‘HOOPS’
Hoops has been a mate of Ben from when they both used to live in South Australia. And like many, came to Western Australia to windsurf and never went back. James was building his own boards for a long time before he developed the Nuevo boards for Starboard, under his own label Nude. A highly competent wave sailor in his own right, this was his first visit to Mauritius. He got to learn the set up of how things work the hard way, which is when you get caught behind the section it invariably means a trip over the reef, then the big tack up in the lagoon to come back around, or if there’s enough wind and it’s not too big, you can skizzle out through the channel. A channel is being generous in definition though, as it’s just a very small gap in the reef where all the water surges back out from the lagoon. You figure that one out pretty quickly after a couple of laps. James got it sussed though and got to savour the delights of warm water perfect reeling wave sailing perfection, but with a little bit more caution than the breaks at home. Made all the sweeter while winter in West Oz was at its dreariest.
JUMPING SESSION
This is where our ages became obvious, as we had to get airborne for JC for some jumping shots at little reef, which is basically straight out off the beach across the lagoon. Hoops was throwing down some old school cheese rolls, while I hoicked out a couple of ‘Grandpa’ style table tops, which must have been the first I’ve done for at least 5 years. Basically I rarely jump these days, unless there’s a primo ‘backie’ ramp which I can’t say no to. My titanium hip and shonky meniscus in my knee just doesn’t handle the stress. This may well have been the last tabletop I ever throw down. ‘Ya’ never know! But it’s funny how you don’t seem to forget how to do one, even after having not done them for so long. Ben still jumps a lot and he’s pretty darn good at it, but I don’t know why. He’s had more foot and ankle problems of anyone I know, but still does all kind of loops and contorted moves like Goiters when he is wave riding. Not so smart for a smart fella! But that’s the Beauty of Le Morne. You can mix it up with different types of sailing. There’s also the other wave out from little reef called Manawa, but I’m still to catch that any good. Every time I’ve gone there I’ve had a couple and thought bugger this, I’m going back over to One Eye.