WATERHOUND
Si Crowther: Hercules was a big deal here in the UK. Around a week before it hit, the UK had suffered big storm surges and high winds, flooding. Wind and sea damage was daily news. So when this bomb of a storm popped up on the charts, people were getting nervous and the UK was getting set to brace itself again. That’s when Kai’s email landed in my inbox. The call was for Cape Verde and it made perfect sense. I knew we needed to be on the fringes of this storm if we were to stand any chance of good wave riding conditions … it was on!
This was my first trip to CV. I wanted to be prepared for every shot opportunity, which means taking a lot of photo gear. This can make check-in tricky for me. All was well with the two cases I checked in. But then the clerk asked to weigh my hand luggage. Uh oh – that’s the bag that contains all my lenses and camera bodies – its HEAVY! 28 kg. it read on the scales. It took some sweet talk, I had to stuff cameras and lenses in my jacket pockets and wore my Canon 1DX and 300 mm. around my neck too, so they eventually let me on the plane despite their 7 kg. hand luggage limit. I was getting some very funny looks on the plane, but I was on my way!
Oh my God! The wave quality in CV is off the scale! I knew Punta Preta was good – the 2007 PWA wave tour event announced this to the world – what I did not expect is just how epic it was and how many other world class wave spots were all around us. CV is a serious playground for a water photographer. My attack on the incoming conditions was simple: