The Best Surf of My Life, Twice in One Day! | Kieran Pollitt in JBay

Before the start of this trip, I had only surfed a handful of waves. I could get up and ride a wave but had so much to learn. In Cape Town, I was getting out to the back line at Muizenberg and getting some relatively long rides. At Plettenberg Bay, we surfed a more powerful and heavier wave which on more than one occasion resulted in a humbling experience for us all to remember the true power of the waves and how the ocean should be respected.

I started connecting the dots in Plett

From Muizenberg to Plett and finally arriving at JBay I had definitely noticed a significant improvement in my surfing, however the opportunity to improve when we arrived at JBay far exceeded that of the previous locations.  I had heard numerous stories in the first three weeks or the trip about the surfing potential in JBay, and it most certainly didn’t disappoint. JBay is a world renowned Mecca for surfers, and whilst there I had the opportunity to spend long days in the water and there’s no place I’d rather be. The long open rides provided the perfect opportunity for me and everyone in the group to improve every aspect of our surfing.

The endless lines for our lesson right outside our accomodation

The day I surfed Supertubes

The surf up until this day hadn’t been the most satisfying, and we were all eager to get in the water with the conditions forecast to start picking up. We headed down to the beach, warmed up and paddled out to Kitchens with our surf instructor and South African team coach, Etienne. The waves were pumping and we were all frothing to catch some waves. This day at Kitchen’s it felt like the pieces were falling into place as turns and cut backs were getting easier to incorporate into my rides, throwing two or three turns into my best waves and cutting back to the power to make them longer rides. This had been the best surf of my life with some of the best rides as well.

Soon it would be me, staring down the gully to the worlds best right hand point break!

Jarred and Luke were going to check out Supertubes around lunch time and had said to myself and a couple of others that we could bring our boards along with us if we felt up to it. I was unsure as to whether or not to take my board as this wasn’t just any wave. This was one of the best right-hand point breaks in the world. But I had nothing to lose from packing it and ‘I’d rather do something and regret it rather than regret not doing something’. We loaded in the van and headed down the road ten minutes to Supers, it gave me a chance to think about whether I could go through with this. The opportunity was there and of course, I wanted to be able to say I had surfed it but at the same time, I wasn’t sure if I was ready for the challenge. I was also hesitant since Jay had already said that out there you would be on your own, no coaching, maybe a bit of advice out there but that was it.

My coach; Jay, turning the window wipers on at Supers

We arrived, opened up the van and looked out at what was a respectively small Supers but still three to four feet waves. The wave peels perfectly from right to left and is something special to see in person for anyone who has watched the pros surf this wave. It also happened to be empty, no locals, no one in sight – something I’d learned is pretty much unheard of. Standing there I felt apprehensive and doubted whether I could surf a wave like this. I went to Jarred and asked if he thought I would be able to do this, as I felt that out of everyone he would know my ability best and what I was capable of achieving. He gave me the green light and I suited up, trying to mentally prepare myself for what would come next. Walking down to the beach you follow in the footsteps of surf legends who have competed at this spot.

Luke and Chris traversing the keyhole at supers

We approached the gully (keyhole) from where we would enter the water. We had to traverse the rocks which were covered in mussels and barnacles, making the walk sharp and uncomfortable. To get out to the line up you have to wait for a lull on the rocks and then paddle hard. The shore break is powerful and if big enough and you are poorly positioned can throw you on the rocks as I found out, scraping my feet and back. This stress was exacerbated when my leash became trapped around a rock and I had to lie on the rocks to try and release it whilst getting pounded by the oncoming waves. With relief, I managed to release it after being hit by three or four waves. In between the next two waves I moved further down the gully where I tried to find a rock to stand on to jump over the oncoming white water which felt like a barrage, throwing my board over the top of the wave and scrambling to find the rock again before the next wave came. The physical struggle against the waves was equally matched by mental battle to keep persevering despite the feeling like the waves were never ending, at the time I was close to telling Jay I couldn’t do this, but I pushed this doubt to the back of my mind and committed to it.

The calm finally came as the waves subsided and we made our move. As I started to paddle out Jay pushed me to get me through the oncoming wave and get me over the peak, he did this once more and I managed to make it out to the line up. I was exhausted and took my time to recover, but I had eventually made it out and was sitting at Supers. After a short rest, we paddled over to the best spot to catch waves, in line with the stairs. The line up was clear, no one else apart from us, it was a private session at Supertubes. Having only been there once I feel I probably underestimated it

Finally in the line-up

The first wave came and I paddled hard, as there were no locals, Jay was able to give me a push onto the wave to ensure I caught it. I committed and shot down the wave, the speed was incomparable to anything I had surfed before. My thoughts were occupied solely with focusing on trying not to fall or get closed out, this focus took over and used my rails to generate speed to eventually make it to the end. At this point I let the board shoot out of from under my feet as I collapsed backward in a state of euphoria, all the while the TTR group on the beach had been cheering me on. It is one wave I will never forget. I’d done it, I had ridden SuperTubes and survived.

Up and riding at Supers!

From there onwards, I managed to catch a few more waves but missed a few bombs because I wasn’t fully committed and I was scared to take the waves, one of which was probably one of the bombs of the day. Following this, I was frustrated as Luke and Jay were sacrificing waves they could have taken to give to me. There came a lull in the waves for 15-20 minutes before the better sets started to roll through.

Then I caught the best wave of my life. One of which I raced down the face of the wave to the bottom and back up and kept low. As this happened, I could hear Luke and Jay shouting “Barrel” at me. At the time I wasn’t sure if they meant that I was about to get hit by the barrel or catch one, so I just kept riding the wave out.

As I came out the other end of the wave I was so ecstatic, I looked back to the beach to see the whole TTR group cheering me on once again. I caught my last wave in and paddled, exhausted, down to the gully further down the beach, I got out with more ease than I had getting in, and was greeted by Luke and Jay, who were both as stoked as I was. We approached the group and it felt like I was enveloped by their support, hi-fives, hugs, fist bumps. I was overwhelmed by everyone’s response to my surf and how genuinely excited everyone was for me. I had taken the risk, overcome the challenges and been rewarded with the best and most memorable surf of my life. A wave I never would have thought it possible that I could have surfed prior to surfing it.

Stoked!