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LENA ERDIL – STORY OF THE DAY

13/12/2016
by

Sometimes in the rush of everything that is happening I forget just how extraordinary these experiences are!! So here goes my Hookipa story of the day.


Words
 Lena Erdil  //  Action Photos  Jimmie Hepp


It was 3.6m weather I was super overpowered, over mast high sets were rolling in all the time, gusty and choppy so all in all really challenging conditions ! I actually sailed some of the biggest waves of my life again, as even a not massive day in hookipa still has some massive sets and i guess after all those massive swell days of the past week my eyes somehow got accustomed to seeing this size… Towards the end of this challenging but equally rewarding session I unfortunately ended up on those slippery gnarly rocks for now already my 4th time !!

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Swimming in the channel, I got separated from my kit while being washed by the foam, at that point its each for its own (the kit and me) both somehow trying to get to dry land unscratched… For me that means holding onto the rocks when the current pulls out, so that you don’t get sucked back and trying to float in towards the beach over the rocks with as little contact as possible when the waves push you in… At the end of this float and hold session you can start walking on the wet slippery rocks and finally climb onto some dry warm once..

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This is the point where, whilst I was still catching my breath, thinking that i had finally made it to safety and to some extent mentally high-fiving myself for having made it totally unscratched, I’m looking at whereabouts on the rocks my equipment has ended up and of course I’m trying to get a scope of the potential damage. I can see my kit – it ‘s in one piece and in a good place so I start climbing towards it, but this is the moment where thinking it is just another rock i almost stepped onto the most ginormous monk seal ! He was so perfectly camouflaged exactly the colour of the big Hookipa rocks, that i only realised what it was when i saw it’s head which was the size of two times my head! In shock and surprise my natural reaction was to start screaming like a little girl, full pitch.. in return the seal looked at me, eyes and mouth wide open flashing its teeth and starts growling at me full pitch like a lion! This made me scream even more and I was now screaming, stumbling and climbing in any direction away from the seal, who i believed, at least for some split second was actually going to come after me..

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Luckily i think he decided that this screaming girl wasn’t worth the effort of moving his gigantic body away from his tanning spot in the sun, but he did keep starring my way to make sure i was getting away … For me, who by this point had put enough rock length between me and the giant seal it was the moment where i could start laughing at my own ridiculous reaction, and it was time to go fetch my equipment off of the other part of the rocks… I will definitely remember the moment of me and the seal looking each other in the eyes both screaming, the image i have of this moment in my head is too funny!

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