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MACIEK RUTKOWSKI: BACK DOWN UNDER

After the final race event of the season in Japan, Maciek Rutkowski took the opportunity to take a small detour to Perth Western Australia before heading home. This was his first trip down under for 13 years and regardless of the driving involved he was determined to make the most of it!

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WAVE DETOUR

Every year after the racing season I try to go to some place with good waves. Most years it’s the highlight of my year and the further into the season (meaning the more time without seeing waves) the more I dream about it. The more competitive you are the more intense the emotions you go through when fighting for world titles, podiums etc. No matter how long and physically intense the season is, at the end of it I’m absolutely mentally drained. All you normally want to do is go home and rest. But this year I finally had an epiphany. We’re already in Japan. It’s half way to so many good wavesailing and surfing locations! Hawaii, Indo, Australia, New Zealand just to name a few! So….why go home and then fly all the way back across the world 2 weeks later (which is what I’ve done most years) when you can go direct.

EQUIPMENT OVERLOAD

The only issue, as usual, is the slalom gear. So, I booked a roundtrip to Tokyo and then a roundtrip Tokyo-Perth. It was a much cheaper option too, as the Tokyo-Perth bit was only 400 euros and pretty decent for excess too! Only pain in the ass? Gotta leave the 4 bags of slalom foil gear in Tokyo somewhere, and then pick it up and the way back west.

GNARLOO CALLING

Anyway, if you’re going to West Australia in November there’s one place you constantly check the forecast for – Gnaraloo. I know the locals are gonna hate me if they read me raving about it, but I feel like it’s very far from a secret spot having starred in like 5 windsurfing movies, countless magazine features (blame JC! Ha-ha), having a WindGuru forecast, being all over Instagram every Australian spring etc. And it’s an absolute mission to get to, 1100km from Perth, middle of the desert, need a van to stay in, no shop, no internet, millions of flies, sharp reef, the odd shark and full on Jeckyll and Hide wave – super playful up to logo high and absolute freight train of a barrelling beast above mast high.

So, I don’t see it getting Pozo crowded but who knows – I’ve been wrong before! Generally I feel like Australia has fallen off the windsurfing map a little bit. I’ve only been once before, in 2012 and remember a super vibrant scene with quite a few European pros visiting for the winter, a bunch of local contests with high level and very full car parks. Maybe it’s because I came early in the season, but even places like Coronation Beach which is an all level consistent windsurfing skatepark were pretty empty! And if there is a mini crowd it’s almost always tourists or foreigners that moved to WA. It’s insane how little actual local windsurfers there is in one of the best windsurfing regions in the world!

AUSSIE GUIDE

Anyway, upon landing (thank Premo for the pickup!), I got my Turo rent-a-car (which like an Airbnb app for cars – super useful!) and headed north for Geraldton. The first drive I’m buzzing, excited, so it flies by – Perth area, the Lancelin dunes, the red dirt full of iron ore on the side of the road – I’m taking it all in. Get to Geraldton, meet up with Paul van Bellen, who’s as good of a guide as it gets. He really wants to you to have the best possible time and shows the things he considers fun. And because he’s probably the person second most passionate about windsurfing on the planet right after me, we hit it off instantly, despite knowing each other only online, mostly from doing a few podcasts together. If anyone lives under a rock Paul’s comedy account on Instagram is pure gold, highly recommended.

GNARLOO BOUND

We organise ourselves for Gnaraloo Aussie style, which means turtle pace, chatting up every person we meet (which isn’t many in West Oz but still!) but making sure we enjoy every step of the way. Then have a fiery negotiation what time to set off. Despite the forecast being kinda mediocre I want to sail all day so I’m proposing 5am, Paul 8. We settle for 6, but actually leave at 7, so I floor it to make up for the Aussie’s faffing about. The forecast is only about 3 foot, but around 1pm we get there and it’s solid head high with some logo high sets. I hardly remember being this excited! Tombstones is as fun of a wave as I remembered from 13 years ago. At that size it’s the perfect speed and power for windsurfing, forgiving on timing, multiple sections which allow aerials, manoeuvres etc and if you crash you swim in 25 degree water.

FIRST SESSION

We sailed well over 5 hours and because there was enough wind to plane on the way out my wave count must have been close to a 100 that day. Due to all the slalom stuff on the way to Japan I could only take one wave board and wanted something that floats me so took the JP Ultimate Wave 101. I was really worried that in small waves I’m not gonna be able to bottom turn it tight enough or that when it gets windy it’s gonna feel massive… but I had the time of my life! That board is so easy and forgiving that even after not sailing proper waves for months I felt right at home from the first wave and could actually forget about the gear and just enjoy the conditions! I know I’m old and heavy but when conditions are so fun I turn into a total kid, trying stuff I have no business landing or even trying. Tweaked airs, takas, goiters… and the cool thing about Gnaraloo is that its the one place I might actually have a chance at landing some of it! I don’t know what it is, but it just somehow makes your windsurfing better, that place.

SUNDOWN

As the sun sets we come in and start raving about how fun it was. Paul has seen the place absolutely epic mast and a half barrelling but he either really enjoyed it too or doesn’t want to brake my enthusiasm. I suspect the former as he sailed all day just as I did. As a bonus we saw a few kangaroos and emus on the way back to the homestead. Waking up the next day to a smaller swell I admit I feel slightly broken. Seems that’s even more the case for the 47-year-old who doesn’t windsurf for a living so, I hear the one sentence I’d never thought I’d hear from any windsurfer: “I think I won’t go today I’ll film you instead”.

And so, the next 3 days pass with the swell getting smaller and smaller and the wind stronger and stronger until its starting to look like Fuerteventura during the Slalom World Cup. I’m sailing all day everyday, and Paul’s being more selective with the deteriorating conditions. Regardless, we leave with a ton of fun had and a bit of surprisingly good looking footage, given the conditions we filmed in. The drone just gives infinite options of positioning the camera, depending on the light, the wave etc. And Paul is able to fly so low he can also get the “beach angle”, just slightly better, because everything looks more dynamic, more 3D on a shorter focal length.

PERTH

I drop Paul off in Geraldton and continue to Perth, as my girlfriend is landing that night. Aussies generally avoid driving at night due to all the animals that just love crossing the road and causing crashes. Kangaroos seem to get attracted to the light and jump out from the bush last second to make sure you have absolutely no chance of avoiding them. So, after 4 days and a total of close to 20 hours of windsurfing, driving slow and alert for 11 hours might be the last thing you wanna do. But if you want to have a ton of fun windsurfing and not end up single sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

But guess what? A new swell was coming, so after cruising around Perth for a day we were on our way back up. This time the drive felt twice as long. We decided to make it as much of an adventure as possible so we stopped for sandboarding in Lancelin (which sadly wasn’t great for windsurfing that day, but can be super fun), had a fun little session in Coronation Beach, which on it’s day can be possibly the best place in the world to learn jumps, second maybe only to Pozo if you prefer small sails.

BACK TO GNARLOO

Off north with breakfast at the legendary Billabong Roadhouse, quick detour to Shark Bay and by afternoon I’m riding perfect waves at Gnaraloo again. This time solid mostly logo with the odd mast high set. It’s funny, there is this size (and tide) somewhere around mast high where the wave turns from a slow, open, super friendly windsurfing wave to a fast barrelling beast. And when you catch the swell out in the ocean you don’t really know if this wave is gonna be 3.4 or 3.7 meters on the face.

So, I can’t even count the amount of times I got closed out on and then the following wave slalom sailed down the face just to find I completely outrun it and then went slower on the next wave again to get closed out again. That was actually the trickiest day, despite in theory forecast looking the best! Philip Koster’s coach and caddy Jorge Vera was there and it seemed like his favourite thing to do was making me miserable. Every time I would crash a goiter he would be on the next wave and nail a perfect one, or two. The few times I’d sail out of a taka he would be on the next wave and nail a perfect air taka. He’s probably the best windsurfer no one really knows about. My fellow countrywoman Justyna Śniady was also there, selecting the best waves with her local knowledge (after living in WA for the last 10+ years) and somehow sailing in a 3/2 full-suit when I was boiling in board shorts!

HEAT WAVE

40 degrees on the thermometer meant summer was coming and it was time to head down south. Quick stop for another session at Corros (the Aussies are notorious for abbreviating every word possible: Coronation is Corros, McDonalds is Maccas, Tombstones is Tombies, Margaret River is Margies etc etc) with a massive bushfire in the background. We asked around and it turns out it’s mostly farmer’s controlled fires that get out of control that cause those. You’d think they’d know better then doing a controlled fire on a 40 degree, 30 knot day but apparently it happens few times a summer. Actually, the local legend and one of worlds most stylish windsurfers Jaeger Stone works as a firefighter now so I didn’t dare to ask him if he was going windsurfing that day.

It’s a shame I never got the chance to ride the other spots around Geraldton like Sunset or Spot X, but more often then not if there’s a swell around Gero (another Aussie abbreviation) it’s also good in Gnaraloo so knowing how good the latter is it would be pretty crazy to stay around to be honest!

CLOCKING UP THE MILES- MARGARET RIVER

Anyway another drive on the number 1 highway and I was nearing a total of 5000 kilometres on the trip. The 3-hour Margaret River drive felt like a trip to the supermarket. Except a pretty beautiful one. After Gnaraloo everything is green, but the Margies region is just next level in terms of nature. Everything is super raw, wild and BIG. The trees, the caves, the waves, the sharks too. Sightings are almost daily and despite a pretty solid warning system with helicopters patrolling the coast and alarm speakers on almost every beach you still don’t feel 100% at ease entering the water.

Luckily a windsurf board is pretty big and generally they won’t attack something bigger then them, but I love a good swim with broken gear so it’s always in the back of your head. Specially after that attack on a winger in Gwarabup, which is the next beach upwind of Margaret River Main Break, where the contest is and everybody sails. We didn’t really score anything great down there as spring tends to be still a bit more onshore and you really need it to be side-off to be epic, but it’s always fun windsurfing this incredibly raw and powerful wave. It doesn’t maybe look like much in the pictures, because it doesn’t barrel top to bottom but it might be heaviest windsurfing wave I can think of. And the bad news? There’s not much more to do than hit the lip there. You’re (or at least) not gonna try tricks you’re not sure you can land, turns are not the most fun thing to do, so you gotta hit it. And you better hit it perfect, otherwise you’re in for a long swim with Bruce in the back of your mind.

Who’s Bruce? That’s the question Federico Infantino dared to ask the locals first time after 3 years he moved to Margaret River. Every morning, they paddled out and kept asking each other “have you seen Bruce?”, “did Bruce say hi this morning already?” etc. So, after hearing this for years poor Fede finally asked who Brucey was. The answer? The bronze whaler shark that lives in the bay and is super friendly with the local surfers. Maybe that’s who put him up to eating the wingdinger..?

TOURIST MODE

Anyway the area is absolutely awesome for just being a cruisy tourist with loads of natural landmarks and possible activities, good food, even better wine. Happy wife happy life was way easier to achieve there then in Gnaraloo for sure, but this is a windsurfing magazine and I’ve babbled for ages already so I’ll save you the details. Over 6000 kilometres later and another epic barbie (grill not doll) at Premo’s in Perth we were reluctantly ready to leave. I’ve promised myself to travel to a new place every year, but I have a feeling I might break that rule for Western Australia. The mix of super fun windsurfing, super laid-back vibes, unique nature and great hospitality just makes me want to go back asap. Hopefully that’ll be sooner than 13 years this time!

 

 

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