Mozambique

Just a heads up that i will be going o Mozambique tomorrow, early morning, and I wont be posting, or even around a computer for the next 6 days.

A day of firsts

Today, I woke up quite early, still feeling sick, to continue shaping my board. After putting a coat of glassing on the deck of the board i found out that two of the girls staying here, Tammy and Kirsti, would be surfing in a contest at Surfers Lane, a spot we surfed a few days ago in fairly big and scary conditions.
This morning the waves were about head high and there was no wind. THe contest was small and relaxed, anyone who wanted to could enter and Nikki, the scottish leader of my TTride trip was talked into entering by Kirsti and Tammy. Both Kirsti and Tammy have fairly high world rankings in surfing so they obviously surf contests all the time, but this was Nikki's first ever. It was a good laugh to watch and Nikki even managed to get a few decent waves. I had kind of wished I had entered myself, i'm sure that i would have made a fool of myself and had fun in the process.

Although my head is still stuffed up and my chest weezes every time I breathe, causing me to cough and giving me trouble catching my breath i managed to get a few waves this morning early and right before lunch. The water was as clear as we have seen it in South Africa, the sun was out and the wind remains placid even as I write this. If i wasnt still feeling sick and tired I would be in the water still instead of writing this, additionally I needed to return to drill the holes in my board for fin boxes and begin sanding the deck and the rails so i can (hopefully) actually surf the thing tomorrow. I am still hopeful that it will ride nice and smooth.

So here is the last first of this entry: I drove the car that Chris, Pete, and I rented home from the beach. In south Africa they drive english style (left side of the road) and the car was a manual transmission, both of which were firsts for me. and you know what; I didnt do to bad. If you don't count the 10 or so stalls i had on the first hill away from the beach, during which we decided that Chris would drive to be main road (much flatter) and I would take over. There was also a hill with a stop sign at the top a few block from the Secret Spot and I stalled there. We laughed and waited for 5 minutes waving cars around us until there was a clear spot and I managed to get the car into gear on the first try and zoomed off like a fucking pro!!

Back at the surf camp even I could smell the transmission, which is saying something because I can't smell or even taset much my head is so blocked up, but the car is still purring like a kitten so it wasn't anything to devastating and it was one of the best things I've done since i have been traveling. A big thanks to Chris and Pete for their help and tutelage.

PS, its not like the thing means much here but I didnt have my drivers liscense with me in the car.

PPS:Sorry that you are reading all of this Dad

ok time to go finish my board!

TTFN

In the words of Billy Corgan: "The End is the Beginning is the End"

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!
THe trip has offically ended which means a new adventure will begin! Today the last few people are leaving: Toby left this morning early, and Steve and Sam are leaving the Secret Spot shortly. Sam is going back down to Jeffery's bay, however, becasue he got a job as a surf Coach down there. SO he will stay a few more months in South Africa.

As for me. I am very excited that the trip is done becasue now I wont have to spend so much time waiting for people to get themselves orgainized, and even more excited to go to Mozambique on Monday. Having a few days to rest will be nice as well becasue I have a bad head and chest cold at the moment so some rest will do me lots of good.
I managed to pass my Surf Instructor exam (yay) which could help me save tons and tons of money on Accomadation and food for the rest of my trip, if I can find a job as a surf instructor at a surf camp, or beach hostel.
Yesterday I started shaping my own surfboard with the help of Mike Smith, the owner of the Secret spot, the surf camp we are staying at hopefully the board will be ready to surf by monday, when we leave, and also hopefully the board doesnt suck because I am going to be surfing on it for the rest of the trip.
Ok, i have been on the computer for over an hour now so I will move on. Now that i am not in such a big group i promise to post more often, and put better info up, including pictures, which I have a huge stockpile of, going all the back to NYC when i stayed with Neliganbot.
OOOOOOOOK
TTFN

The End is near but not here and Things have dragged on

Welllllll....
Im in Ballito at the Secret Spot surf camp. While here I will get to shape myself a surfboard. I already have the size and shape (a 5' 11" fish) picked out. Hopefullly it wil be ready to ride in a week or less, although one of the things I have noticed about SA is that things tend to take a little longer than people say they will. Which makes you take things a little slower and forces you to be patient.
Our Surf instructor COurses have dragged on and on due to poor waether conditions. One day the water was full of jellyfish, and another there was literally a typhoon off the coast. THe wind hs been very strong onshore most days which means we havent seen decent surf very often in durban. Locals keep telling us this is the worst sean they have had for surf in years. Oh Well.
We still need to finish some demonstrations, rescuing someone on a board and surfing in with them, as well as backboarding someone win the surf which is hardest when you are on the backboard playing the victim and at the mercy of the surf with your limbs and head stabalized.
So lots of boring hours to pass the past few weeks.
I have been playing lots of guitar, which I bought in Cape Town, to pass the time. It is a good way to kill time, and something that I was trying to teach myself last year at home and i had hoped to be able to continue whilst traveling so it is good thing to have it.
My back continues to heal and i think i might even get som pretty sweet scars from all this so that is good. ANd i am really looking foreward to next week when I go to Mozambique for a 5 days of hopefully surfing good waves, camping, and fishing. We might even get to help Bevans friend monitor some sea turtle nesting which should be a cool thing to experience.
It feels a bit wierd to be at the end of this group trip. Most people are all thinking about going back to thier lives at home, and for me it feels like the start of a new trip. At the same time ill be seeing most of my family in around a month which means that the time is flying by this year way faster than i would like.

Travelling mostly on my own for the rest of the year is something is am really looking foreward to. Anmd getting on to Bali after mozambique I should be able to find better waves fairly consistently. I am still just as keen to get more experience on bigger, stronger, groundswell. As well as working on turns and sweet ass surfing manuevers.
Ok time to get off the computer
TTFN
talk more soon!

Anstey's: Another quick one

Hey everyone,
This is a quick post to let you all know that my back is healing up nicley so far. We are just a few minutes south of durban now. Here i will buy 2 more surfboards and Shape my own up in Ballito. I have been incredibly busy with Classroom work in preparation for my exam to become a Surf Instructor. We should have another day or two of work then a week off then our exams.

The Ticket To Riude trip is over in like 15 days or so. And to be completly honest I am looking foreward to the end of it. Although im sure i will miss everyone once they leave. After the trip ends 5 of us are going top spend a week in the hopefully empty and perfect waves of Mozambique.
Then its on to Bali for 2 or 3 weeks. During which time i might take a boat trip for a week with a Kiwi that i met here in ANstey's. Which would mean more empty perfect waves (shucks).

I have gotten to do a bit of surfing here and it has been lots of fun, but we were stuck inside when the waves were best which really sucked hairy ass. Oh well! got so much to look foreward to. SOmetimes its just good to be alive i guess.

Ok TTFN

Umtentweni: the story and the photos to back it up

SO here we are.

I havent posted since Jbay and i have a lot of things to talk about, i was in two towns, Chinsta and Coffee Bay, but as usual i will make you all wait a bit longer to here because the story of my first night here takes the cake by far.

The drive from Coffee Bay to Umtentweni was around 7 hours, and up[on arrival my friend Sam and I were ready to take a swim. So after the briefing from our leaders we went for a little bodysurf just behind our hostel, The Spot. The currents were strong, very strong, even though the waves were no more than shoulder high. So we were quickly taken about 300 yards out to sea and pusher down the beach towards a big patch of rocks.

Unable to fight back up against the current with much success, Sam and I decided to swim for the rocks, a hectic place and a bit risky, but we had both begun to worry about the fading light and the strong currents.

We both made it to the first patch of rocks covered in mussel shells and stood up. About 10 seconds later a broken wave washed over us. Despite my efforts to get low, crouching and grabbing the rocks with my hands, the wave picked up my feet and washed me over on my back, pushing me further on the the rocks. I could the stinging pain as my back scraped agains the rocks and shells and knew that i was not gonna get out of this situation without a bit of a thrashing.

Once the wave died down i stood up quickly and saw that Sam had been pushed a bit farther to the right thyan I and was already in the lagoon ahead of me. I made a dash for it over the shells and jumped into the lagoon to swim the final 75 yards or so to the shore.

Once out of the water, and happy have done so relatively safely, i first saw blood on the palms of my hands, then on my elbows. I knew it was bad when Sam looked at my back and said something like uhhhh....maybe we should go find nikki. Trying to make it sound not so bad.

Back at the hostel Nikki immediately began to clean up my back and patch up the cuts, which rinsed every single medkit that we had of all its gauze and band aids. Eventually we decided to go the ER and get it patched up and cleaned properly.

The ER was a crazy experience. It smelled terrible and looked dirty, there was blood on the floor which got cleaned up shortly after we arrived, and many people laying in hospital beds, some bleeding onto their sheets, some just writhing in pain. One man was praying quite loudly as, i assume, his family member was rolled off in a bed.

I was seen fairly quickly and found the nurses and doctors to be friendly and helpful, although they tried to give me a medication that i am allergic to. And i was out of the ER in less than an hour. They gave me medication and i stood there waiting to pay somebody for my medicine and care but i was told to go, without paying more than 3 american dollars so they could create a file for me. Universal Healthcare is alright by me!

All told I estimate that i got about 100 cuts on my legs, hands, elbows, feet, and back. Lucky Sam only got a few minor curs on his arms and chest and a few gashes in his foot. Both of us are on the mend well though and i will hopefully be back in the water in the next 2 or 3 days. Going to the clinic for a follow up tomorrow, i'm sure that wont be free.

Ok folks that is the story photos to back it up. I have some amazing stories about Coffee Bay and Chinsta, two incredibly beautiful places and i promise to put them up in the next week or so but i need to get off the computer now because this is costing me 1rand per minute to type on the Hostel Computer