The PRINCE of FREEDOM
Although the Speights drinking and out of water male bonding was awesome, we needed to find some good-looking water.”
I can recall vividly as a grommet the first time I heard the name Tavarua and the visions that accompanied. At the time new waves were being discovered all over the world, yet for some reason along with the mystique the name of the premier wave ‘Cloudbreak’ brought with it, meant this destination would sit firmly at the top of my bucket list. For years I would sit and admire in total awe of the videos and photos that were released. I would sit in front of my 12 inch black and white TV, funnily enough rewinding over and over my Beta copy of this new prodigy Kelly Slater’s movie ‘Black and White’. This wave, that they were lucky enough to have gone to, had me hooked by the short and curlies. And not only me, it seemed to have the whole worlds attention. In the 70’s when surfers began to explore this region, Tavarua was no more than a small island that locals went out to gather coconuts from, and to go for a surf meant heading out with them or the fishermen from the local village. Dave Clark was one of these first pioneers and his experience would alter his life and the future of this small island and its locals forever. Obviously realising the quality of waves, and that within time the word would spread far and wide and the masses would come, bringing the associated problems that other surf meccas have faced. Dave who was working as a teacher in Samoa at the time, returned to Fiji with a vision of putting his degree in environmental studies specialising in sustainable tourism and environmental issues to use. In 1984 Tavarua Island resort opened for business and after close to 30 years of operation, you would think that it would have altered the region somewhat. Instead we arrived to find an area that I’d have to say has remained relatively unaltered from those early years. It’s funny when you travel to somewhere new, the anticipation that builds up within, the visions that you have in your head of what it will be like and then a few days later, reflecting back on those thoughts and laughing at what was completely different. I’d assumed that after close to 30 years of hosting tourists like many areas we all visit during surf travel, that we would arrive to find a concrete jetty and be whipped out to the island in some big fast ferry. What instead we were greeted with, after winding our way down an unpaved dirt road skirted by sugar cane fields, was a small boat parked up on the shallows inside of the mangroves. We loaded our boards up and were pushed out through the trees out into the lagoon, our boat driver ripped out the pull start on the outboard and we were bound for our first taste of Tavarua. That initial experience, only three hours after leaving Auckland immediately gave the sense of true surf adventure. A feeling that would have been somewhat spoiled if that concrete jetty I had conspired in my head actually existed. As we approached the island everyone was feeling somewhat anxious, this was it, after years of dreaming we were nearing what had become most of our crews dream destination. That and also the fact that many of the boys had quietly failed to even talk about at anytime during the journey so far. The fact that we were about to walk into one of the biggest swells of the year. The whole week leading up till now had been filled with anxious thoughts, scrambling to find boards big enough, checking the charts every update, even for the first time ever some of the boys packing a life vest specifically designed for paddling in. The whole world had seen what Cloudbreak was capable of during the Volcom Pro swell, and when the first numbers dropped, that was what we were to be walking into. As the week dragged out with sleepless nights disturbed by what could await us, slowly the numbers dropped back from the realm of massive, to just huge! The 9 foot plus boards were put back on the racks and the coffins were stacked with boards ranging from the typical shortboard through to 8 footers. From out beyond the islands lagoon we could already hear the cheerful sound of Fijian Bula!!! With guitars strumming and harmonised voices filling the warm tropical air. The water was crystal clear and the soft white sand we docked on was purely tranquil. A shell necklace was placed around each of our necks