KAI KATCHADOURIAN: TRIPLE STRIKE MISSION, CABO VERDE

With instinct, experience, and a dedicated crew, Kai Katchadourian recounts three unforgettable strike missions to Cabo Verde, where perfect waves, legendary sessions, and a deep love for the sport define his season.

Photos: Ayrton Dias, Tozat Photography.

LA NINA

Kai Katchadourian: “Weather patterns are what they are, patterns. Being able to decipher and interpret the signs nature is giving us is crucial to being able to successfully hunt down the best moments we can find to make a planned strike.

Once the Northern Hemisphere season began in early October of last year, Ho’okipa did send some signals. We had a solid Aloha Classic, but with challenging conditions and not always perfect.

This gave way to what the experts had foreseen. A La Nina pattern. This sent my immediate attention away from the Pacific Ocean realms, and a well-trained watch on the Northern Atlantic began and Cabo Verde, my go to spot for the past 29 years was in the focus. Again.

Well aware that keeping eyes on both oceans was a must, and also certainly motivated and very fortunate to make the most of a very kind offer to stay in front row Kuau on Maui, thanks to Dawn and JP Pooley, (Thank you again you two) it was important to make it count.

This was a very delicate scenario, made absolutely more difficult by my long time forecasting tool the FNMOC becoming classified again.

Flying nearly blind in this situation made it almost a scenario where one relied on instinct.

STRIKE 1

End of November, the first signs were there. Strong trade winds on Maui well past the due date for Winter. Time to fly back to Finland and get my boys Kian 13 and Owen 10, to return to 5-star Maui, experience for a few weeks and celebrate Christmas in California.

First however was the convenient appearance of a solid set of swells for Cabo Verde. Mission #1. Keep in mind, I leave my gear on the island and had absolutely everything at my disposal upon arrival. 99 litre board, 5.0m and 5.3m, and a priceless quiver of surfboards by Stretch. I flew in with a backpack and a harness.

A lot of classic surfing on that trip, with none other than Lord Phil Bennett, a long time Cabo Verde resident and strike mission partner, has seen it all that is for sure.

Mission #1 did have a sneaky scenario. An alternate swell direction had turned the focus on another part of the island, and Phil and I stole an empty session at Ponta Preta, mast high, about 8-12 kts float and ride, knowing the 99 Flywave was the ticket in the early season, which it was. The wind kicks in more around January.

I chalked it up and left after less than a week. Felt strongly about another mission happening. Upon the continuation of this delicate act of trying to be in the right place at the right time, it did seem I was on fire in that aspect.

Maui turned on in historical fashion, for my boys a lifetime memory of seeing Peah’i at enormous levels, possibly some of the biggest waves ever seen, was very impressive.

That swell followed us to California and Mavericks also saw its day of days.

STRIKE 2

January arrived and my focus again was to score any conditions in Cabo Verde as soon as possible.

Right on cue a Swell pattern emerged looking somewhat more significant. This was tricky, flying from California, to Finland, to drop the boys off with Mum, and begin the second strike.

With me were some new Stretch boards and a few new sails, most notably my new Simmer Style Evoq. A bit more low-end than my usual Blacktip, and in the bigger sized 5 batten profile, which would prove very beneficial later onwards.

Once again Lord Phil and I formed a strike mission team, only this time under rather unfortunate circumstances as Phil had just survived a serious head on car wreck. His trusty truck was totally destroyed. He had escaped with injuries, but not life threatening, thankfully.

Much more Windsurfing on Mission #2, Alibaba, and Ponta Preta on the menu, and to the delight of us all, not that crowded.

DEVELOPMENT

STRIKE 3

Once that short mission was over it would have been understandable to call it a season, yet a lingering sense of unfinished business kept my focus on any forming favourable pattern.

Cabo Verde went into a very strong wind mode, with minimal swell at times. Then it happened. On the long-range charts, what looked like a back-to-back pattern, or even further emerged.

Right away another veteran Cabo Verde Strike mission partner, Simon McGee messaged me ” I am heading down, booked my tickets, what are you doing?”

Holding off on making any quick decision, and well aware that long range charts can be deceptive, the stare down began. The outlook kept improving.

Without hesitation, a one-way ticket was the call. Let us see how long this pattern lasts and adjust accordingly.

What the next 12 days consisted of, was a historical rally of sustained conditions met by a dedicated crew of chargers from around the globe. Four separate swells graced the coastline, and these images tell the story that our completely blown minds cannot.

All the spots, Ponta Preta, Alibaba, Fontana, Curral Joul, and more, had their moments, many times we sailed all those spots in a single day.

Simon and his son Jack were gracious enough to house me the entire time. We were witness to several incredible moments, doing our best to fit the surfing in amidst the peak winds of February.

Ali Baba at one point did connect all the way from the Tree to the Launching spot, 1KM long. I made two waves all the way, my Norwegian friend Terje Tuft, made one all the way also and we were super amped!! It is a rare thing to be able to do, a lot of things have to align.

Simon has decades of experience here; it shows with every ride. A true connoisseur of the finest Cabo Verde has to offer.

It was clear to us that we were witnessing something truly special yet again, in what has become my favourite place to wave sail for almost three decades now.

Watching these breaks happen on the levels we were witnessing left us in the usual awe, with a sense that our years of experience was also coming into play as we simply could not miss and were on all the sessions right when we needed to be. Things were working perfectly there, and our usual trusty Ayrton Dias of Tozat Photography had done it again, offering a unique perspective of these well celebrated waves. It was nice to see the song remains the same.”

CRITICAL MOMENT

Things came to a peak on February 22nd, at a spot so consequential it reminded us that perfection is deceptive to inherent danger.

It was also 12 years ago to the day when historical Alibaba occurred. Many who were there that day also were out on the water, as well as a lot of riders who were on hand for the first time.

Phil at this point had thankfully mostly recovered from the accident, but he had a scary wipe out on his first wave of this session.

I watched Phil drop in way too deep……….only to see him get fully smoked by the white water.

After shaking that off, he rebounded to have a most incredible session along with Simon, and myself, and many travelling wave sailors who joined us, even Pros Leon Jamaer, Henri Kolberg, and Laurin Schmuth, all made it count, all catching some stunning rides with aggressive, precise riding. Noah and Josh Angulo, my usual sailing partners, were only on some select sessions as well this season, keeping the continuity going and the stoke flowing.”

KAI KATCHADOURIAN

“Victor Fernandez is now a local Cabo Verde rider as he spends much of his Winter season here, and busy as he was, always stoked to be riding with cutting edge levels and pure stoke. The crew of travelling and local riders worked well generally the line ups were in harmony.

We all celebrated this moment together, all the moments of this long run of conditions combined to make this a true classic we will always remember.

As we all began preparations to leave, it was clear this was a classic run, and who knows? There is still March and April……”

SIMMER STYLE