During Christmas break most of the business close for at least two weeks, and everyone goes away. Vladimir, Maria, Chris, and myself decided to drive down to the South Island for a surf trip. We had no plans where to go and where to stay. Our destinations were driven by the surf forecast (swell + wind). 

Our fist stop was Gisborne. Let’s put it this way, Gizzy never disappoints. Waves were in 2-3ft range, perfect to get back in shape. Before Gizzy none of us surfed for about a month. And yes, in a month you easily lose your paddling fitness. The weather wasn’t bad either, constantly sunny and above 25 degrees celsius. To be honest we didn’t care about the weather at all.

The next stop was catching a ferry to the South Island. In Kaikoura, we scored some 2ft fun waves at Mangamaunu. Bear in mind that the weather in South Island is a bit different. On Christmas Eve, one month into the Southern Hemisphere summer, the temperatures dropped significantly. Classic NZ summer I would say. It dropped to 5-6 degrees celsius overnight, the mountains around Kaikoura got covered in snow. First thing Christmas morning I surprised myself with a new sub-zero sleeping bag, pair of long johns, and few thermal layers.

The surf forecast for Kaikoura turned out to be wrong. A promising 4ft+ size swell never arrived. Therefore, Chris and me headed to Dunedin. Vladimir and Maria followed the day after. I fell in love with Dunedin straight away. A lovely city almost at the bottom of South Island with heaps of surf spots within half an hour range. We stayed in Otago/Catlins area for five nights. We were rewarded with some great surf on some epic white sand beaches. The further South we went, the more our paths were crossing with animals in the water, especially sea lions. They were just everywhere.

Couple days before the New Year we were surfing at Allan’s beach in Dunedin when a sea lion joined us in the lineup. First, he was very playful catching waves with us. After some time, he started circling underneath our boards. I must admit, I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw sea lion jumping around my scared mates with their hands and feet above the sea level. Karma is a b*tch, I guess. When the sea lion started circling underneath my board I wasn’t laughing anymore. He gave my surfboard few punches, and started showing his teeth. Then, I realised it was time to set a new world record in paddling and sprinting. I had few sketchy situations in my short surfing career, but this one is by far the most bizarre

FYI, a sea lion can reach 45km/h in water and 35km/h on land. Typically, sea lions are not aggressive. However, few days later we realised it was pupping season. It makes sense why they were acting so territorial.

After spending New Year in Dunedin and having an awesome surf on the 1st of January first thing in the morning, we headed back to the North Island. In two days we made it back to Taranaki. Taranaki like no other. Period. The land of point breaks around a perfectly cone shaped volcano. A Surf Highway is located around the volcano with narrow roads every 5km leading to farm lands (and surf spots). Occasionally, to get to some good spots you even have to walk along streams to get to the beach. 

After three weeks, 4500km, and 400+ waves we returned back to Auckland. Apart from the last day in Taranaki, the surf was never really big, always less than 4ft sets. However, still very playful and fun. In total we surfed pretty much everyday with some epic sessions everywhere we stopped. Tomorrow, we’re all heading back to work. The struggle is real, but I am already looking forward to my next trips.

Some shots captured by Maria G.

Last year I joined the crew of Little Jim for the Wednesday Night Races sailing under RNZYS. She was designed / built by Arch Logan and Bill Couldrey in 1934, and it is now owned and skippered by James Mortimer. We have done quite well and finished the Wednesday Night Series on the podium in our first season sailing together! Note that sailing classic yachts is quite different compared to the normal cruising charters. Of course the basics of the sailing are the same, but I would say that there is a lot more work involved when sailing the classics.

James started pitching the idea of participating in the race after the organisers announced that the life rafts are not compulsory anymore. Nonetheless, the boat still had to comply with CAT3 safety rules for offshore and ocean racing. He was just throwing a bone out but nothing has not been official yet. I probably needed around 3 seconds before I replied with a big fat “YES” and ”It’ll be an honour to do the Coastal Classic on Little Jim.“, when James texted if I want to join the crew.

This year just under 200 boats entered the race. Some boats and crew even came from overseas to beat the record. The wind forecast was extremely promising, blowing 20-25 and up to 30-35 knots in exposed parts of the race. No wonder Beau Geste was able to finish the race in 5 hours and 37 seconds… averaging 24 knots! Hats off! We needed a bit more, just slightly more. To be honest Little Jim was also the oldest boat participating in the race!

Our division started at 9.30am just off the Devonport Wharf. We reefed the main sail and used the number two as a headsail. We were expecting some rough conditions. And we were not wrong for sure! Right after the start people hoisted spinnakers and gennakers, and for most of them it did not go down well. Quite a few of them ended up in troubles. Some of them had to retire from the race, one boat even lost their mast. In the meantime Beau Geste was just overtaking everyone.

For the majority of the race we were averaging around 8-9 knots with top speed of 13.2 knots set by Ash on the helm, which is extremely impressive for such an old boat! In the late afternoon we crossed the Bream Bay, one of the most exposed parts of the race when the wind is blowing from the southwest. The waves were smashing into the bow and we were on the same tack for around 100 miles. Crossing the Bream Bay was pretty hard on our bodies. We could not move much around the cockpit because of the confined space and rough conditions. And helming was not easy either. James, the skipper, did a great job! Meanwhile, Tiago captured some really good shots on his camera.

Just before the dark the wind dropped to less than 15 knots and we decided to hoist the genoa and full main. We could already see the Cape Brett in the distance. The Cape Brett is located at the tip of Bay of Islands. It was time for our first propper meal, pasta! I cooked 1.5 kgs of pasta and 2 kgs of sauce the night before so that we could just heat it up. Luckily the boat was not leaning so much anymore, and we were also sheltered from the waves as we passed the Whangarei Heads. I should not be bragging, because I am definitely not a great chef, but it was delicious! Probably just because we were all pretty cold and being stiff from crossing the Bream Bay… and we needed something to warm us up. The Coastal Classic is quite a long race and you do get pretty exhausted. Everybody had some short snoozes during the race. We reached Cape Brett at midnight sailing really well and ahead of the plan. Rodrigo, our tactician guru, was constantly checking the wind and the position of other boats through live race tracker. We were 20 miles away from the finish line, but the wind dropped even more. We were doing only around 5-6 knots. It took us four more hours to get to Russell. We crossed the finish line exactly 4am in the morning. We were all pretty exhausted and cold from sailing. Strong and cold southwesterly breeze left some damage. Nonetheless, we were filled with joy finishing the race successfully with everyone being safe, and bringing the boat to the Bay of Islands in one piece. A small celebration with a glass of rum put everyone to sleep before 5am.

We came 4th on handicap in the classic yacht division with only 4 seconds behind the 3rd place. 4 seconds after an 18 and a half hours of racing. In another division we came 9th out of 38 boats which is also quite impressive based on the fact that we were the oldest boat, and one of the slowest yachts on handicap. After spending the morning in Russell and watching the All Blacks loosing against England in the Rugby World Cup semi-final… we headed back to Auckland.

In summary, the PIC Coastal Classic was a totally sick experience that I would really want to do it again one day.

Some of the photos above belong to:

• https://www.instagram.com/roko_kiwi/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
• https://www.instagram.com/tiagolamysilva.photography/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

Photos above by @sasha_cortimorcor

Although the swell was dropping, there were still plenty of waves for the whole week. With a smaller swell more and more surf boats were coming to the lineup. Occasionally, the crowd was a bit annoying, but it was sort of manageable. The perfect time to jump on the boat out was either 5.30am or during breakfast/lunch time while everyone was on the island having food.

There are four surf spots near Himmafushi, i.e. Jailbreak, Honkeys, Sultans, and Pasta Point. The latter is closed to the public and it is only available to the people staying at the resort in front of the break. We also went further up north to surf the Cokes and Chickens. I must admit that there are some really good waves around North Male Atoll.

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Good old times #maldives

A post shared by Janez Mikec (@janezmikec) on Aug 27, 2019 at 2:33am PDT

After the first week the swell has dropped to shoulder high sets with onshore breeze, which is quite atypical for this time of the season. Definitely less appealing compared to the first week when the offshore breeze was holding the waves back. Couple of my friends from Slovenia joined the trip after they’ve seen photos from the first few days. Unfortunately, the wind shifted to S the day after they came to the island. It stayed like that, i.e. cross/onshore for the whole week and everybody on the island was going crazy. People arrive for a week and they expect that they’re going to score perfect conditions. I typically never go on a surf trip for less than three weeks when I book holiday more than a month in advance. You could be lucky and score some good waves… but on the other hand, you could spend a lot of money for nothing. It’s a gamble.

After a week of cross/onshore the wind shifted back to SSW and SW. There was also another pulse from the swell so the waves were decent again. The wind wasn’t as consistent as it was in the first week. The island Himmafushi also got hit by a few storms during the last week. One storm caught us by surprise while we were surfing the break in front of the Himmafushi. It was still an hour until the sunset and we were struggling catching waves in a strong offshore. We could see a storm far in the distance. Everybody was expecting for the storm to pass and miss the Himmafushi. All of a sudden we noticed that the adjacent islands started to disappear. The wind picked up and was blowing crazily. Everybody realised the storm is no joke and started paddling back to their boats. The boats were anchored relatively close to the surf spot but they started to disappear as well. Gulp… I must admit I felt a bit uncomfortable while I was paddling back. However, the fun yet begun. The boat ride back into the harbour was no joke either. Our speed boat had plenty of grunt, but it was just too small to fight the short period waves created by the storm. The wind and the waves were pushing us back, slamming into the bow. In my mind I was already going through bad scenarios in case we would have to abandon the boat and jump into the water with our surfboards. Luckily, all the boats managed to get back into the harbour safely. Not just the passengers, even the captain was relieved when we came back.

Photos of the storm by @ajda_go

In summary, I think I experienced all kinds of waves while staying three weeks at Himmafushi. The first week was perfect with a slight offshore and decent size swell. The second week shifted to crappy cross/onshore with average waves. Another pulse of swell was delivered in the last week together with stormy weather and cross/offshore winds. All I know is that I want more of Maldives! Soon…

The population of the whole island is only about 1000 people and you quickly meet some locals. All of them that I’ve met so far are extremely nice, however there are also a lot of people here from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka working at guest houses. The island is 100% muslim so there’s no alcohol on the island, the supermarkets are closed during praying times, and girls are not allowed to wear bikinis unless at designated beach called, guess what, “Bikini beach”.

There are 5 small supermarkets on the island. My daily routine to get the necessities looks something like:

1. The first supermarket is closed, not a great start.
2. I get two tomatoes and a Snickers in the second one.
3. Somehow, I manage to get a ripened banana in the third one.
4. Finally, I get some water in the fourth one.
5. No need to go to the fifth store, because luckily I got everything.

Most of the time I eat in one of the three small restaurants on the island. I opted out having lunch and dinner at my guest house, since I wanted to have a bit of freedom when it comes to surf. And to be honest, there is less crowd in the water when everybody’s having lunch, muahaha.

Firstly I wanted to spend my holidays on one of the boats that cruise around the atolls and drop you off right at the surf spot. However, I realised that during July/August best waves are actually around Male where there’s plenty of accommodation available on the islands. Might as well stay on the islands and experience some local culture. The boat is still on my list and I’ll definitely book it in a different season one day.

It’ll be interesting to see how the island’s going to look like in the next five years. They’ve already expanded the land and brought tons of sand on the reef. There are also a few 3 to 4 storey apartments going up at the moment. I’m not sure if there are earthquakes in Maldives, but based on what I’ve seen, I probably wouldn’t recommend staying in anything that’s more than a single storey house. FYI, they make their own blockwork on the island. I was really impressed with that. 

The Maldives are really cool to visit either by staying in a guest house, boat, or resort. The water is crystal clear, and by crystal clear I mean you can literally see 20m deep like there’s no water. Unfortunately, a lot of coral reefs are already dead but snorkelling around is still a very unique experience. Even when you just sit in the line up and wait for the waves you can see tons of fish, reef sharks, dolphins, and turtles playing around. I’ll focus more on surfing in one of the following blog posts.

My first stop was Singapore. Auckland is sort of big, but Singapore… you can tell it’s the fourth biggest financial capital in the world. Of course, I had to do a few touristy things, such as visit Gardens by the Bay, Skypark hotel, and a short wandering around the CBD. Malaysia and Singapore are known for its food culture so I had to try a few restaurants. I even found an affordable Michelin star restaurant, however their meal was pretty average. Singapore was short and sweet… spending a night or two is probably more than enough I would say.

After Singapore I headed to Maldives for a surf. My initial plan was to go to the Mentawai, but after doing some research about the crowd, which FYI I try to avoid, I’ve decided to tweak my plans a little bit. I had to stay the night in Male because my flight arrived late in the evening. I must say that the city feels extremely busy. There’s not much space in the island that’s for sure. People are mainly riding motorbikes because there’s no space to park your car. In the morning I was blown away when my Maldivian Airbnb host mentioned that she’s going to Slovenia this autumn to study math at Primorska University. What are the odds?

I didn’t stay long in Male, and I boarded a speed boat to Himmafushi early in the morning. The atoll is located approximately 20 minutes north of Male, or two hours with a ferry. Amin from the Jailbreak Surf Inn was already waiting for me and greeted me with a big coconut. I only needed 2 seconds to realise that I will definitely have some good time here on the island. Amin took me for a quick tour on his scooter. Of course, we checked the surf first. And holy moly guacamole, the Jails was on fire with perfect double overhead right handers. Insert a smiley face with love heart eyes!

Before paddling out I grabbed myself some lunch at one of the two local restaurants. At the cafe I bumped into a mate from Auckland. What are the odds again? The world is just too small! He was there with a group of Russians and they were just going out for a surf. I joined the bandwagon, and before I realised we were already in the channel watching the peeling waves from a near distance.

We called it a day with an epic sunset session at Jails. My first day on the island and I have already scored the best conditions possible, i.e. perfect offshore breeze with double overhead waves. I must admit I was already thrilled just watching the waves… but to ride them felt like a privilege!

Stay tuned for more!

After KCL I moved to Structus. Both companies are relatively small, Structus even smaller than the KCL, with approximately 10 staff. One thing that I’ve learnt after my first move is that you don’t realise how much knowledge you’ve obtained until you actually move to another company. After couple of years with Structus I decided to move again to a medium sized company called BGT. Funnily they are located less than 100m away from each other. I was probably a bit too optimistic about what a small company could achieve. Don’t get me wrong, we achieved a lot! We grew from 6 to 12 people within two years, but still… There are definitely some key differences in terms of project approach when a team is bigger.

Same as the first move KCL -> Structus, the move Structus -> BGT was not driven by the salary. Guess what, both times I declined payrises and some discussions about shares to stay, and both bosses respected that. Will $10k more a year make me rich? No, is the short answer. I am hungry for the knowledge and new ideas.

Before signing the contract for BGT I was also seriously considering to do some contracting work. I would be my own boss, I could work around the surf, I could work remotely from anywhere I want, I would earn more, but the work would probably less challenging. Despite all the benefits of contracting work I could not live with myself and slower learning curvature. You definitely learn a lot more when you are surrounded by people doing similar type of work.

Below are some of my recent projects that I have completed with Structus. Unfortunately, somebody else from the office will have to pick up the construction observations.

El Kobar & Underwood 2500 Warehouse

The design kicked off just before the New Year. The project involved the design of couple warehouses (5,300m² El Kobar and 2,700m² Underwood 2500) in Highbrook area. Due to time pressure my colleague helped me on documenting four no. of offices to the front of the warehouses. The warehouses are typically constructed with portal frames in the along direction and Reid braced walls in the orthogonal direction.

Hauraki Primary School

A new block of ten teaching spaces has been designed at Hauraki School. The school consist of portal frames in one direction and concentrically braced frames in the orthogonal direction. The school has been designed for ductility factor of 1.25 and building importance level 3. A concrete slab with composite beams is located on level 1, while the roof is a light-weight roof with purlins designed for terrain category 1.5. The school is located near the Auckland harbour and it is exposed to prevailing winds from the SW direction.

We had quite a busy year at work last year and most of my weekly nights I was occupied with one of the many hobbies I have. As you can see, I’ve also decided to continue writing my blog in English from now on, since my social network is sort of predominantly English speaking. Bear in mind that I’m an engineer by profession doing numbers and equations for living, so don’t expect my grammar skills to be perfect.

During summer my weekly schedule looked something like:

• Monday night = touch rugby
• Tuesday night = zouk dancing
• Wednesday night = sailing
• Thursday night = basketball
• Friday night = sailing/doing laundry/ironing
• Saturday = beach time/surfing
• Sunday = beach time/surfing

Auckland ABD Classic Yacht Regatta 2019

Note that all of the above is on top of 40+ hours working week. You can imagine I had pretty much zero time to even cook myself some meals. This year I also started sailing (racing) during a week a bit more frequently, which was a good excuse to leave work on time. I loved it so much that I’ve decided to take a RYA skippers course in the Bay of Islands few weeks ago. What an amazing place for sailing!

Lack of time resulted in being pretty slack with my blog, however I’m a bit more active on other social media such as Instagram. Even my dad created his Instagram profile just to follow my lifestyle. Big respect to that, although I find it hilarious :). Below are some short video snippets from last/this year that I’ve put together. Vlogging was taking me a bit too much time, still, I managed to put 6 vlogs together. But they’ve never been posted on the blog. I promise I’ll dedicate more time for blog writing in future. Winter is just around the corner and I might have some more spare time.

 

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I haven’t done everything but it’s on my list. Heliskiing in Queenstown a.k.a. Kashmir area from the latest @tomcruise Mission Impossible: Fallout movie /cc @southernlakesheliski

A post shared by Janez Mikec (@janezmikec) on Aug 11, 2018 at 9:50pm PDT

 

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It’s nice to chill at home during the week. But weekends are for adventures. The summer 2018/2019 hasn’t even started yet! #whanganuiriver #nzmustdo # • • • Travelling quote by @alexapheloung

A post shared by Janez Mikec (@janezmikec) on Oct 27, 2018 at 11:48pm PDT

 

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Sunny! Perfect sailing conditions, nice weather, fun vibes, and some good banter! Hell of a weekend!

A post shared by Janez Mikec (@janezmikec) on Dec 7, 2018 at 12:28am PST

 

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Two days of kayaking along some of the nicest beaches in New Zealand. #abeltasman #kayaking

A post shared by Janez Mikec (@janezmikec) on Jan 12, 2019 at 11:32pm PST

 

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Monday = touch rugby Tuesday = zouk Wednesday = sailing Thursday = basketball Friday = sailing/laundry Saturday = beach/surfing Sunday = beach/surfing Running out of days for all my hobbies

A post shared by Janez Mikec (@janezmikec) on Mar 24, 2019 at 1:49am PDT

Takoj po prihodu sem jo takoj mahnil v posteljo, saj me je naslednji dan čakalo ogromno aktivnosti. Zjutraj sem si sposodil kolo in se odpravil na 30km! kruzanje po mestu. Glede na to, da je Vancouver precej raven, ni bilo pretirano naporno. V Aucklandu bi verjetno izpustil dušo. Kolesarske poti imajo lepo urejene za turiste, tako da lahko v štiri-urni turi obdelaš večino znamenitosti. Pot se začne v Downtownu in vodi po obzidju okoli Stanley parka. V mestu sem se takoj počutil domačega. Ogromno je zelenja, dreves in sama urejenost mi je takoj dala občutek, da bi tukaj z lahkoto živel. Morda še pod vtisom kontrasta, saj sem po Salvadorju končno prišel v “civilizacijo”.

Ob enih popoldne sem se med odmorom za kosilo dobil z lokalko Iso in s kolesi sva jo ucvrla na kratko turo znotraj centra. Presenečena je bila, koliko znamenitosti mi je v samo nekaj urah že uspelo videti. Ja, sem kar gonil po mestu. Kasneje sva se z avtom odpravila proti Squamish-u, ličnemu mestecu na koncu fjorda. Vsi hodijo na Novo Zelandijo, da bi si ogledali Milford Sound, sedmo čudo sveta wannabe… medtem ko je vožnja iz Vancouvra do Whistler-ja praktično enaka. Med vožnjo je Isa prišla na briljantno idejo, zakaj ne bi šla kampirat. Sonce se je že počasi spuščalo in nisva imela veliko časa. V Squamish-u sva na hitro zmetala kamping opremo v avto in se odpravila do klifov. Sicer je bila pot izjemno kratka vendar pa precej strma, zato sva se kar malo lovila z vso opremo. Čisto na vrhu sva si na ploščadi postavila šotor in privoščila večerjo. Sledilo je še igranje ukulele-ja pozno v noč.

Zjutraj naju je pričakal eden izmed najbolj odbitih sončnih vzhodov s pogledom na čisto mirno gladino. Žal si nisva mogla privoščiti poležavanja. Mene je čakalo letalo Iso pa služba. Hitro sva spakirala, pospravila šotor in odložila stvari v Squamish-u. Isa me je odložila na poti v službo, jaz pa sem jo mahnil proti letališču. Zapis žal ne more biti obširen, saj sem se v Vancouvru ustavil le za dober dan. Naslednjič vsekakor vsaj za dva tedna!

Krenili smo jo proti Santa Ani. Vsa mesteca so si precej podobna, torej da ko vidiš enega, vidiš pravzaprav vse. Glavnemu mestu San Salvador smo se izognili, saj tam ni nič za videti. Obenem nas je na začetku skrbela tudi varnost. Santa Ana je eno izmed relativno večjih mest v severnem predelu Salvadorja. V središču mesta se nahaja tržnica, teater in pa katedrala. Vse si je možno ogledati v roku pol ure. In to naj bi bilo eno izmed lepših mest! Od turističnih točk sem bil navdušen le nad vulkanom, ki se nahaja v bližini Santa Ane. Za pohod smo morali najeti vodiča in policista. Kljub vsemu pot ni izgledala prav nič nevarna in do vrha smo prispeli prej kot v eni uri. Na vrhu smo se nadejali sončnega mrka, vendar pa je bil vulkan na žalost odet v meglo. Vseeno je bil pogled na jezero v kraterju precej veličasten.

Naslednji dan smo se Iz Santa Ane odpravili proti Acajutli. Ustavili smo se v Tazumalu in ogledali piramido ter nadaljevali po Ruta de la Flores, saj naj bi bila ena izmed »must-to-see« stvari v Salvadorju. No, nihče izmed nas na koncu ni vedel, v čem je sploh poanta te vožnje. Peljali smo se skozi nekaj majhnih mestec, ki so bila sicer očarljiva, vendar nič dih jemajočega. Noč smo preživeli v obalni vasici Los Cobanos. Z Marcom sva povečerjala v eni izmed tamkajšnjih lokalnih restavracij z Michelinovo zvezdico. Upali smo, da bo naslednje jutro zaradi bolj izpostavljene obale srf nekoliko večji. Izkazalo se je da tamkajšnje skale rabijo precej večji swell, da se sploh pojavijo valovi. Na srečo smo na plaži naleteli na dva lokalca, ki sta nam želela pokazati eno izmed bližnjih plaž, kjer bi morali najti valove. Žal tudi tam niso bili kaj prida, zato smo se odločili za izlet z ladjico v osrčje džungle. Tam smo imeli priložnost od blizu videti krokodile. Lahko povem, da imajo piščanca kar radi. Zanimivo je videti, kako izpopolnjeno je njihovo telo. Plava lahko le nekaj centimetrov pod površino vode in voda se na površju niti malo ne premika.

Po prihodu nazaj v El Tunco sva z Maticem kontaktirala nekdanjega motokrosista Guillermota. Ta naju je odpeljal na turo po notranjosti. Žal so bile plantažne poti preveč razmočene, tako da sva se žal morala zadovoljiti s quadi. Tudi ti so precej dobro leteli po blatu. Pot nas je vodila skozi majhne vasice v Salvadorju. Vsi mimoidoči so nam mahali z največjim veseljem, še posebej ko smo se ustavili, so nas vedno prišli ogovorit. No najina španščina je bila komaj zadovoljiva, da sva izustila, da prihajava iz Slovenije in da sva prišla v Salvador zaradi valov. Vmes smo nekajkrat zavili z glavnih poti in se vozili po plantažah kave. Žal je glavna sezona obiranja v decembru, tako da so bile plantaže večinoma prazne, sicer pa so polne Salvadorčanov in zna biti precej živahno. Ustavili smo se tudi v tovarni, kjer sva imela možnost kupiti kavo prve klase. Jaz je žal ne pijem, vendar priznam, da mi je v tovarni precej dišalo.

Vikend pred odhodom je Salvador »zadel« nov swell. Kolega Marc se je medtem odpravil v Nicaraguao, saj so ga rebra preveč bolela od preteklih dni na srfu. Navoskana deska lahko odbro ožuli spodnja rebra medtem ko ležiš na deski. Srfanje brez neoprena je čisti užitek, vendar pa ima tudi svoje slabosti. Posnetkov iz vode žal nimam. V vodi se nisem želel ukvarjati z GoPro-jem v ustih, kajti v primeru, da te valovi držijo pod vodo, želiš imeti v ustih karseda čim več zraka. Nekaj najlepšega se je zjutraj zbuditi in odkorakati v vodo še preden se ostali zbudijo. Sediš zunaj v čisti tišini, valovi te dvigajo in spuščajo… Ob tebi se morda najde le še kak pacient, ki se je pripravljen res zgodaj zmigati v vodo. Ravno ta jutranja spokojnost naredi srfanje nekaj posebnega. Vsekakor svoje vrste meditacija in telesna aktivnost hkrati. Ni važno koliko valov si ujel, kakšne zavoje si uspel narediti, glavno vodilo srfanja bi kljub čedalje bolj natrpanim lokacijam še vedno moralo biti: »The best surfer out there is the one having most fun!« In »fun-a« je bilo v dveh tednih ogromno. El Salvador sem zapustil nasmejan do ušes. Matica sem odložil na shuttle za Guatemalo, sam pa sem jo pahnil počasi proti Novi Zelandiji. Kako počasi pa boste lahko prebrali v naslednjem zapisu.

Po očaranem obisku Slovenije me je pot vodila v Salvador. S kolegom Maticem, ki ga poznam iz Nove Zelandije, sva splanirala dvotedensko potovanje po tej državici. Zakaj Salvador? Zakaj država, ki ima eno najvišjih stopenj kriminala na svetu? Odgovor je valovi. Salvador vsak dan ponuja ene najboljših pogojev za srfanje. Ostalega pravzaprav nima veliko za ponuditi. Še najbolj me je šokirala sama umazanost države. Ljudje preprosto odmetujejo vse kar jim je pri roki. Avtobus sredi vožnje odpre vrata, da ljudje zmečejo stvari na cesto. Predvidevam, da v šolah krepko primanjkuje izobraževanja o posledicah onesnaževanja. Smeti ležijo povsod in včasih se počutiš, kot da bi hodil po smetišču (tudi po plažah). Na vsakem koraku je možno opaziti, kako revna je država. Veliko pozornost je pritegnila tudi prisotnost vojakov, policistov in čisto običajnih ljudi z orožjem v rokah na vsakem koraku. Greš v trgovino in povsod stoji nekdo s šibrovko v roki. Odpreš lokalni časnik in bereš koga vse so včeraj odstranili.

Kot sem že omenil zgoraj, če ne srfaš, država nima kaj za ponuditi. Srfanje je v Salvadorju izjemno in toliko odličnih lokacij je težko najti na kupu. V deževnem obdobju, torej sedaj, so valovi nekoliko večji in vsako jutro so pogoji za srfanje idealni. Po deveti, deseti uri dopoldne začne pihati rahel veter proti obali, ki valove nekoliko uniči. V zakup je potrebno vzeti dejstvo, da je voda tudi precej umazana.

Prvih nekaj dni po pristanku sva z Maticem preživela v El Tunco-tu. Tukaj sem po naključju srečal tudi kolega, Marca, ki sem ga spoznal lani na Havajih. Ja svet je preveč majhen. Oba z Maticem sva -se nadejala, da bova v Salvadorju kupila srfe. Hitro sva naletela na realna tla. V prvem večjem mestu, kjer sva se ustavila in kjer so nama priporočili, da pogledava za srfi, je bila ponudba zelo mizerna. »Tony Tony has surfs to sell!«, jih je dejala večina. No Tony je imel le dva stara srfa na voljo. V El Tuncotu je bila izbira nekoliko boljša, tako da sva vsaj za silo lahko nekaj kupila.

Swell je bil prve dni razmeroma velik, nekje »double overhead«. Mesec in pol predtem nisem bil v vodi in nič čudno, da je bila moja kondicija na dnu. Kot posledica me je seveda močan tok na Bocani odnesel vzdolž obale, tako da sem iz vode lezel po najbolj neprijetnih skalah. Že prvo srfanje se mi je uspelo porezati po nogah. Ne bi me ravno skrbelo, če se to ne bi zgodilo v Salvadorju, kjer so ocean in reke izrazito umazane.

Marc nama je predstavil še Avstralca Harrry-ja in skupaj smo presrfali prvih nekaj dni. Highlight prvih dni je bil vsekakor izlet z ladjo v Las Flores-u. Louis nas je ob petih zjutraj v največji temi odpeljal proti enemu izmed najbolj znanih point breakov v Salvadorju – Punta Mango. Tja smo prispeli ravno ob sončnem vzhodu in poskakali v vodo. V vodi je že čepela skupinica Izraelcev in Avstralcev. Glede na gnečo sem pričakoval, da ne bom uspel odpeljati vala. Izkazalo se je, da sem imel enega najboljših sessionov. Za nameček smo bili zadnjo uro štirje sami v vodi in imeli valove zase. Po štirih urah srfanja se kaj veliko nisem mogel premikati. Krenili smo jo dalje in počasi nazaj proti El Tuncotu. Med krajšim potovanjem po državi so nas v marsikaterem mestu ustavljali in spraševali, če nas lahko slikajo. Gringotov marsikje ne vidijo prav pogosto.

Toliko za zdaj. O notranjosti države pa v naslednjih zapisih.