At one point as I bobbed about out at sea, an enormous set appeared on the horizon. I was a long way out and thought I was well clear of any trouble. Pons was 50 metres ahead and as the set neared, it suddenly dawned on me the potential bad times ahead. When I saw Pons scrape over the mast and a half high feathering lip I knew I was in for a beating. Using my Maui learnt technique I catapulted the sail forward, sinking the mast as deep as I could and clinging to my boom for all I was worth. The wave unloaded straight onto my head, but thankfully being so far out it was not the same heavy, dredgy, sucking peak, but a somewhat more amicable bomby style beating.
Luckily I could hold onto my gear and even more luckily there was nothing too threatening behind, but it certainly had the heartrate lifted to new levels! As time went on, we both moved closer to the peak and the wave was just unbelievable. As it hit the reef, it lined up perfectly giving 2 or 3 turns on a fast and perfect wall, then gave just enough space to escape before slamming itself into the rocks. I saw Pons having some amazing turns and by the end of the day we were pushing each other closer and closer. Eventually the inevitable happened with a late hit getting punished heavily and worst of all putting me back on the inside in the shadow of El Roque. By this point I didn’t have the energy to fight back out, so reluctantly I called it a day. Anyway, with the forecast for the next few days the same, this was just the warm up.
The following day the word had spread and we were joined by World Champion Philip Koster. Unfortunately however the wind was refusing to blow. Despite a windier forecast, the direction was a fraction too offshore and it was literally glassy. Philip grabbed his sup and caught some bombs, whilst I grabbed my 98L beast to give it another go. Philip’s choice proved to be the best as Pons and I returned to the beach empty handed, with no waves to count and a lot more swimming.