Cloudbreak : The Swell of Our Lives

Parker and I were super fortunate to experience Tavarua at a young age. Our dad won a heal the ocean raffle for a trip to tavarua when we were about 6 and 8 years old. We went as a family and absolutely fell in love with the Island, the waves, and more importantly the people. 

My parents let me surf cloud break, but they required that I wear a helmet and booties. I surfed several super fun session at Cloudbreak and even at that young age, I fell in love with the wave. I had no issue catching the waves, but I couldn’t make it back out after them. The legendary lifeguards who were there at Tavarua, Johnny Maher and Derek Dunfee, would come to the inside and push me back out. It was the trip of a lifetime and I left infatuated with Tavarua and the prospect of being a Tavarua lifeguard one day. 

On that same trip we got to see the boys surf some perfect waves at Cloudbreak. Big, perfect, empty waves at cloud break. I also remember gawking over a photo of Conan Hayes hanging above Dylan Fish’s desk in his office at outside ledge cloud break. It became a dream of mine to surf out there on a day like that.  

I never had the chance to be there for one of these illusive swells, but this March a swell popped up that looked like it could send a solid pulse of swell to Cloudbreak that might be just big enough to be good on the outside ledge. It wasn’t a huge swell on paper, but the conditions looked great and I thought there was a chance that it could be just big enough for the outside ledge. I had a gut feeling that we should go. At the same time that I was looking at the swell, Benji Brand reached out to me and asked what I thought. We decided to pull the trigger and put together a sick little crew to strike the swell. Luckily, our friends at Tavarua put had a room for us all to crash in. 

The excitement leading in to the swell was second to none. We arrived a few days before the big day and got super fun waves at Cloudbreak every day. It had been 3 years since I’d been to Tavarua and it felt so good to be back. The best part about being back was definitely seeing all of the Fijians that I’ve known since I was 8 years old. They’re such special people with the biggest hearts and the island has a vibe that is like nowhere else. 

The morning of the swell we were up at 430. We warmed up, fueled up, and had all our boards ready to load on the boats and the jet skis. Our first glimpse at Restaurant in the dark showed pumping sets wrapping around the island. We were so fired up loading up that I set my phone on the ski and pushed the ski in the water… I realized my phone was then on the bottom of the ocean.

Parker and I charged out to Cloudbreak on a jet ski side by side with the Tavarua boat full of the rest of the boys. The most insane sunrise was exploding over the main island of Nadi as we bounced out towards Cloudbreak. We could see big waves marching down the reef at cloudbreak and the excitement levels were at all time highs. Just as we pulled up, we saw someone tow in to an absolutely perfect 15 foot wave and get tubed down the whole reef. I couldn’t believe that the swell actually came together and we were here to surf a perfect day on the outside ledge. 

The tide was a little high in the morning and it seemed like the swell was filling in. It was a little slow and the whole line up was trying to figure out how big the waves were so it took us a few to start getting the good ones. I was so fired up to get a wave that I was gromming out a bit chasing some smaller waves. I really wanted one of the long stretched out medium sized waves that looked like a close out. I missed a couple of waves that I wanted and Jai Glindemen got one of them that was so sick. 

The first big crazy wave was Kohl Christensen. He has been there for several of these swells and was the first one out in the lineup paddling in the spot. It was clear that he knew exactly which wave he was waiting for. He got a gem. The next crazy one I saw was Parker dropping in on a bomb! It was so cool to see  him whip around underneath a BOMB, put his head down, and knife a huge drop! I paddled over the wave screaming as loud as I could as he came off of the bottom into a huge tube. Just after that I got a shot at a medium super stretched out one. It was my first wave and I scratched my 7’6 mother trucker into it. The line on the wave was so long and I pulled up high and got two big pumps in and held on for dear life. The vision in the tube was so big and dreamy. I thought I had a chance at making it, but the tube sucked air back as I hit the foam ball and I got eaten up. 

I had an inflation vest on and head never used one, but figured this would be a good time to give it a try. I pulled the rip chord, which was very hard to find underwater might I add, and went on to get absolutely pounded. I came up way inside with my vest inflated and took a couple more on the head before I got picked up by the jet ski. The ski ride back out was so intense. Cloudbreak has no defined channel making it a really hard jet ski ride back out. 

Wow, that wave was such a crazy rush! 

The session went on and just got better and better. As the tide went out, the wind got even cleaner, and the sets started stacking up right on the outside ledge. The vibe in the water was all time and we had an epic crew of people taking turns on the waves of our lives. 

I definitely got a few of the best waves of my life, but one stuck out in particular. It wasn’t the biggest wave, but it was a long stretched out medium one that I came off the bottom and rode the foam ball for a few seconds. There were multiple moments where I didn’t think I was going to make it, but somehow my board held and kept driving me towards the shoulder. I was in disbelief when I made it. 

This day was definitely the best surf that I have ever seen. It was crazy how these big waves were just marching in without a drop of water of of place. To share this session with my brother and close friends was a dream come true and one that I’m going to hold onto forever. We are saving the footage for our parts in Snapt 5!!!! We look forward to sharing it soon!