There’s nothing like coronavirus to force one, well almost all of us, to stop. Yes, just stop right there, think about the future, think about the past, and of course settle in the present moment. For me, as I slowly sort through my 256GB worth of photos and videos on my phone and delete them, it takes me on my own journey of what I have been up to in the past 12 months. It takes me off to amazing places that I got to explore.
Setting up and running the Banyaks boat trip was definitely something completely different. It’s funny these days how so many people want uncrowded perfect waves, but then aren’t prepared to go on the adventure to actually get those waves! There are a lot of keen surfers out there, who all want uncrowded perfect waves with easy access to an airport so they’re hard to come by. Enjoy the adventure and the risk (the ocean may not deliver your dream swell) of going on that adventure to get those waves! Unless of course you own your own island with a perfect reef out the front and your own plane to get there, then you are sorted!
After a flight, a long taxi ride, the hottest meal you’ve ever eaten (the waiter asked us how spicy on a scale of 1-10 and said he can’t handle above 3), then a quiet night at a homestay in the middle of nowhere, a couple of hours on small speedboats, we made it to our home for the next 10 days. What seemed like ‘a mission’ rapidly was long forgotten as we set off in the boat in between untouched beautiful islands with palm trees and not a soul in sight. Half an hour into the boat ride we lost phone signal, for the next 10 days. That was it, we were offline, stoke levels through the roof, waxing up our surfboards and frothing at every possible wave we saw from behind.
I won’t go into details, but we had an epic crew on board the boat, the boat staff were brilliant, food was simple yet amazing, everything about the trip was just special. We didn’t get big waves, and in that regard one would say we ‘got skunked’ yet we still surfed 6 hours a day, mostly with no one out, and had the best trip of our lives! I highly recommend a no phone/signal trip with good people and surf at least once a year! The second trip ran was just a few weeks after ours, and they scored all time swell the entire time they were there, pretty sure they had an epic trip too!
In the past we had always just run our Indo trips in ‘early season’, but last year we ran trips throughout the season for the first time, which worked as a great success. It did mean however that the South Africa September trip came around really quickly! The South Africa trip is where it all started for Ticket to Ride, back in January 2007, where the founders ran the first trip with the assistance of Tim Conibear (who later founded of Waves for Change) and myself. To be honest, in my involvement since then not a great deal has changed from that original trips! Yes sure, there have been refinements and adjustments, but the basic structure is very similar, and people absolutely love it. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!
Mozambique however, which follows on after the 10 week South Africa trip, has had a slightly different journey. The first Mozambique trip was run on our third year of operating in South Africa, and back then Mozambique was still largely unexplored by surfers. This has changed as more South Africans have ventured across the border chasing the dream of endless uncrowded sand-bottom points. Then the International Pro surfers started to fly straight in chasing “the African Kirra” after Jordy Smith made it famous in the first “X Games” for surfing in 2013, skip to 40 seconds in below.
Since then we have kept adapting and adjusting the trip, to keep it as remote as possible, and a 4*4 adventure which is what Mozambique was always about! The magic of Mozam is a blog on its own, but let’s just say that for every single person I know who has been there, either with TTR or friends on their own, every single one has loved it and either wanted to or has been back. It’s got some African magic to it that is hard to describe, but there may be a common theme with the boat trip, where life slows down in Mozam, and gets simplified. You read more books, have good conversations, surf until you’re too sunburnt, eat amazing fresh food, nap in a hammock generally feel revitalised!
This last trip I did in November was very specific though, it was to a location I had been to before, but that we were staying at for longer and longer on the trips to maintain that adventure and exploration which was our original theme for Mozam. And I was quite simply blown away. “There isn’t much to do there besides surf”, quite quickly turned into “are we leaving already?”. Yes, we got waves, and no there wasn’t anyone out except us. No, it wasn’t firing barrels, and yes, it was absolutely magical!
Now for those who were following my travels, you may have noticed that I skipped out something rather important there, my first ever trip to Sri Lanka. My friend Max had been telling me about Sri Lanka for years, and with us running trips there I really wanted to go but just couldn’t justify it. This all changed with the opening of the Ticket to Ride Surf House, so I finally got to go and get a taste of Sri Lanka, and I was blown away. I started off in Arugam Bay where I was coaching at few professional surfers at an event, then drove 8 hours by tuk-tuk with Max down to Ahangama where the surf house was being set up. It was a non-stop couple of weeks setting up, but I loved everything about Sri Lanka (well I’m not sure about loved the waves, but they were a lot more fun than I anticipated). I was there to help set up the Surf Coaching area, and I’d do anything to be able to coach with the set up (from surf equipment to coaching lounge with big TV etc) that Nikita and David have over there! I’ll let Max tell you more about the TTR Surf House though.
Come January this year and it was time for the creme de la creme 10 or 13 week South Africa experience. Non-stop surfing and really getting to know South Africa. With local guides and coaches as well as a network developed over years, it’s just a straight forward incredible journey, both externally up the coast of South Africa from Cape Town up to Durban, as well as an internal journey facing the challenges of surfing as well as the journey of life. As I don’t run the actual trips these days, I just get snippets by following the Instagram stories, chatting to the trip leaders and the photos that the trip leaders send to me. Here are a small collection of Dan Wilson’s favourites.
It was as this South Africa trip was drawing to a close and we were about to start a full Mozambique trip, that things started changing very rapidly with the Coronavirus. As you all know, it changed quickly and before we knew it borders were starting to close and airlines cancelling flights. Fortunately everyone managed to get off safely and the plans of the Mozambique trip ahead became unfinished dreams. The world will look very different after all this I have no doubt, but one thing I know for sure, is that I want to explore more, it’s worth it every time.