Shared Soul

After 15 months of dedication to flying, I achieved my Commercial Pilots License in the most dramatic possible circumstances. My final test was rescheduled a number of times due to weather, and the assessor was going to be a gent who no one in my network had ever met before. An assessor's ice cold template while analysing a student pilot's every move is nerve wrecking. After my air work test, when I parked the DA-40 in the yard, I didn't realise somebody parked their car somewhere near my usual spot. The tip of my wing was less than 5cm from the rearview mirror when I came to a full stop. Should I have touched that, all my plans of going to Indonesia with the left over money from my studies would've fallen through.

Looking back it's kinda twisted how just about everything I do revolves around going to Bali haha. When I got my CPL, it was time to completely reshuffle life once again. I had to leave so much behind.. My car, the superbanks, my unit, most of my boards, a lot of my friends and Julia.

The idea was going to Indonesia for as long as I could stretch the 5 grand I had left on my account and then go to Rio to try and get a job as a pilot there.

Plans are more of a guideline, and when you insert Bali anywhere within them, you can most certainly expect unforeseen developments.

flawless autumn mornings in my last months living on the GC

I was happy to get to take Julia flying with me 2 times before finishing my training

Flipping a very special page

I always knew I was gonna go to Hawaii at some point… although it was not on top of my bucket list, I have always had this feeling that I almost owed it a visit as a tribute to all it is and to all it’s made possible for surfing.

An unforeseen set of circumstances ended up fast-forwarding that otherwise procrastinated experience. All I had in my mind was the raging crowds, the rogue waves and the irregular bone crushing reefs. I was preset to be scared of it since I was a grom.

Even if that was the case, I left all reluctancies aside when I opened my e-mail one day to see this offer of a Coolangatta-Oahu return ticket for $700. On the same day, Julia’s grandma passed away and she cried for 7 hours non-stop. It was clear enough that I just had to get 2x adult tickets right away.

That sorted everything. We took off about a week later. I had no major expectations.. my “quiver” was nothing but my 6’1. Somewhere on the back of my mind I must’ve been hoping to use the lack of appropriated equipment as an excuse not to get huge waves haha

We stayed at a friend’s house in Backyards. It’s just about the best place to be based on on the North Shore. To make it even harder for me to steer away from the bombs, my friend Guga made his whole quiver available to me! So now I had anything from my 6’1 till a 10’ waimea gun.

Everything is Hawaii seemed so… made for me! But with extra challenges added to it. I will never forget my first surf… it was in Sunset. The sand was extra thick, making the walk on the beach a struggle, then when you get close to the water you realize that there are pieces of reef everywhere, so you need to find a keyhole even though you don’t know to what extended it’ll be free of rocks. Then there is the shorebreak. Massive waves explode right on the beach where you’re supposed to jump in. You have to time it right… good luck doing that with a gun that doesn’t allow duckdiving. Once you’re out, you may be a little freaked out by the size of the waves, since you probably never saw anything like that before. But the worst part is when you ask a Hawaiian how big it is and they say it’s only 8ft when you could’ve sworn it was about 15 hahahaha all that’s left now is to pick anywhere you like to sit and wait for a set to come and wash you through almost back to the beach!

That first paddle out was definitely a humbling experience, and that was still nothing for Hawaii’s standards. I knew right away that it was gonna be a long way, quite possibly extending to my whole lifetime, but the fear was partially gone.

After that first big day, the swell dropped and I found out that the North Shore has a whole bunch of super fun uncrowded breaks! We also drove all the way around the island and scored a few on the West Coast. Hawaii was already right up there with Indo and Mexico as far as a destination. It wasn’t all blood and bones afterall.

We only had 14 days all up, so luckly, 2 massive swells hit in our last week and I got to experience the real deal. “Unfortunately” they had the comp on at Pipe, so I missed out on a few days of it. One of the days was so big that even Pipe was maxed out and they put the comp on hold. It was a no brainer, the whole North Shore was in Waimea. After a frustrated attempt to surf maxed out Sunset, I had no other option but to join the crowds at The Bay. It was my second surf there, bigger than my first. They were calling both days 20ft, which made me stoked since that’s what I was there to experience. I got 3 or 4 waves… none of them that big compared to the biggest sets, but still, my 9’ was flying and it felt like multiple orgasms! Still, I felt like something was missing, since I didn’t wipe out or got caught inside a single time in Waimea. I could have basically done it all without even wetting my hair. That was somewhat disappointing, as it was a good opportunity to put myself safely in a hairy situation, since it’s the most patrolled surf spot I’ve even seen.

My good friend Ian arrived a few days before it was my time to leave. The comp in Pipe was over so I got to give that a shot. I was on a 7’6 and had absolutely no idea what to do. Ian was out on the 3^rd reef getting the bombs and threading his way around the crowds, all I could hear once he was past me were atomic explosions, but I had no idea what was really going down. I was humbled once again. After sitting in every possible zone and not getting a chance, mostly because I probably didn’t want one, I found myself a little far from the main spot, hoping for a runner to come my way. Eventually, it did, and I had to go for it. It wasn’t even that big, just really difficult especially on that 7’6. It was less the blink of an eye from when I was getting on my feet to when I was underwater getting bashed by that thing. I was particularly sketchy about the reef in Pipe because in a smaller day, when I got a backdoor wave, I punched the reef accidently on my paddle back out, at a zone where I could very well be jumping off my board head first! Since then I knew how irregular the formation was and that wrecked my confidence. When I popped up from that pipe wipe out not having hit the reef or my board or other people, I was as happy as I could be. It was the last wave of my trip and I had a Commercial Pilot’s Course to go back to. Getting worked and not getting hurt was exactly the outcome I was hoping for at that stage! I knew form then that it would take me years, to dominate Pipe.., if it ever happens.

Besides all the adventures, the highlight of the trip was how absolutely awesome the people are there. I never felt more at home in the sense of having similar values. I was born in Brazil and grew up there, but I hate soccer, samba, capoeira etc and can't dance for shit. I am an Australian Citizen but will never be able to keep up with their drinking, play rugby or make vegemite part of my diet. And I am massive fan of the Balinese people, but I will never ever be as nice as them and content with nothing like they can be, even if I wish I could. However, I just so happen to be very similar to Polynesians. As you may have noticed by reading this blog, a great part of my life revolves around the ocean, and just about everything I do is influenced by surfing. Even if there was no surfing, nature dictates what will happen. From what to do each day to where to live and who my friends are.. it's all completely linked to being as close as I can to what makes me whole. No wonder they were so welcoming and treated me like a brother, I actually believe we are all children of the ocean.