GAME ON
I checked the forecast straight away and saw a solid stretch of northwest wind predicted for the northern North Sea just two days later. I called Manu to check if he’d be ready for a spontaneous drive. Next morning I had my car filled with gear, food, blankets, my girlfriend and a tent. We collected Manu around lunchtime in Kiel, on the way up north from Hamburg to the ferry port in Hirtshals on the northern tip of Denmark. We took the 3-hr. ferry in the evening and arrived just after midnight in the small town Kristiansand.
I’ve been to Norway a few times, mostly to hit the spots on the stretch of coastline between Egersund and Stavanger, but I knew of another place on the southern tip of Norway. A point break that I’ve sailed before in a solid swell and a strong northwesterly. Last time it was almost too big, as the right-hander connects with an evil left that breaks straight onto a rocky harbour jetty when the wave gets over mast high. When it’s midsize, it’s one of the best waves I’ve seen in the North Sea. The wave jacks up over and right in front of some solid boulders and forms a fast and clean right-hander that allows two or three powerful frontside turns.
This time the forecast showed the perfect wind direction, my only concern was that the wind and waves were forecast to arrive more towards the end of the day and that the surf didn’t really have a massive fetch. Around 1:30 a.m. we found a little place off the road for the tent and we all fell asleep pretty quickly. Next morning we woke up in scenery that reminded us of the Lord of the Rings epics. We grabbed some ridiculously expensive coffee and croissants locally and had breakfast in the morning sun at the water’s edge of a beautiful Fjord. An hour later we got to the spot. A few locals slowly crawled out of their vans and checked the waves, but then quickly turned their attention to us and the massive tripod and camera Manu started to mount next to my car.