am almost surfed out. Have had 3 or 4 magic sessions at Huahine's fabled right hander called Fiiti. Yesterday morning I dawn patrolled it, surfing
4-6 ft perfect barrels, sheet glass perfection. I expected the line up to fill up with agro Huahine locals at any moment, but by 9am, 3 hrs later, i was in probably my 25th deep shack, still ACE OUT. After that it got a bit busy, I went back to shimmi, ate most of the baguette on board and kept an eye on the lineup with my binocs. Our anchorage is about a kilometer north of this pass called Avapehi, the wave is at 16deg43.467S by 151deg02.956Ws. With my binocs I can just make out the wave in the distance. Then suddenly, at about 2.30pm I could not see anyone in the lineup. So I grab my board, sped over there in the dingy and surfed myself stupid for another 2-3 hrs, ACE OUT again. And this my friends, is a class wave. Its like Kalk Bay reef going right, only about twice the length.
Basically a back door barrel on take off, then space for a big hack, then it sets up for a mutant barrel as it squares up to the reef. You can surf it at any size, the small ones are as much fun, its a swell magnet, a lot of waves come through constantly, you spend most your time surfing or paddling back. Weird paddling back after a long shack to see the rest of the set bomb through with NO ONE on it. Although in my mind you were all there surfing with me. Halfway through this session i misjudged an inside barrel, somehow got my leg wedged amongst the four fins of my board, lots most of the skin on my right shin. But what a day! This morning i dawn patrolled it again, basically same script as yesterday, a bit smaller, I got a bit cocky, pulled into a dodgy barrel on the inside section (should have just kicked out), got myself nicely punished on the reef. Not much skin left on my left arm from elbow to wrist. Too much blood this time so I had to get out, some fat pieces hanging out. "Fishfood" as old Mentawai legend Moose once told me. But what a trip to surf such epic waves on one's own? How often does that happen these days. Then again, if you hunt for surf in remote parts of the globe, its bound to happen sooner rather than later. All I can say is THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
Now lets talk about Chantal. She has been claiming Fare left (south side of Avamoa Pass, 16deg42.719S by 151deg02.755W), this wave runs along the pass right next to our anchorage. Its a long tropical version of E-Lands Bay with lots of fast and slow sections, a few shacks and loooong paddle backs.
But a relatively mellow wave by Tahitian standards. Chonny has just completed her third session, having backdoored plenty bombs and carving extravagant turns along the length of this long point break wave. She is stoked and smiling! Because of the quality of the right hander where I surfed, almost no-one other than intermediate types surf Fare left, so its empty most of the day. Not a bloody soul in sight. So ladies and gentleman, for once we are not complaining!
I have started educating myself on Fiji, which is our next stop. Our plan is still to leave French Polynesia from Maupiti on 17 June, so we should be in Fijian waters by late June/early July. We are going to focus on the southern part of Viti Levu and the famous Frigates Pass which is off Yanuca island just south of Viti Levu (Frigates is at 18deg26.487S, 177deg57.112EAST). South of Yanuca lies Kadavu Island (19deg09.559S,
177deg58.582EAST) which has good waves, not sure where. Note that the longitude is EAST, not WEST, as Fiji is on the other side of the dateline.
So any info about Fijian waves and good anchorages would be much appreciated. We don't have internet, so its hard to do research, especially with google earth being such a handy tool.
