Crossroads

Looking at a map, one could think that Tahiti, French Polynesia, located in the middle of the Pacific ocean, is faaaarrr away from everything. This is true, but not quite.

Even though I have to admit that our tourism industry is not the best in the Pacific area, I can not deny the fact that Tahiti and her islands do attract people from many different horizons: for spending so much time in the water, I meet lots of foreigners coming from the United states, France, New Caledonia, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, and even Japan…

Although our islands have always been well-known for what they can offer in terms of quality of life, landscapes and waves, I guess Teahupoo’s exposure has a lot to do with the increasing number of surfers coming over here.

And that is probably one of the things that I like about living in French Polynesia: having the opportunity to spend time with people coming from so many different cultures & backgrounds, sharing waves and stories… just making friends. I get in the water, take a look around and often notice someone new in the line up. “Hmmm… new face… obviously not from here…wonder where he (or she) comes from…”

And the guys always start the conversation the same way: how fun the waves are, how lucky I am to live here, and how well I surfed my last wave. Such a classic, I know!

Anyways… this is how I met this bunch of surfers traveling aboard the beautiful catamaran Natural Mystic, owned by Santa Barbara native Kyber Logue, who one day decided to devote his life to the endless pursuit of fun & happiness, chasing waves and wind around the globe (www.mysticsail.com): the guy sailed all the way from the US east coast, going through the British Virgin Islands, the Carribean and the Galapagos, picking up his crew along the way, to finally reach the islands of French Polynesia a few months ago.

The crew had been scoring waves around Tahiti for a few weeks when I met them in Moorea, and these guys being so friendly (and so cute, ha ha!), I decided to hang out with them as long as my free time would allow me to.

In my mind are memories of those great moments spent together, from the heavy Teahupoo line up (these were not that great actually; I have a few scars to prove it) to the quiet lagoon of Bora Bora aboard Natural Mystic: those moments were all about sharing waves and sunsets, dinners and laughter, drinks and stories, with Kyber the American, Dizzy the Ozzie, Kahlil the Kiwi and Dom the Mexican/Canadian.

I still remember those awesome sunset sessions, all those waves shared, and those evenings spent on the trampoline looking at the stars and making a wish for every shooting star I could see (yes, still a kiddo).

Thinking about them and all the surfers I made friends with (either here or abroad), made me realize that surfing does bring people together, no matter who they are or where they come from… I believe that being in the water, paddling for the same wave, feeling the same adrenaline rush, enjoying every nice turn, cheering for each other, just sharing the same passion for waves and life, definitely break boundaries. And thinking about all the conversations we had, I also ended up realizing that our stories are all intertwined, in a way or another.

The Natty M guys have now gone their separate ways, leaving their Tahitian friends in the wake: Dizzy went back to Tasmania via Samoa, Kahlil made it home to New Zealand after a stop in Fiji and Dom is in Canada. As for Kyber, captain and owner of beautiful Natural Mystic, only God knows where he is, this one is hard to track!

And yes, that’s the sad part about living here: seeing your friends leaving, missing them, but hoping to see them again some time in the future, somewhere on this planet; after all, the world is round…

Vainui