THE GREAT STORM OF HERCULES

A rare 933 mb. low that practically covered the entire Atlantic in early January of this year, will go down in history for its intensity and sheer size and power that accompanied the severe weather it delivered.

Having long understood the significance and reach of these fetches, I started tracking the swell around the 3rd of January. Ireland, France, Portugal looked to be taking the direct hit from this menacing storm and those options all left me feeling cold chills and a generally low level of interest to fly into the eye of the storm.

Words Kai Katchadourian // Photos Simon Crowther

(This feature originally appeared in the June 2014 issue of Windsurf Magazine. To read more features like this first, Print and Digital subscriptions are available. Prices include delivery globally for 10 x issues a year!)

SWELL STALKING
More tracking continued and, by the 4th, the gauntlet from Newfoundland and Greenland was on a direct NNE heading with a very healthy swathe aimed at my absolute favorite destination anywhere – Cabo Verde, and the windy island of Sal. The outlook was off the hook in several aspects. The first being a very coveted 19-second period swell band. With the swell hitting, the wind actually had been modeled to scale back to near windless levels initially, before swinging back to NE midway through the swell. That meant an absolute certainty for an extended run of perfect surf.

Taking it all in, I contacted some likely candidates to join in this mission. Photographer Si Crowther had been very interested to come join up and shoot these epic waves ,and he seemed like 100% in right off the bat. Kevin Pritchard, keen on chipping away at some more point-break riding after having joined a mission last year was also telling me simply “just let me know – I’m ready to go”. Kevin, who had his kit stashed in Germany, was already halfway there, as he followed his girlfriend Resi on the US Ski Team and awaited my word to march to Sal. Having the ultimate advantage myself of a part time Winter station in Helsinki – and a super awesome and understanding wife – I checked tickets. I’d already collected a solid amount of surfboards with a custom Simmer Flywave 85 just waiting for me there as well. After yet more intensive swell tracking, the mission was officially on. The storm of Hercules was impacting Europe with some of the scariest images ever seen of the ocean’s fury, as well sending perfect swell bands away from the eye of the storm. So instead of running to the eye of the storm, our idea was to run away from it. Perfect call!

TOUCH DOWN
Lisbon is the gateway to Cabo Verde, flying in on TAP Portugal. The flight is a milk run for the island, and you generally need to reserve space in the hold for one’s gear. With just two surfboards and a few sails to add to my collection, I was at ease. Kevin looked in control with his one big bag containing all his kit. Si was the one who seemed to have the biggest challenges, with his new drone, multiple lenses and housings, tripod and cameras. He was at the gate in Lisbon with his coat full of extra lenses and looked a bit like some sort of underground black market guy selling camera gear on the street. The agents had fun checking him in no doubt. Before we knew it, wheels down with a sudden arrival and eventual taxi to Santa Maria where we were up early the next morning with the swell hitting full on.

While we were not 100% sure of it upon arrival, we soon learned Josh Angulo also factored in this mission – and no epic trip to Cabo Verde is complete without Josh in the mix. Far and away the best guide with intimate local knowledge, able to call Kevin and I into waves we may not have seen the same way, Josh hooked us up at his Angulo Cabo Verde center, the best on Earth. Taking a break from his Boston residence, Josh truly needed these sessions that we scored and you could tell even though he was due to return to the USA, he stayed as long as he could, even longer kind of by accident.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
Josh: “The Hercules swell rolled around right as I had my family travels set to leave Cabo Verde after the winter school break and get my son, Noah, back into school. Upon getting a couple quick e-mails from Kevin and Kai that they were incoming, I started getting that all too familiar feeling of being the “forever surf grom”. This is a feeling that I can’t shake no matter how many years I’ve been riding waves. The stoke of knowing that there’s gonna be waves and you’re gonna score with some friends. As simple as it sounds, after so many years it’s still such a strong driving force in my life and lives of those around me. With this growing feeling of excitement, my wife was in agreement that we should stay a few more days for the swell and I had no trouble convincing Noah to miss a few more days of school in snowy Boston. So it was on …

When the boys showed up, the reality was we just had a lot of fun. Yes, we’re spoiled. Yes, we have one of the best lifestyles one could ask for. Many of the afternoons after scoring perfect waves we’d kick back at the Angulo Beach Club and recount many of the stories of life on tour, old rivalries, old party stories etc. For me it was basically a week of a couple of the ‘good ‘ol boys’ getting together to share perfect waves. The funny thing is, I see rental clients of ours coming from Germany, Holland, Scandinavia, the UK, Portugal, France and all over Europe – and they are doing the same thing we do.Friends getting together to enjoy good time on the water and good vibes on the land. Who could ask for more?

KP GOES NUTS
Kevin Pritchard may have become some sort of underground surfer on this trip and, as this first day evolved you could see him lose that windsurfer surf style and blossom into his own self. We both joked amongst the locals and stayed in our rotation getting back into the swing of things at Pt. Preta. Such a great warm-up for the sailing we were about to have. As the wind filled in gently, it came in side-shore – which is rare for Pt. Preta – and it was enough to sail effectively for just a few people out on 5.3, but also shut down the kites pretty much all day because of some serious holes in the wind. By the time we were done, Si had collected a treasure of smooth sailing at this historically perfect canvas, made famous by movies and competitions in the past, where now, it was mostly just KP, Josh and myself trading off, hardly a care in the world about horns and heats. Just wave after wave reeling down the point for 200+ meters. We stayed camped for Pt. Preta, clearly the focus of this trip. It seemed like old times for sure. Kevin seems to be quite dedicated to coming here now, this being his second trip in a year.

Kevin: The swell for me came just when I needed it. I was in Europe for Christmas and New Year and I had lugged all my gear over in hope of a super swell coming. I was in touch with the ‘Flykatcher’ hounding him for surf reports. We were checking the maps – and BAM! Hercules appeared on the charts. It was time. Perfect timing. Get there on the 6th, swell on the 7th, lets go. For me Punta Preta is one of my all time favorite places to windsurf in the world. I can still remember my 2007 aerial off the lip, which sticks deep within my soul. We woke up to swell pumping, but not too much wind. Time to bust out the surfboards. To me surfing Punta Preta is almost as good as sailing it. The waves are easy to get into and long, fast and fun. I am not really a true surfer. I love to surf, but only when the conditions are firing. I stayed out on the water for 6 hours. Enough said. My smile was ear to ear. I couldn’t paddle any more, the swell was only getting bigger. We had epic surf the entire trip. It was perfect. A couple days surfing, a couple days sailing and I was happy. Best surf trip I can remember for a while. I was so truly blessed to be able to go out there and have some fun with the boys. What a ride!

Si dared to swim in the impact zone at Pt. Preta with solid swell on a few occasions with his water housing. Most of the time he was in the zone getting the shot, a few times riding on the ‘bubble’ that pulls you out of the impact zone or into the pit depending on the tide swing. Si pulled the trigger on several of our best moments from the water perspective and it seemed like the best-case scenario with such an easy feeling of getting the right wave and then just lining up with no hassles.

Even when things got hectic with the various watercraft out there, Si held tough and we all see the results here.

WATERHOUND
Si Crowther: Hercules was a big deal here in the UK. Around a week before it hit, the UK had suffered big storm surges and high winds, flooding. Wind and sea damage was daily news. So when this bomb of a storm popped up on the charts, people were getting nervous and the UK was getting set to brace itself again. That’s when Kai’s email landed in my inbox. The call was for Cape Verde and it made perfect sense. I knew we needed to be on the fringes of this storm if we were to stand any chance of good wave riding conditions … it was on!

This was my first trip to CV. I wanted to be prepared for every shot opportunity, which means taking a lot of photo gear. This can make check-in tricky for me. All was well with the two cases I checked in. But then the clerk asked to weigh my hand luggage. Uh oh – that’s the bag that contains all my lenses and camera bodies – its HEAVY! 28 kg. it read on the scales. It took some sweet talk, I had to stuff cameras and lenses in my jacket pockets and wore my Canon 1DX and 300 mm. around my neck too, so they eventually let me on the plane despite their 7 kg. hand luggage limit. I was getting some very funny looks on the plane, but I was on my way!

Oh my God! The wave quality in CV is off the scale! I knew Punta Preta was good – the 2007 PWA wave tour event announced this to the world – what I did not expect is just how epic it was and how many other world class wave spots were all around us. CV is a serious playground for a water photographer. My attack on the incoming conditions was simple:

For the windsurfing shots, bag a load of solid ones from the land first, then get out there and swim for the gold, the water shots. Conditions in the sets were pretty big and there was a lot of water moving around. The current moves off the point fast. I was kicking hard for hours just to stay in place. At the switch of the tide, the current would reverse and push into the pit up at the point. So I was swimming even harder to avoid the impact zone, all whilst trying to line up for the shot. This was not an easy shoot, but very rewarding and so worth it. As if that wasn’t good enough, on the surf days, every spot Josh took us to was firing. I was getting more than my fill of surf shots too.

In the end we got two bites at the cherry with good wind and waves on two of the days and I was super happy with shooting good friends and capturing the insane action. I think there’s something about Cape Verde that will now forever pull me back there. What an adventure! I hope you enjoy the shots!

PURRRRFECTION
While Hercules left destruction in its wake all across Europe with some of the nastiest episodes of big swell ever seen, the story in Cabo Verde was one of the best swells seen all season, five days straight of absolutely perfect waves in many locations across the island, with multiple sessions both surfing and windsurfing. There was a secondary re-generator swell that brought my count to eight days on the water in a row by the time the swell had indeed finally dropped off. As it was, the feeling amongst us all was one of being utterly satisfied that the trigger was pulled on this mission. As I packed up my gear at the Surf Activity Center and set aside my quiver of surf and windsurf gear for storage, I can only attest to further preparation and anticipation of the next missions to follow.

In as much as we know we have Sal, there are other islands out there in the Cape Verdean chain. It’s about time to go explore those options as well. Until next time! KK

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