Adventure

"It hurts like f@£$ing hell!"

07/10/2012

In 1987/1988 I had the 'honour' of serving my country in the navy. After basic training was completed the worst, un-trainable, useless bunch of the entire intake were sent to hell for punishment, in this case a little dorp in the middle of nowhere on the Namibian coast. The crew included a couple of slummies surf addicts and myself. A short excursion of the coastline revealed plenty of quality points, reefs and beachbreaks. We had our boards shipped up to us and in no time we were shredding uncrowded waves up and down the coast. We were working shifts 24 hours on and 48 hours off. Plenty of surfing time. The local surfers were total groms and soon we had an entire entourage of local groms and girls following us around like puppy dogs. We were in heaven.

Our main duty in the navy was sitting at this lighthouse watching the radar for any 'enemy' ships coming near the coast as we were pretty much at war with Angola and the communist's at the time. In the mornings a speedboat would drop us off and the next morning the next shift would replace us. It was a very boring 24 hours especially when we could see a solid swell at the beachbreak out front. At the crack of dawn we would be pacing up and down the jetty waiting for the boat to arrive, frothing to get back to camp to get our boards and hit the waves. Now that the cat is pretty much out the bag we didn't even have the slightest clue what we were leaving behind about 3 km to the south of us for 13 MONTHS!!!!!

It's like living at Kitchen Windows and thinking you are in heaven when Supers is reeling off, day after day, without a single soul in sight around the corner. We are talking about what is arguably the best barrel on the planet!!!!!!!! They say ignorance is bliss, what you don't know can't hurt you, but it fucking hurts like Hell.

Sven

Got something to say? Then leave a comment!

Posted by Anton on the 08/10/2012 08:32

take it easi there, sven. you probably weren't missing out on anything: http://www.swellnet.com.au/news/3202-skeleton-bay-the-death-of-a-wave-foretold on the other hand, the discovery of bali pretty much went like that: Ulus was found and surfed for a long time before guys found padang nearby. Bingin was kept as a secret for quite a while, and belangan was discovered only after someone looked at average dreamland and wandered over the next headland.

Posted by sven on the 08/10/2012 10:24

hey Anton During our boring 24 hour shift we did scout the area a bit for waves and never saw anything with potential. I do feel a little better checking out the link you sent but unfortunately the date gaps in the photos don't give a clear veiw of the state of the sand in 87/88. It might not have been as good as it is now but the top of point still could have been epic. No-one knows. At the time we were getting a salary of R200 a month which meant our boards were repaired until they couldn't float anymore. I don't think we could have 'afforded' to surf there. Sven

Posted by Ian on the 08/10/2012 17:43

HI Sven ,sad story dude .Mine worked out a little better .I happened to spend my last 6 months of my 4 year ''PF'' STINT in Walvis Bay at that same time .At the time if you intended to leave at the 4 year mark , you had to give 6 months prior notice .I happened to be working as a PTI and when i gave notice of intention to leave it was the perfect opportunity for them to make sure my last 6 months would be hell.My sentence ,Walvis Bay to termination of service .It was the ultimate kak draft .With no options but to go , i made sure i got to take my toys [as permanent member ,you were entitled to ] which included my trusty beach buggy ,loaded with the latest in high tech surf sailing equipment .This was my thing at the time ,surf sailing was peaking ,guys like Johnny Paarman ,Titch Paul ,Gary van Rooyen,Steve Riley,ect were pioneering Mistyt Cliffs ,Crayfish factort ,Dunes ,Outer Kom ,so good waves were bieng ridden .I was trailing these guys and came from a surfing /kneeboarding background so basically knew that as long as there coastline and wind i would still find spots to sail .What i did,nt realise is that i would be sentenced to sail this spot alone ,for 6 months .There was absolutely nothing for me to do in my Naval capacity,so i would show face in the mornings and by lunchtime i would climb into my buggy and drive out to what was known then as Donkey Bay .I was told of its existence by Alan Louw.Those who know Walvis will surely know of the Louws.Alan +Monica had a son Steven [ i think ], who was the up and coming windsurf champ from the area .Sadly we never met ,however Alan told me about the spot and suggested i check it out .The rest is history .I did manage to convince 2 guys from Durbs to come out there with me once ,however they took one look and laughed it off ,and never came out with me again .Bet the'yre bummed now

Posted by sven on the 09/10/2012 08:19

hey Ian I was hoping you were going to tell me that in 87/88 there was just a shitty close-out there and make my year!!!! The second we got off duty we fetched our boards, walked straight out of the camp and went to Swakop. Slept in our board bags on the beach. I think I actually only slept 3 nights in my bed at camp. So jealous you were organized and had it with no-one there. We still had good waves and a memorable time.

Posted by Rian on the 11/10/2012 14:06

eh brah - no worries. in 87/88 i was two years old and just learning to stand up on a surf board. If it weren't for you ous, who knows - we could all have ended up as a bunch of boogers. I salute you either way.

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