we couldn’t see you anywhere during that entire set, we were about to start motoring around inside the reef looking for you” etc, but i was so far up the reef during the whole set I don’t think they had any idea where I was and probably weren’t really thinking about me at all (which is fine- I had earned myself a bit of respect from the boatmen. I wasn’t a client that needed babysitting)
so it was hysterical. I arm-limp up to the boat like fukking Tom hanks on his raft next to the super tanker, expecting cries of relief and inquiries as to my general condition after such a beating. Instead I got “hey man, how was that set?”
and I just laughed, crawled inelegantly over the gunwale, and told him I took every one on the head. THAT got the reaction I had been expecting initially lol.
Terrifying but the simple fact is I fukking love adrenaline and so I’d pay another $14k to go do it again right this minute.
I’ll type the long version because it’s a cozy Saturday morning, no surf, suns not up yet, I have coffee and a couch, and feel like story telling
Big and perfect as usual. I was super cocky (even by my standards) by then, after a very solid and successful week at cloudbreak (solid more often than not) with a smattering of small restaurants and the rights….anyway, I was way up the reef, again, with that confidence one can only earn after a whopping 7 days at a place lol.
I took off on the first wave of a set, a solid 12 footer that only stayed open for one brief section off the drop before I kicked out in THE worst possible place. Look at the horizon. Stacked with bigger waves than I had seen the entire trip. easily 50% bigger than the size of any sets I had seen on that pretty-damn-big morning. I took most on the head, the first 5-6 (breaking top to bottom cloud break style) no more than a few feet from where I was laughing to stay calm, (always works for me YMMV)
I would dive to the bottom and try to glue myself to the reef but each time- ear popping detonation and a trip over the falls several times, before popping back up to do it again…and again. maybe a 20 wave set?
other than one broken leash incident at Middles when I was 24, this was a time, in between my weird little giggle fits I get whilst being drowned, that I actually thought “hmm, drowning or a bad bounce off the reef could actually kill me right now.”
I just kept diving, holding on to the bottom, getting steamrolled and bounced off the reef, before ultimately being washed far enough in that I could at least get back on my board (leash and glass intact somehow, thanks Dennis) and start paddling and duck diving my way towards the channel.
i was STILL past the old judge tower, so I had to contend with that too as I made my way to the channel with this non stop set continuing to pour massive amounts of water over the shallow reef. Almost hit the tower..scraped up my hands scrambling across kebabs. Finally made deep water, paddled slowly and depleted to Cloudbreak II, the adrenaline dump already subsiding and leaving me Wiped and giddy.
I get to the boat, exhausted and barely able to paddle. I guess after that beating I expected the boatman to be like “holy sh!t dude we couldn’t see you anywhere during that entire set, we were about to start motoring around inside the reef looking for you” etc, but i was so far up the reef during the whole set I don’t think they had any idea where I was and probably weren’t really thinking about me at all (which is fine- I had earned myself a bit of respect from the boatmen. I wasn’t a client that needed babysitting)
so it was hysterical. I arm-limp up to the boat like fukking Tom hanks on his raft next to the super tanker, expecting cries of relief and inquiries as to my general condition after such a beating. Instead I got “hey man, how was that set?”
and I just laughed, crawled inelegantly over the gunwale, and told him I took every one on the head. THAT got the reaction I had been expecting initially lol.
Terrifying but the simple fact is I fukking love adrenaline and so I’d pay another $14k to go do it again right this minute.
Not too much hyperbole either, especially for a subway anecdote lol. The boatman definitely called the biggest sets of the session to be easily 20+. its actually pretty darn accurate, except I probably condensed and simplified the convo when I got back to the boat.
really the only bad part of the story is what happened when we got back to Tavarua. Restaurants was finally breaking with a decent amount of authority, not overhead; but bigger than any restaurants we had seen all week.
I was so torched after that cloud break session and beating, but restaurants looked SO good and all the guests were out scoring, a boat from namotu etc but not too packed, so I jumped off the cloud break boat and into the rotation.
But i just did not have any gas left in the tank. Tried for an hour to paddle weakly for these fast moving chest high low tide runners and just could not generate the board speed needed to get a good take off. Finally got one little left towards the end of the reef (I had taken myself out of the peak rotation as soon as I realized how useless I was) and went in.
So that giant epic set that will forever haunt me with terrible and joyful memories, did cost me what would have been the best restaurant session of the trip
really the only bad part of the story is what happened when we got back to Tavarua. Restaurants was finally breaking with a decent amount of authority, not overhead; but bigger than any restaurants we had seen all week.
I was so torched after that cloud break session and beating, but restaurants looked SO good and all the guests were out scoring, a boat from namotu etc but not too packed, so I jumped off the cloud break boat and into the rotation.
But i just did not have any gas left in the tank. Tried for an hour to paddle weakly for these fast moving chest high low tide runners and just could not generate the board speed needed to get a good take off. Finally got one little left towards the end of the reef (I had taken myself out of the peak rotation as soon as I realized how useless I was) and went in.
So that giant epic set that will forever haunt me with terrible and joyful memories, did cost me what would have been the best restaurant session of the trip
Newsflash:
Kooks are everywhere.
There are kooks that paddle out at Mavs.
Kooks are everywhere.
There are kooks that paddle out at Mavs.
My buddy is a boatman there and also a DJ and Surf school owner. The Google peeps hire him for the Kids as well as DJ. Not necessarily the same weeks. Gets paid to play...
You've been here long enough to know better than to ask that
“that’s right Lil, I’m drunk! Ish my house, and goddamit im getting drunk in my house! You don’t Like it you can kiss my drunk ass!”:
im paraphrasing, didn’t feel like googling the transcript
im paraphrasing, didn’t feel like googling the transcript
just curious as I have a trip planned in november
what board were you on?, and was the Surfline forecast accurate?
Scary accurate
that was a beefy 6 9 step up, but a round pin thruster so I could move it around, and I was still probably 220 then. Nimble for a beefy board.could have been a 6 6 though for cloud break. But, you run what ya brung and I knew that board so well even as a fatso. Got some bombs on that thing at hanalei, I knew I could trust it in on my back hand at solid CB.
If you are normal size, then a step up might be a 6 4. the drops are steep and fast so a fairly short step up isn’t a bad thing. And it’s perfection means you can get away with less board. Towards the end of the week I was riding my 6 1 on every session except that big morning that nearly drowned me lol
that was a beefy 6 9 step up, but a round pin thruster so I could move it around, and I was still probably 220 then. Nimble for a beefy board.could have been a 6 6 though for cloud break. But, you run what ya brung and I knew that board so well even as a fatso. Got some bombs on that thing at hanalei, I knew I could trust it in on my back hand at solid CB.
If you are normal size, then a step up might be a 6 4. the drops are steep and fast so a fairly short step up isn’t a bad thing. And it’s perfection means you can get away with less board. Towards the end of the week I was riding my 6 1 on every session except that big morning that nearly drowned me lol
Thanks.
my normal step up is a 6-2 ghost.
thinking a normal 6-0, 6-2 ghost and maybe my 6-6 griffin
but if big going to try to find a 7-0 padilac
guess the next question is their 6 foot head high like in cali scale or DOH as in Hawaiian scale
my normal step up is a 6-2 ghost.
thinking a normal 6-0, 6-2 ghost and maybe my 6-6 griffin
but if big going to try to find a 7-0 padilac
guess the next question is their 6 foot head high like in cali scale or DOH as in Hawaiian scale
