KSP WORLD WAVE TOUR MAURITIUS 2011 DAY 1 –This was a Magic day with an arrival at 7.30am from London on a direct BA flight then a swift transfer to the Indian resort – Le Morna in time for breakfast. The wind looked like it was kicking inn & I pumped the 2012 8mtr North rebel, put some fins on my North Kontact 6ft 1” & I was off to one eye!! Well- actually I thought I would warm myself up on the left reef- Malawa first. The wave was easy with the chance to get some good ‘smacks’ inn before it closes out. Then it was time to venture into the unknown & shore enough I was out of my comfort zone & making mistakes. Choosing the right wave at ONEEYE is the most important thing I learnt very quickly. But I did’nt enjoy the angle so thought it was best to stay up on the other reef & just enjoy these amazing conditions, waves like I had not had for a very long time. The boat finishes at 5pm & sundown soon after so an evacuation off the beach & head to the skippers meeting. This is a huge affair with all the judges, riders & organisers responsible for getting this bunch of kiters together in such an awesome location. We were introduced to the elimination format, judging criteria & media criteria. This was when it sunk in for me that I was actually at a competition!!

DAY2 – We all got released for the day & so it was time for me to get my head around One Eye!! I thought the best thing to do was to get the feeling of the swells & try to read which waves were best to be picked up that did not dump early & yet carried their height a long way. Who better than to ride with – MITU- or GOD!! What was really incredible was he was just riding out to sea & essentially making a turn on a piece of chop. On the wave he switches backside to frontside & rides both sides equally well you can not tell which is switch. ONE EYE was not about catching the bigwaves & I soon started to get some waves which allowed me to actually get a couple of turns inn. It’s a very very fast wave so strapless is way more challenging – Mitu saids he has been here for 5 weeks since the wave requires that much knowledge!! Based on this, looks like I need him to come out in my heat!! A free supply of coconut water back at the event site and the most incredible birds singing & enjoying the bright red firrey sun as it sets over one eye: this was another cracking day in Paradise.

 DAY 3 I had been awake since the earliest hours hearing the walls of my apartment move to the sound of crashing waves on the outer reef. The huge swell that had been predicted was inn early. It was an early skippers briefing & then the chat started. Lee (pasty) gave me the brief as we watched the waves crashing against the ‘tower’ at one eye in the early morning sunshine. The speed was just incredible but it was only when I ventured out that I really became aware of these Mountains. I kept remembering pasty’s final words- ‘Just make sure you take the small ones, wait for the set to go through!!’ Walls of ocean travelling at phenomal speeds & I was suppose to be dropping into them!! This was a ‘expression session before the heats started so all the riders were out & again it was busy so I held back. To be honest I only caught 2 waves but I managed to get some turns & did not get held down or stuck on the reef . But I was pretty freaked out since at times it was like there were just no small waves, everything was over 4mtrs & felt way way bigger than anything I had ever been amongst. Then we went to competition & the standard of the guys is incredible. Pasty was up 1st & he had no nerves at all- fully confident & in the zone-. Pasty had a blinding heat – taking on some decent size lips & looking really smooth strapless. But he was up against a local one eye rider- imagine having this as your back yard??? I thought pasty had it in the bag but he missed 1 st by 0.3points. He gets to go again – but maybe not for a couple of days. Just 3 mens heats were run before sundown but the live streaming was just brilliant. Back at the beach we were all watching the heats & I can imagine loads of people all over the world will have done the same. Sky did a sterlin job on the commentary & the whole event seems in full swing. My small evening session as the sun went down just felt wrong- was on the inner reef- still way bigger than anything back home- but not exactly good practice for one eye! The only way to deal with one eye is to kite it. Yesterday felt good but today I was for sure not in a good place. Maybe tomorrow I will get amongst it & just not use my brain!! Thinking makes no sense when its this huge!