Hovering Neon Droplets: a moment between the sea and me
Despite a day of gray, the sun refuses to depart unnoticed, surprising me and the thickly-clouded sky with a lavish splash of reds and pinks. The heavens then toss the light down onto the sea, where it warps into a hypnotizing tango with the waterās evening shadows. A dark line appears ahead. I study its […]
Sidetrip to India! Beyond the Surface Film Project…
It’s amazing what comes along when you live wide open… Last year, I was sailing through the Marquesas when my sea-going friend and fellow Patagonia ambassador, Crystal Thornburg-Homcy, inquired as to whether I’d like to be involved in a film project in India!? From what I gathered it would be a combination of unique surfer […]
Free, so Free to be Me.
“However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.”Ā -Einstein A few days after my arrival back to Swell in January, Poema du Prel walked into the boatyard wearing a huge smile. Mutual friends had been long trying to connect us, but both of our rigorous travel agendas had precluded our […]
From a day in the ‘Vortex’
Somewhere in my subconscious, I know its dawn. Force my eyes open, I roll out of bed for a peekā¦What? Itās pumping, again?! So much for sleeping inā¦Part of me hoped it would be flat after the week or more of non-stop swell… I wonder if my arms can take another day of this? Of […]
Legally Challenged
I popped my head out of the hatch around 10am after another brutal passage east from Bora Bora the prior day. Ā Just then, the big gray French police boat pulled into the bay. My heart lurched. I had a letter from the yard stating that Swell was āunsuitable to take to the seaā until the […]
Donāt Kill the Star!
And the next day at ten oāclock sharp, Jimmy circled Swell on his stand-up paddle board. āCome aboard,ā I called. āIām nearly ready!ā He descended into Swellās cabin, eyes wide, taking in all the quotes and photos and details. I showed him my book collection, hoping I could give him one of my favorites, but […]
Ketchup on the Presqu’isle
Here is a bit of everything from the last two months on the Presqu’isle… between my engine woes, the WCT circus, my recent submersion in a writing assignment (check out the upcoming October issue of Surfer’s Journal), a bout with Dengue fever (or Beamish flu?), a last minute haul-out, and the Ahuna-Marotta wedding in Hawai’i… […]
Big Waves Heroes Save the Sea Nymphs
Just then, Greg Long and Twiggy “Grant Baker”, two of surfing’s big-wave heroes, paddled out for the sunset session. Twiggy, the cheerfully fearless South African, quickly caught a wave. Andy and his ‘sea nymphs’ still frolicked in the impact zone. I felt a pang of anxiousness. “You should take those girls in,” another guy called […]
Teahupo’o Fog
Session after session I gained confidence at this beastly wave. In the afternoons the crowd would thin and the circus of photographers and spectators would run off to find food and shade. With just a few locals out I began to sit deeper and understand which waves I wanted and which I DEFINITELY didn’t. One […]
