ULI HÖLZL
“I had already spent four weeks on Mauritius, when I saw this huge swell showing up on the forecasts. Until then we had windy conditions, swell wise it was not the best year. So I was definitely waiting for big One Eye, but unfortunately I was supposed to go home on exactly the day the swell was arriving….Klaas Voget was there as well and he had already predicted my response – ‘’Hey Uli, I know you, you will stay here, you just cannot go home with that forecast’’. Well, he was right. I changed my ticket once more!
On that day I was on the beach early. It was huge. Nobody was out there. A lot of dust was in the air from the white-water. The swell was southerly, so One Eye was breaking really nicely. Huge walls, maybe some of them double mast high, breaking fast, rolling perfectly from Chameaux to the little One Eye channel, and not closing out. But getting out there seemed to be the challenge.
The big channel was closed. There was so much water moving, the inside was like a river. Although there was no wind yet, there were whitecaps in the lagoon because of the current. Two local kiters were the first ones heading out. They had the big advantage of being able to go straight over the reef and keep on planing. They looked so tiny on the huge waves!! Although the wave was peeling perfectly, it was clear how fast it was breaking when I saw the kiters just going straight down the line of these huge walls. I was still in doubt about going out. My biggest worry was passing the channel as the sets were breaking so far outside. If I would have had a problem out there, nobody would ever see me to make a rescue possible, nor was I sure if the boats would even make it out there. But as always, I had this inner urge to go. I wanted to ride one of those beauties, be part of this spectacle of nature.