NotiCEs - Critic

BLUE drAGoN
24
“Next minute we stop off and pick up Owen Wilson
and Woody Harrelson!” The two actors hung out in
the boat getting pissed while Hawke and the others
For Hawke, surf travel is about making his mark on the world
by chasing big waves and barrels. But it’s not all about the
surfing. “It’s about the adventure, the last-minute flights,
shuffling the money around, borrowing and begging when
the sponsors won’t pay, getting in the car or onto the plane
and being on your way to somewhere completely different
to everyone else’s everyday lives.”
He’s definitely got his fair share of crazy stories from life on
the road. One in particular involves a crazy trip to Hawaii,
where he and a few Kiwi mates were staying with a rather
well-off friend. They were heading out to surf 30-foot waves
at Jaws (as you do) when their mate decided to pick up a
few more mates. “Next minute we stop off and pick up Owen
Wilson and Woody Harrelson!” The two actors hung out in
the boat getting pissed while Hawke and the others surfed
giant waves all afternoon. Later on they got into the drinks,
and “we ended up playing naked paintball roulette… I got to
shoot Owen, it was great.” From there things progressed to
a night of Hawaiian-style debauchery. I’ll let your scarfie
minds fill in the blanks.
Olas, Chicas Bonitas y Cocaina
During my own three-month surf trip to Central America I
was fortunate enough to experience amazing waves, pretty
girls, and a little bit of coke, and learn just enough Spanish
to do it.
For the “acid-tripping” surfer, surf trips are exactly that, a
“trip”. This type of surfer is addicted to the excitement of
exploring the unknown. The waves play a large part, but it’s
more about the whole experience — the culture, the people,
and the environment. The idea is to pick a spot on the map,
grab a board, strap on a backpack, and prepare for the ride.
As a self-confessed “acid-tripping” surfer, to my 19-yearold
mind Mexico seemed like a great first trip. It had it all:
surfed giant waves all afternoon.”
great waves, warmth, cheap tequila, and Mexican food. My
Mum focussed more on the drugs, guns, and kidnappings. I
neglected to tell her that they were all part of the attraction
— well, one of the three anyway.
One of the most awesome places on Earth to be a young surfer
is Puerto Escondido. Getting barrelled is kind of like doing
a line of coke, though in Puerto you don’t need to choose
between one or the other. Puerto is a small Mexican village
with a beach that produces some of the world’s best barrels.
It sits right over the equator, so the weather is super warm
and the water is a moderate 32ºC (probably warmer than a
North D shower).
The main beach, “Playa Zicatela”, is littered with bars and
cafes. Fortunately it sees plenty of backpackers, so the heavy
concentration of arrogant Americans is diluted by travellers
from every corner of the globe, as well as wealthy Mexican
“chicas” down from Mexico City for their beach holidays.
The beauty of the “acid-tripping” approach is that you never
have any idea what you’re getting yourself into. My original
plan was to stick to Mexico, but the longer I was there, the
more I learned about all of the places down the coast.
I ended up travelling and surfing my way through
Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and
Costa Rica. I spent a few weeks getting lost in each coun-
try, and I got to see ancient Mayan Temples, volcanoes,
and waterfalls, and of course surf in all kinds of crazy spots.
Indonesia: God’s Gift to Surfers
For surfers, Indonesia (Indo) is Jerusalem. It is the Holy Land,
and surfers from all nationalities, “P-addicts” and “acid-trippers”
alike, descend on her shores to collectively worship her
perfect barrelling curves. Indo is the greatest place to surf on
the planet. It is an archipelago of over 18,000 islands, with