I had lots of waves, but at the same time tried to not crash and destroy my only small rig on the rocks. When I came back to shore, happy and already completely exhausted, Julien Taboulet and Stephane Etienne were just getting ready. After a quick break I couldn’t resist to join them for a second session. This time I wanted to risk more and really hit the lip. Eventually, I found a wave that looked good for an air. Everything went as anticipated until the wind took me so far up into the air I completely lost orientation and let go. The waves behind cleaned me up and sent me straight back to shore. That evening we had a big dinner with Thomas and his family, Julien and the rest of the French gang and relived the day. There wasn’t much time for rest because the following days were still windy. Thomas’s foot felt better again and we had a lot more sessions, often having the waves to ourselves or, once in a while, being accompanied by one of the locals. After four days we were completely surfed out and our bodies aching for rest. We weren’t sad when the wind stopped as we then had some great days surfing. Fuerte’s north shore has a different spot every few hundred metres for all possible wind directions. I definitely want to come back as I think I have a good feeling for the wave now and can start pushing things a bit more, especially when it’s big. Sailing with Thomas and seeing his fearless yet safe and experienced approach in big waves is really inspiring and motivates me to sail more critically in big waves!
“Being by myself between mountains of water was unreal and it reminded me of those huge and fast open ocean swells in Hawaii”