CONUNDRUMS
I often find myself endlessly weighing pros and cons before committing to a trip. Too many possibilities and options exist: starboard tack, port tack, hotel, bungalow, offshore, onshore, big waves, smaller waves, with or without wetsuit, travel by car or plane, around the corner or far away. It is hard to stay on track in this jungle of first world problems. Once there is a smaller selection of destinations, then the intensive research of magazines and the Internet begins. Whatever the global archives exhibit will be watched, read, compared and discussed with friends who might have been there before. One knows precisely what to expect and how the trip will turn out to be before even stepping a foot out of one’s own home. Hardly anyone ventures into the unknown anymore and, instead, returns to the same known places over and over again. The time of adventurers seems to have vanished and along with it the overwhelming moment that Gilles and his friends experienced when they saw the wave of Lavanono for the first time.
I get a call from a photographer whom I met during a contest in La Reunion a few years ago. My memories of Gilles Calvet, the insurgent who prefers to sail himself instead of taking pictures, are still bright and clear. He says he is planning a trip to Madagascar to rediscover a wave that he found many years ago and asks if I would be interested to come along. By instinct, I ask about the travel and get “long and difficult” in reply. My mind starts spinning and I overhear the gnashing of teeth on the other side of the line.