Cloudbreak: Look before you Leap

It was an eighteen second period swell and three guys severed their surfboards in half at Cloudbreak that day. We didn't learn this information until after the fact.

To say I was anxious to get into the water was an understatement. I had arrived in Nadi, Fiji from the Gold Coast of Australia in time to see the sun set. I slept Nadi that night because the Mololo Cat, the boat I had to take to the island of the Funky Fish, only ran twice a day. The following day I arrived at low tide, which meant I had to wait another day to surf. The reef breaks were too shallow at low tide, and I learned this reality as soon as I got off the boat and stepped onto the island when I was enthusiastically greeted by an amber-skinned surfer. Dave was one of the three people staying at the resort and the only surfer, so he was stoked to see my board bag. 

We got straight into surf talk and he drew a map of the waves in the area and described each one in detail. He pointed to the white water   breaking on the reefs on the horizon showing me which wave was which.

"That looks like dribble," Dave said the next day as we passed Wilke's Pass, a right-hander. So our boat captain took us to check Nomotu Left, the next wave. "That looks like dribble," Dave said again. Both the waves looked pumping to me, but I had nothing to go by because it was my first time seeing them, and since he seemed legit, I just took Dave's word for it. We passed another right, Swimming Pools, and a left called Restaurants because Dave said that they needed pretty massive swells to break properly. We decided to continue further out to sea to check Cloudbreak. My mind began to race; I was going to surf Cloudbreak, the wave I had seen in countless surf videos and heard people rave about. A real, world class wave, and I was as ready as I ever would be to charge it.

From the boat I saw one wave reel in at Cloudbreak and it looked way overhead and freight train fast. Dave said, "Oh, yah, it looks super mellow."

It was my first session in Fiji, and without a moments hesitation I threw my board into the water and dove off the boat. The tropical, warm water felt so good on my skin. There were only about five other guys out, and I couldn't figure out why they were sitting so far from the peak. I paddled right past them and straight to the peak as a wave was building towards me. Not missing a beat, I turned, committed, and paddled parallel for the monster jacking up behind me.

The moment of being thrown into a sick drop passed me by as the wave sped past me and broke further ahead of me. Immediately I looked back to see if I had a second chance coming. I discovered something coming; the next massive wave pounding down. It closed out on top of me, and I was pulled under and held down. I held onto my board, praying that I would reach the surface soon. When I did, I had just enough time to take a gulp of air before the next set wave came crashing down throwing me into three full somersaults. I got washed around and worked in the shallows, but somehow I kept barely missing the reef. I kept calm, but that was the longest I was ever held under, and I thought I was going to die. Finally, I was able to paddle out of that hell, and as I was choking on saltwater and catching my breath on the outside I watched my friend, Anna, paddle into a giant.

I watched for her, but she disappeared with the wave. I kept looking for her, but she did not appear. After a few minutes, I started to worry, and every second felt like eternity. I saw one guy emerge from the inside looking exhausted, and I asked him if he had seen a girl with a hot pink rashguard on. When he said no, I paddled as fast as I could to our boat. Just as I reached the boat, I saw a pink rashguard paddling towards me in the distance. When she got closer, I saw blood gushing from her face. She got thrown off the wave and then took a hit from the nose of her board to the corner of her right eye. One centimeter more and her eye would have been gouged out. Super mellow.

"I don't want to surf here anymore," Anna said. "Okay," I agreed.

Being hard core as she is, Anna wanted to continue surfing for now and deal with the injury later. So we surfed Wilke's Pass and then Nomotu Left, and it was not 'dribble,' but good, clean, overhead fun. We were the only ones surfing at Nomotu Left, and I got so many turns on each ride that my legs got tired. While we surfed, I realized the magic and beauty of the world I had thrust myself into. The water was clear and glassy, and I saw the coral reef and fluorescent blue fish while I flew down the line.

Later on, Dave said the reason he surfed was to have fun, and that he didn't even think that Cloudbreak was that fun of a wave. It was fast, heavy, and hollow, but he would rather surf waves that he could shred; get speed and do turns on. He thought about what drove us to surf certain waves. He said that when he surfed Pipeline it wasn't even fun. The whole time he was terrified, and he was actually relieved when he got out of the water. He was a good surfer as well, and had twenty years of experience. I knew exactly what he meant. I just craved fun, and I wanted to get as many rides per session as possible. I didn't really need to be scared and just catch one or two for the sake of impressing anyone. What did we have to prove anyways?

Anna had to get two stitches and now has a scar in the corner of her right eye that serves as a reminder to never underestimate a wave. I learned many life lessons from surfing, and this was no different. A seasoned surfer knew the importance of being patient and assessing any situation before dropping into it.

By Melissa Diamond

Next Surf Story: Kuta Reef: Up Close and Personal