Mr Ben Severne
As always, Ben was totally killing it. His sailing just gets better and better as he gets older and more in tune with his gear. Driven vert gouges, Goiters, 360’s, he does it all, and is one of my geriatric mates that’s still pushing hard with the froth of a grommet disguised as someone who’s developing and testing gear. Every part of his rig componentry is renowned for being head of the class and his board act looks like following suit. To be honest I was a little sceptical about his and James Hooper’s new stealthy looking project, ( The ‘Nano’) as I never really got on with their Nuevo, but the Nano pretty much blew me away, setting the bar pretty high for how good my new quads I’m trying to develop have got to be. The truth is Ben Severne is a clever bugger, and one of the few who’s maintained the delicate blend of work and passion, with not having or wanting kids being a big part of his plan. Thankfully also perfectly fine with his wife, Mrs Emma Severne. Who’s also a pretty understanding soul with Ben forever on some mission somewhere for either going sailing or sorting out some part of his product at the factory in China. He’s a little bit ‘schizo’, in that he comes across as super mellow and laid back, presenting his range at the dealer meeting whilst drinking a ‘tinny’ for example, but the truth is he’s intensely driven and a perfectionist. You could call him a paradox. But to simplify a complex character, as he puts it, he just likes to make ‘cool shit’ to make windsurfing ‘more fun’, and usually sails till one part of his body fails.
MAURITIUS CUISINE
When you have sailed to exhaustion, as we did each day, it’s a bit of a tack back to the beach and on most days, there was a pretty hefty wait at the food van. There were a couple of vans working the beach, but they seemed to work on roster, so your baguette or curries were always well appreciated by the time you got them. (Because it took bloody ages!) The food in Mauritius reflects the multi cultured layers of influence that exist between Indian / African and French / European tastes, quite often with a bit of fusion flair. There were quite a few restaurants around La Gaulette, but every night we kept gravitating back to Enso’s, as it seemed most people did. This was a local eatery owned and run by another windsurf ‘frother’, Rok Flanders. ‘Rok’ is a Slovenian who moved to Mauritius after using it as an off-season base from winning snowboard world cups and world championships. He’s come up with the right combination of bar, slash restaurant, which serves up the fresh fish available on the island along with a menu from someone who’s obviously travelled a lot and enjoys good food. He treated us to some entrees and desserts that were truly out of this world! Severne was always falling asleep every night from having sailed too much, but Carter and Hoops always egged each other on, having the one or two extra beers that we didn’t quite need. Typical Carter! Myself on the other hand opted for a vanilla infused flavoured rum that is quite typical of the island to finish off a night. Far more civilized!
“ All the other days pale into insignificance compared to these, with memories so much crisper as a result of the clarity of water, sky, waves, sun and wind ”