Good Surf Story from Fiji

A friend sent me this pic and story the other day - very entertaining - thought I would share:

Anyway here's a little surfing tale from the islands of Fiji. Hope that you're getting some waves for the winter!

The other weekend I journeyed out to the west to hit up Cloudbreak. I'd checked the charts and for a week out had it pegged as being a bunch of swell and good winds. As i was driving into the village to where to boat dudes live I could see some whitewash pop up above the horizon line! When I spoke to one of the boat drivers on the phone he called it 10 foot! All morning I'd been pumping myself up to hit big Cloudbreak - the forecast was saying 6-8 and I was psyching myself to take it on. 10 foot - maybe too much. I sorted out my boat and had to wait around for some other dude to rock up. I knew Cloudbreak was big but apparently no one was out. That put me off. My other dude rocks up and we decide against Cloudbreak. I'm too unfit to hit that by myself and if no one else was on it then I'm thinking it must also be hitting the reef a bit awkward.

So we hit up Restaurants which is an awesome wave. It was a nice 4 foot and it just rifles down the line. I jump off the boat paddle around and on my first wave luck into a nice set. Get about a 5-6 second barrel before it finally outruns me. I'm stoked, this is going to be awesome but then tragedy strikes. I see a figure in the line-up. "He looks familiar" I think. He turns and then I realise: TRENT MUNRO!!! I can't believe it! Of all the places to be and of all the days and of all the breaks. Man I hate that guy. He used to be a pro and grew up near me. He was always a jerk and so was his dad, just real arrogant. The last time I surfed with him was before I came to Fiji the first time and it ended in me telling him to "get f*cked". He was ripping it up at Restaurants too. Jerk. I end up over hearing from Munro that they'd hit up Cloudbreak that morning and some dudes ended up getting cleaned up big time and wound up holding onto the pylons of the judging tower screaming for help!

After the wind got into Restaurants we hit up Wilkes. It's just me and the other boat dude. I get my first wave, eat it and then get caught inside by the wide swinging sets. By the time I make it back out the same thing happens to my surf mate. He gets cleaned up big time. Stops duck-diving waves and just goes under them. I work out where to sit and manage to snavel a few solid 6-foot barrels. It's a big closey but just nice to travel down some big lumps. Old mate I'm surfing with doesn't catch another one.

We then head over to Swimmingpools. It's 3, maybe 4 on the biggest and fun. It's a surfers dream. Easy take off to barrel with a section for turns. I'm out there for about an hour before I'm cramping and have to bail. Good times though despite ending up with really badly burnt hands.

Hope that you're all doing great over in the Carolinas. Miss you heaps!

ps. here's a pic of swimmingpools, it's the only time I managed to get my camera out. It actually has a much bigger wall than what the image looks like, the wave wraps away from the boat for about another 50m.