It took three attempts before making it through the 3ft breakers just after leaving behind the fish flavoured air of Grajagan village in our boat, headed for ‘THE’ left. We knew from trusty reports we’d be hitting swell when we arrived at our temporary jungle home. The boat trip took place on a magically mirrored surface only ever rippled by sealife fleeing the roaring twin engines.
Far on the horizon we could make out the misty white spray floating in and out of view as we glided over the arrriving swell (it was too far away to make out size). Everyones heart rate on board elevated besides the locals who are immune to such everyday sights. We slowed near shore to our destination, looking directly up the point from Speedies to Kongs, sets thundering through the line up at way overhead! Soul after soul standing silhouetted in the ‘blue room’ before becoming enlightened enough to pull off or start racing for the next section giving themselves less than 1 in 3 of making the last section. The reward looking well worth the risk. My heartrate rises again…..I’ll be wet in less than an hour to see what my chances will bring. As we all sat silently in awe, eyes agaze to soak in the scenery, I couldn’t help but wonder what went through the minds of the first surfers to paddle out after spotting it from a plan in the early 70’s. I’d seen the vids and mags like every other surfer.
We paddled out between the board crunching sets and paddled up the lineup sussing out everything that was going on. It was relief, as it was incredible, to finally witness in 3D what I’d only seen before in 2 dimensional glossy mags and vids. I thought I’d be more intimidated by the wave after all that I’d heard and seen, but after grabbing a few waves I was eager to take on the challenge of making everything I could. We only had 6 days to make the most of it! I learnt pretty quick however, that if you rush a place like G-Land you should expect to pay. Snapping three boards in three days was more than enough to settle me down to a more appropriate level of cautiousness to a wave that commands respect, like the style which local old school styler “Camel” displays after having surfed this place for several years.
It’s a great place to chill out as well. We were lucky not to get the crowds I’d heard of that can infect the place, and I hope it remains possible in the future for surfers to capture the essence of this place without overpopulation somehow polluting that experience. We did a hit and run, being in G-land for only 6 days, but there’s more quality waves in there than several months back at home. Score card: A+
Tj Harvey
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