Norway bru…
Norway bru.. i can’t wait stand by for some fresh content sorry it’s been so long the old shoulder hasn’t been the same since my last surf at Sunset in Hawaii mid-March…
This is a story I wrote last year but didn’t get published have a read if you bored…
Maelström
A maelstrom is a very powerful whirlpool; a large, swirling body of
water. A free vortex, it has considerable downdraft. The power of
tidal whirlpools tends to be exaggerated by laymen. source: Wikipedia
“A Descent into the Maelström” is a short story by Edgar Allen Poe
about how a man describes surviving a shipwreck and a whirlpool-
similar to how i was feeling on the two day train-ride out of
Norway…
A week of surf, snow, crazy powerful landscapes, mountains and
good-times… you see, Viking hospitality is as overwhelming as the
scenery…Norweigans have it their way, whale meat on the braai-
Aquavit, snuss and good (yet expensive)beer they’re an eccletic bunch.
From Olaf the soft-spoken conspiracy theorist to Thor hammer wielding
‘Uncle Frost’ Kristian Breyvik of Frost surfboards and his lovely
family to Per the multi-millionaire turned surf-bum who made his
fortune by inventing capsules for cod-liver oil and was featured last
week in the Norweigan Economist. Their enthusiasm is infinite, which
is what you need to survive the endless daylight mid-Summer and
conversely the two week long Polar night mid-Winter. When the waves
are waving- they’re out there, no matter what time, how cold, bitter,
snowy and/or onshore it might be. I have never encountered such a core
community of surfers as dedicated to the surfing lifestyle. Tommy and
Mariaan of the Unstad surf camp have carved out an inspiring existence
in a beautiful valley with a bay packed with waves- they’ve tuned a
bunch of aspiring Scandinavians in to the virtues and benefits of
surfing, from groms to girls to geezers of all shapes and sizes…
To quote Kristian: “ Norway’s not for poodles…” 5, 6 and 7 mill
suits, boots, gloves and hoods are a pre-requisite year round, as well
as a strong grasp of the country’s geography, the coastline’s
bathymetry and frequently wild weather systems- four seasons in one
day can be more like four seasons in one hour. We were there for the
break of Autumn, frozen tundra with crystal clear lakes, fjords and
rivers giving way to rolling forests turning every shade of brown,
orange and yellow overshadowed by black shining mountains with snow on
the escarpments. Lyle Meek of J-bay joined us after a few days and
after jumping off the bus all he could say was: “ I feel like im in
The Lord Of The Rings- where’s Bilbo?et al…” granted he had polished
a bottle of whiskey with new found Kiwi mate Luke after six hour’s on
winding roads!
Back to the surfing- Norway’s saving grace is the Gulf Stream… a
little warmer and capable of drawing in an almost constant chain of
North Atlantic low-pressure systems. Swells are mostly short-period
created by wind but on checking the charts the week before we left i
noticed some days were predicted 4 feet at 28 seconds-? highly
unlikely- Kristian our gracious and most informative host was equally
puzzled until we saw an article on Magic Sea Weed about the Antarctic
melting at an unprecedented rate to quote the Magic..:
“The NOAA have explained the issue is related to an unprecedented sea
ice retreat revealing a numerical issue with their model and are
working on a fix…” bummer but the real bummer is what this all means
for the people of the Northern Hemisphere and us indirectly. If the
last few Summers in the North were anything to go by, the melting
Antartic will make the Gulf Stream dissapear and Europe will become
that much more temperate ie. cold and rainy. Winter’s the same,
crazier weather and even more unpredictable low-pressure systems won’t
bode well for the budding surf scene. Never mind the recent discovery
of even more oil on the deepwater seabeds of the North sea- we’ve all
seen the protests against Shell continuing to prospect for oil despite
the Artic circle’s unprecedented melting creating perilous conditions
at sea- but not even oceans full of drifting giant ice bergs can stop
the greed…
Anyway, this is not an essay on climate change- the real reason why we
ended up in Norway was for a contest!? The Lofoten Masters is a yearly
event held at Unstad on the Lofoten peninsula, a real gathering of the
tribe- Lyle Meek has been living and working in Sweden for nearly a
year and after eight months of no surf was hanging for a surftrip.
Enter Kristian- ‘Uncle Frost’ who formally invited us to take part in
the event- a weekend of sharing waves, crazy weather, whale meat on
the braai, whale meat stew- and more cold-weather gourmet fare- i
wasn’t feeling the whale meat thing- in fact i avoided it until after
my third heat of the day, going into the finals i gave in and had a
taste- like tuna and beef mixed it was delicious, except i have to
admit the taste it left in my mouth during the final made me feel like
i didn’t deserve to win which is exactly what happened. Local hero and
Brazilian transplant Gil Ferreira nailed the only tube of the event
conjuring up a perfect 10 from the judges shivering in the tower ah
well- Lyle surfed good as well but i think the whale meat karma got
the better of him as well with third place behind me…
After a day spent in a wetsuit, in the hot tub and sauna on the beach
it was time to hit the prize-giving and party an hour further up the
peninsula at Kristian’s home town Svölvaer- our camper van dubbed
Gloria(thanks again Kristian) was loaded with our little dysfunctional
family of five- my lady Jo, myself, Lylo, Seamus of Nova Scotia and
Luke from New Zealand- we set up camp outside the hotel everyone else
was paying to stay in and hit Bacalao the local surfers bar where the
night quickly became a blur of monumental dimensions- Aquavit is a
local shnappes way too strong for its own good- we all blew the budget
on fifty rand beers- Lyle got lost in the rain tryna find the van
wandering around the town’s two main streets for the better part of
two hours- next morning Seamus and I did the right thing and helped
ourselves to the hotel toilets and a free buffet breakfast while the
rest of our little cheap and nasty family felt sorry for themselves in
the van…
After the contest, Unstad village returned back to it’s old pace- with
a population of eighteen things happen on their own time- thankfully
the swell had decided to stick around so after dropping Lyle and the
rest of our new found family at the bus stop we were fortunate enough
to relish three more days of good swell and even better weather-
Johnny Cash weather- sombre, changing and strangely uplifting…
Eventually it was our turn to head back as Kristian dropped us off at
the bus station, like all locals of any place full of uncrowded waves
should not but are prone to do- he lets his mouth slip about an area
three hours up the coast with twenty five waves in a three mile area
that would be pumping that day. “ I knew it!” i wanted to scream as he
drops us off, with a U-turn he flashes me the bird with a big smile
and a good old fashioned “ Go Home! locals only” “Fat chance!” i
shout back and we’re left outside the Viking museum waiting on a bus
and two days travel back to Sweden…
On the train back I awake to the smell of strong Swedish coffee, and
can’t help but think of my favourite Bruce Gold quote: “Journey’s
over- journey never began…”
‘Tusen takk!’ a thousand thankyous to the people of Lofoten, Norway
and specifically Unstad- you haven’t seen the end of us! the
Maelström that is our collective imagination’s will continue swirling
and churning dreams of perfect, cold, yet inviting and empty line-ups
and we WILL be back!
Post Script: The mountains of Lofoten formed in the last Ice Age,
which only ended 10,000 years ago. Surfing began in Norway in the late
‘60’s to early ‘70s when Thor Frantzen and Hans Egil Krane made their
own boards after being exposed to surfing in Australia while in the
merchant navy. Their crude construction methods included using foam
from a refrigerator and building plans cribbed from a Beach Boys album
cover! Today Norway has upwards of two thousand surfers- most of them
from the Stavanger region, which boasts a pretty sweet coastal road
with a bunch of easily accessible spots- Lofoten is the only other
‘populated’ surf area with a much more existential surf community,
leaving a couple thousand kilometres of completely un-charted
coastline. Access is the key, with most roads only leading half-way a
pioneering spirit is essential. The potential for tow-surfing and
slabs is unbelievable- so much so- we are planning a trip next spring,
snow-mobiles, jetskis and all, so far Twiggy and Saffa-Irish
transplant Barry Mottershead are keen as well as Lyle Meek and myself
so stick around for a follow as we whip ourselves into The Maelstöm
part two- the Aurora Boreolis Discoveries…
Post Date: 08 May 2013
Filed Under: Surfing
Associated Tags: Lofoten.roosta, Maisch Fins, Norway, RVCA South Africa, Wedge surfboards
