Monday, August 4, 2014

Curiosity can be a Cat Killer.

The anticipation of a swell in Nelson is what makes it one of the most interesting places to live as a surfer. Quite often I get " I dont understand why you love surfing so much and remain in Nelson".... or "Why dont you move down the west coast or to Kaikoura, they'v'e always got waves"...
It has lead me to the realise after residing here for just on 12 years now, that infact, sometimes the thrill of the chase is actually better than the kill itself.

Meeting at an undisclosed dairy under the cover of darkness you could almost smell the adrenalin of everyone as we proceeded to load the boat up with boards and wetties. The four of us, Skipper Mark Chamberlain, Joe Anderson, Jimmy Wright and myself,  would meet up with local Blenheim surfer Mike "Ratty" Lindstrom at the boat ramp at 7am and thats when our adventure would become reality......

Punching through some confused swell for a good half n hour as we left french pass we were told some crazy story about the tides there including one of a 6metre osprey boat nearly getting its nose pulled under whilst spinning in a whirlpool and as we passed a dead seal with giant teeth-marks in its side we were all starting to feel a little clammy. As we hit the open ocean swell and with our destination in site the awkwardness was pushed aside by pure stoke as we hooted and screamed as our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow shined brightly.


As humans we have a "need to know" complex and however hard it was to leave behind pumping waves at home we broke out of the mould for a day, went exploring and had a great time with absolute solitude.
Upon return to Nelson it was evident we had "missed" a great days surfing with reports of all local breaks firing it was a case of "damned if you do, damned if you dont".

I only ever wanted what I could never really have.



Words: Mark Nichols
Photos: Jimmy Wright



No comments:

Post a Comment

Just When you thought it was over someone grabs you by the cucumber 🥒

What’s really going on .....