Explorations 2
Carve Travel Special Issue 59

Surfers are adventurers, fuelled by a search for utopia.
Sam Bleakley

Explorers
In Joseph Conrad's semi-autobiographical Heart of Darkness, the main character Marlow goes on what turns out to be a terror-stricken journey to uncharted territory in Africa. Conrad, a seaman and great traveller, says through his character Marlow: “I had a passion for maps. I would look for hours at South America or Africa, or Australia, and lose myself in all the glories of exploration. At that time, there were many blank spaces on the earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly inviting on a map (but they all look that) I would put my finger on it and say, 'When I grow up I will go there.'”

This was written in 1899; a century later, those blank spaces have been mapped. But for surfers there is another order of cartographic mystery, the location of quality surf. For travelling surfers, Conrad’s blank spaces equate with unridden waves, and every travelling surfer knows that there are still jewels to be discovered embedded in coastal rims.

Dangerous
Many surfers may never get much beyond their home break, but others are fuelled by a love of adventure and the promise of the perfect wave. Even if a long-haul surf trip results in less than utopian waves, there is the pay-off of the travel experience; new lands, experiencing new cultures and the buzz of the dangerous that made Conrad a sailor first and a writer second. Whether or not a southern landmass existed, or the earth was flat, or the Atlantic was navigable were issues that could not be resolved by anything other than direct experience. Human beings did not migrate from Africa to inhabit some of the most inhospitable places on earth because of overpopulation, but because of basic curiosity and desire for new experience.

In the past surfers did not have to travel to new waters alive with dangerous sealife and razor sharp coral beds, or sit in the middle of a humping ocean sucking over a dangerous reef miles out to sea. They had quality beach and point breaks that you could practically fall into from the parking lot or your beachfront apartment. But surfers continue to travel because they want to leave behind the crowds, polluted seas and fast food outlets for a brief taste of coastal wilderness and the promise of the unknown, spurred on by the quintessential image from 1964 of Mike Hynson and Robert August trekking over South African sand dunes in The Endless Summer to find Cape St Francis, the jewel in the crown.

The dedicated travelling surfer has a simple goal – great waves. But surf travel is also about humble acceptance of local culture. Recall the unforgettable footage of Hynson and August giving surf lessons to throngs of Ghanaian kids. World leaders could learn a lot from studying this footage – it has to be one of the greatest social icebreakers ever captured on film. No politics or false diplomacy, just the universal language of laughter. In contrast, travelling surfers sometimes represent a challenge to the cultures they visit, and this has to be handled carefully. When Alby Falzon took the experienced Rusty Miller and hot young surfer Steven Cooney to the East Indonesian island of Bali in 1970 they discovered that the Balinese considered swimming in the ocean a religious taboo. Uluwatu was “the place of the living dead” populated with evil creatures and unsettled spirits. To enter the water was sacrilege. Falzon could not find locals to help carry boards, a situation that now seems bizarre.

New spots
Sometimes, new spots are discovered and for good reasons are lost in the mists of time. This happened for example to the Australian surfer Peter Drouyn, who travelled to previously uncharted surf spots on the coast of China in the 1970s, but did not take a decent photographer with him. Drouyn came back with fabulous tales of great surf, but no evidence for the magazines. Falzon, on the other hand, published Tracks magazine in Sydney, and came back from the Balinese “discovery” with front-page news and an iconic photograph of Cooney on an Uluwatu peeler. Overnight, Indonesia became for Australian surfers what Hawaii had become for Californians.

The recent release of The Far Shore, chronicling a 10-year odyssey throughout Central America, Africa, Europe and Fiji, has rekindled the travel spark in many souls. Kevin Naughton recalls the positive response from the first screening of the film in Ireland: ”A few months later I showed another version of the film to a group of surfers in Tavarua. I thought they’d be bored to tears because of the lack of hardcore surf footage, but the reaction was incredible. That’s when I realised that it speaks to people on different levels. It’s gratifying to see how surfers identify with the hardcore travel theme and say, “Yeah, that‚s what it’s really about”‚ and how non-surfers nod appreciatively and say, “So that’s what it’s about!”

Sometimes, you can discover‚ unridden waves in your backyard. Every so-called surf spot was of course once unridden. So we can think of travel not just as an exotic adventure to far-off cultures. Think of surfers the world over once checking out a local reef break but not daring to paddle out, until one day somebody plucks up the courage and the spell is broken. The history of the discovery of British reef breaks follows this pattern. CARVE talked to a number of surfers who recollect how some now famous breaks in Europe and around the world lost their virginity, or, in many cases, resisted wooing and bit back.

SURF SPOT: Shooting Gallery, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands
DATE: January 1978
SURFER: Steve Daniels

“Tenerife was already on the main travel drag as a fairly cheap surf destination, but I was chatting with some German windsurfers who got me onto the idea of Fuerteventura. So I went with Alex Williams, but the only way we could get over there was in a Spanish army plane, flying from Tenerife's northern airport. Trouble was they couldn't take our boards because the small plane was loaded up with boxes of ammunition, machine guns and was full of soldiers. Luckily they flew the boards out the next day. We managed to get hold of a Renault 5 and went to Corralejo, which was just a sleepy idyllic village back then. (Only a year later real estate went through 400% inflation and the place was looking like Beirut; just a big building site). We surfed up the North Track, put a volcanic boulder right through the bottom of the car and scored empty, eerie waves everywhere. As far as I know we were some of the first to surf there. The best session was at Shooting Gallery. Alex was taking shots, so I was alone in this huge heavy swell with no idea what the reef was like.”

SURF SPOT: Porthleven.
DATE: Autumn 1965.
SURFER: John Adams.

Back in the 60’s John Adams and Mike Carr were the men about Penzance town. With John owning the best club in town (The Winter Gardens) and Mike, the best place for some groovy threads (Modern Man) the pair were often spotted roaming the coast during daylight hours in search of waves. As it happened, one day they found Porthleven!
“Back in 1965,” recalls John, ”the Williams brothers were the best surfers around and ran the surf club at Porthmeor. They were much better surfers than us, but never surfed the south coast. The thing was we had cars, so we used to cruise around with our Beatles haircuts looking for surf. Then we’d go back and meet them in the pub in St Ives and tell them about all the secret spots we’d found! One day we drove down to Porthleven and saw some waves breaking next to the harbour. We’d never actually seen a point break, but we’d seen pictures of them in the American magazines, so we went back and told the guys we’d found a point break. The Williams brothers were started grilling us about where it was, but we wouldn’t tell them! Anyway, after about six or seven weeks we thought we’d better go and surf it before they laid claim to surfing it first. So we, Mike Carr and myself, went in and surfed it, and then went back to the pub and told them where it was! I may not have ripped it apart, but at least I was the first one to surf it!”

SURF SPOT: Cloud 9, Philippines
DATE: October 1992
SURFER: John Callahan

Singapore based John Callahan is the modern day Magellan of Asian surf exploration, and as the first photographer to document much of the region, he is more aware than most of the “Philippine Factor” of frequent delays, unpredictable transport and gunshots. “Like the wild west atmosphere, there’s never a dull moment!” comments John, who considers the Philippines the antithesis to the heaven-on-earth surf safe experience represented by the likes of Tavarua in Fiji, or the increasing number of packaged surf “adventures”. Callahan’s virgin voyage in 1992 with Evan Slater and Taylor Knox and was blessed with pristine waves on Siargao. Their arrival on the island was pre-pier, so they were wading waist deep to shore with tons of gear on their heads.

“I could see the potential from the map, and coincided the trip with the typhoon swell season. It was really a shot in the dark, haggling to charter a boat to the island (which 16 extra Filipinos hopped on for a free ride). We came across a fast right when exploring the reefs in a crude 2-stroke dingy. Taylor paddled into the unknown, soon to be spat out of a twisting tube, to cheering and hooting!”

The cloud9 chocolate bars that refuelled the team after hors of mind-blowing crystal caverns in tropical dreamland took on such delicious symbolism that Callahan named the wave after them.

SURF SPOT: Secret Reef, South Wales
DATE: February 1974
SURFER: Dave Weight

“I had recently moved to Wales and met up with the Pembrokeshire Surf Club, and before long I was with Bob Rogers and Reg Goddard surfing a pretty remote secret beach break. They had all known me long enough to realise that I was sufficiently naïve and cocky to overestimate my ability and try something totally stupid, and I was yet to fully appreciate the Welsh sense of humour and appetite for mischief. The waves were about head high and clean, but I asked about a reef break I could see booming a quarter-of-a-mile out. “Oh, that’s easy!” said Reg, “We don’t bother going there, but you could handle it, no problem!”

“By the time the guys dared me to try it, I felt I had to give it a blast. It was an awesome sight from the channel. Big, heavy, deep slate-blue colour, menacing and explosive. The tide was way too low and the right was starting to break over dry rocks, but I did pick off a sketchy left. Despite the disappointing session and mickey-taking from all the boys, I realised that on an in coming neap tide the wave could really fire, but the difficulty was lining up so far out to sea. I returned a month later and made marker mounds from driftwood along the cliffs, so that a line projected right out through the peak. All the guys thought this was hugely eccentric and funny, but it did work and I had a great session on the rights. It’s still the most challenging, hollow wave I’ve ridden.”

UPDATE - this information was contested by a letter printed in CARVE 60:

Y-Bocs History Update
Just to put the record straight Dave Weight or 'Trigger' as we liked to call him was not the first to surf the infamous 'Y Bocs'. A few of us can remember surfing the beach at four foot and persuading Trigger to paddle out to the reef at low-tide, not a good idea, he paddled back a little later with shouts of "I could have been killed out there!" A Pembrokeshire Surf Club magazine dated 1973 claims that Martin James climbed over barbed wire, walked one and a half miles and paddled half a mile only to suffer a case of 'y-bocs-itis' and not catch a wave. Reg Goddard and Bob Rogers can remember surfing it before leashes, 1972? So who was the first? The consensus is that it would have been Bob, Reg, Paul Ryder and Mike Conlyn in no particular order. Now if you want to know why Dave's called Trigger...
Tim Harvatt

SURF SPOT: Anka Point, Morocco
DATE: December 1969
SURFER: Charles Williams

On a six month spiritual sojourn through Morocco characterised by the scent of saffron, mint tea, the taste of targenes and the memory of wearing jalavas, Charles Williams drifted around Tarhazoute surfing daily and living an almost Biblical lifestyle.
“It was a real test of your character.” says Charles, “We all surfed in the village at Hash Point and Panoramas, but each day I would walk up to Anka Point and watch the sets rifle along the sandstone slabs. Mesmerised by the wave I would wonder how I could ride these gems without getting smashed on the reef. (The realities of the pre-leash era.) So I had the idea to get some strong cord, drill a hole in the fin and fasten it to my ankle. As soon as I raced my first wave alone at the point I knew one day Ankas would be a world famous break!”

Morocco continues to be the source of many animated adventures. Steve Bunt remembers a southbound trip in search of desert promise in the early 70s. “Steven Jones had blind purchased an old CV from Tigger Newling, but when he got it back to Aggie we realised there were no brakes, no MOT, no nothing. We were leaving for Maroc the next day, so I said, "We'll have to take my 1960 Minivan". We loaded up the roof rack and boarded the 36 hour ferry from Southampton to Bilbao, but after the trip up we had a leaking petrol tank. Out at sea the captain of the ship found us on deck and said, "If you don't drain the fuel off we're going to have to throw your vehicle overboard for safety reasons!”

SURF SPOT: Thurso East, Scotland
DATE: August 1975
SURFER: Paul Gill

“In 1971 I visited Thurso on a Geography field trip, and after seeing surfing in California in 1966 I was fascinated with the thundering swell on the north shore. So in 1975 I went up to Scotland with Aussie friend Paul Hanning in his split-screen camper. You could see the exposure to swell on the map, but most of the Scottish surfers at the time were concentrated on the East Coast, riding more accessible spots like Pease Bay. There was a guy called Ron Gallagher who lived up north and we were surfing the Shitpipe together. I looked east and saw a perfect right barrel breaking across the bay. We surfed it the next day and it was like Mundaka in reverse. “You’re the first boys to put claim to that one,” said Ron the next evening.”

SURF SPOT: Secret Left Point, Liberia, West Africa
DATE: March 1975
SURFERS: Craig Peterson and Kevin Naughton

Craig and Kevin’s travels have always been fuelled by every surfer’s daydream: perfect uncrowded waves (a search excellently documented in The Far Shore). One of Craig’s best memories is: “Walking up a series of points in West Africa in the hot, dry sun, board under arm, just wondering if that perfect wave was around the corner.
There were several times when I thought I was going to lose it in Africa, each time more extreme than the previous with downward spirals into a total loss of self, far from what I knew to be normal social behaviour. The 'heart of darkness' stuff does happen!”

“Life on the road is rife with hazards,” remarks Kevin. “Fortunately, we were too young and naïve to know any better! My guardian angel was working overtime, but the sense of freedom, of being on the road on a great adventure was a powerful sensation, a wild time. Even though the waves we were able to discover and ride were often very satisfying, we had visions of finding the mythical point, a la Cape St Francis of The Endless Summer, Maybe even better. The act of getting to these remote places was so arduous and time-consuming that we didn’t get to surf nearly as much as we wanted. So at the time I don’t think that we really found what we were searching for. It wasn’t until much later when we could put the trips into perspective that we actually realised how fruitful our travels had been and how lucky we were!”

Satisfaction

For the grommet without transport, a lift up the coast with your elder sister’s mates to a new and challenging spot is a true surf adventure. Travel and discovery is a relative experience. But what drives us all is the inquiring soul, the desire for new experience, the sense of anticipation, especially when danger is thrown in. For surfers, it is not enough to say that the journey is what is important, rather than the destination, because the quality of the waves is the goal. Whether the travel is a commercial shoot, an exotic contest location, a soul journey with some friends, or that first trip up the coast to surf a new and more demanding break, we’re all doing the same thing that moved the first humans out of Africa; satisfying the spirit of adventure fuelled by curiosity and the desire for challenge. Even in the age of using the Internet to fully research our destination, the best travel involves a critical element of chance and discovery. So, if you can keep secrets, keep on searching.

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