Easily one of the best places on earth… perfect little islands with waves that you would draw for hours as a kid wrapping around each side. And then theres cloud break, thundering down a reef corner out in the distance.  When everything comes together and the swell stacks perfectly on to the ledge its dreamy and kind of looks friendly… but its got some serious kick, its all about timing and picking the right line and then the barrel seems flawlessly make-able.  Problem is you get a bit cocky once you have nailed a few and then just push it a touch deep and you go down in flames… rolled, bashed beaten and ground into the reef. Fun!?!?

Yes.

And then there is Restaurants… like a siren tempting you onto the rocks its the most perfect looking wave in the world, breaking in about 6 inches of water over live coral with fiery burny bits sticking up everywhere!!  Still Fun though.  I had one of my more memorable surfs out there this year, uncrowded and though not really barreling it was so rippable… sometimes you can just luck out, the tide was pushing in and the swell pulsed. Even with most of the top 34 staying only a hundred metres away it was uncrowded… ping pong challenge must have been on.

The comp was a huge bummer for me this year, I felt really good heading into it… had a quiver of epic boards from DHD and looking at the forecast I was pumped. Losing my heat against Ace was tough, I had the best wave of the heat but couldn’t improve on my 6.9… made some mistakes in the middle of the heat and broke my board as well which didn’t help!

So I was done, out of the comp after 3 days! but there was a crazy red blob of swell heading for Fiji so I decided to hang out and surf when it hit. The day it arrived was pouring rain and the ocean was almost one with the clouds… we took the big boat out to check if the swell arrived cause it was flat still at Namotu, we couldn’t even see the tower or the wave it was raining so hard!
It cleared after about 20 mins and these flawless sets started bending onto the reef, 8 foot plus and immaculate.

The swell built all day and the only thing wrong was the wind, blowing huge chops up the face on 15 foot waves… after a few heats they put it on hold and then an hour later called it off for the day. As always when you call it off it started pumping shortly after, the wind died and the sets kept jacking in size. I watched for the last hour as my 6’9” was a little bit under gunned!! some of the most impressive surfing I have seen, and some untouchable 30 foot sets that roared down the reef like Chopes and steroids and 3 times as long!
An unreal day…

Now I’m home and getting ready for the next reef break challenge, Teahupoo… one of my favourite waves on tour. After that we have a big 3 month leg to end the year, and finish in Hawaii where I will be keen to defend my win from last year!  Have scored some awesome beachies the last few weeks at home, nothing better than riding the pushie down the front and having fun with my mates… like a grom again.

Check out some shots from Fiji, and ill have some more flowing after Tahiti.

Cloubreak is the bend in the reef, Tavarua and tiny little Namotu in the middle of the shot.

Kava… not the tastiest stuff in the world, but whose gonna refuse a rather large fijian chiefs offering?

Same chief, dancing skills after kava.

Snorkeling in the dark requires skill and an ability to hold down a large amount of skull dragger. T Knox showing us how to do it…

Namotu, barely big enough to kick a footy… sleeps 100 though

Food was exceptional on Namotu, 3 courses every night and the little 6pm snack plates were phenomenal… seared wahoo didn’t last long.

The big day, this was a 20 foot wave, looks inviting almost.

Yeah, might pull back on this one… good idea.

One of the unridden sets… NUTS!

Dave Wassel caught a mental one on his 10’0”… one wave and back to the boat for a beer.  Good plan.

I shared a Bure with Otto and Parko, some of our board carnage on the last day… Joel broke 3 brand new boards in one surf on the morning of the big day.

Kieren Perrow //