Hi my name is Chris Bertish, for those who don’t know me: I’m thirty three, been working in the surf industry for the last eight years and I’ve been surfing for twenty odd years and big waves for roughly fifteen and still learning.
I have been coming to Northern California & Hawaii for eight years on and off.
I was the first South African to make it on the Alternates list for the Mavericks event and but have never made the main invitee list until this year. It’s a long and hard road, but if you make the top 24, it’s all worthwhile, now they just have to run the event so I can represent and kick ass!
It doesn’t all just happen overnight …. As many of you know being South African isn’t easy, visa nightmares, minimal sponsorships, the rand dollar exchange rate and jobs that won’t give you enough leave, all these factors make it really difficult to achieve your dreams. This is where good old South African inginuity, sacrifice, commitment and dogged determination come in. If you want it badly enough, you’ll make it happen, no matter what it takes.
Mavericks
Over the last eight years I’ve lost or sacrificed numerous girlfriends, opportunities, parties, jobs and amounts in cash that would have paid up a house in full, with the trips I’ve made, the pilgrimage to live the dream, to get an invite to the heaviest Big Wave Invitational event in the world: The Mavericks event. 24 of the world’s best big wave paddle surfers, a three month waiting period, pitted against the heaviest big wave spot on the planet!
Picture Kalk Bay at twenty feet (40ft faces), a mile out to sea, deep dark and ugly, water as cold and frigid as Dunes in mid-summer, except with a wind chill factor of 5 degrees and below, very big great whites which bite or bump surfers annually, jagged pinnacles of rock sticking up on the inside section 15ft out of the water, that strike fear into the bravest of big wave warriors. Welcome to the heaviest spot on the planet, welcome to Mavericks.
So, does it begin when I book my ticket and get on the plane? I don’t think so …
It starts in August, the training begins…training? What?
Training once or twice a day, besides surfing, six days a week for four months before I leave, to get into the right shape and be ready to take three beasts on the head and live to tell the tale. September is when I stop drinking … zero tolerance for three months before I leave, as part of the training and prep for the trip. Then a day before I leave in mid December, I partly tear the MCL ligament in my knee. Specialist says 8-12 weeks out … Wrong! Not when you put this much into getting ready … Welcome to my life, this is where it all really begins …
So I postpone my trip for three days, thinking that should do it. See a couple of specialists and an acupuncturist and get a kick ass knee brace and head off to Northern California, barely able to walk and so the trip begins…
So day 1, I land in San Francisco, grab a rental a car big enough to take my 9.2 big wave stick and hit the road…
I head out to meet an old friend, big Wave legend and Mavericks guru, Jeff Clark. We touch base, he shows me two new boards he’s shaped for me, magic peaches and we catch up over a traditional Starbucks coffee.
I check forecast and the next four days are small, so I decide to head North to Oregon, rest the knee and avoid getting tempted by the ocean and go touch base with the guys of Naish International, to pick up a paddleboard I can use while I’m here… And so the driving begins. Six hours in and the sirens start. First speeding ticket and the cop wants to take me to jail, I’m over the limit by 20 mph. Not good in this country, if you’re that much over, you go to jail…, but I sweet talk the guy and plead ignorance as a poor South African. I get a pretty nasty ticket $60 and off I go.
Ten hour’s drive into one of the heaviest snow storms of the season, all seems a little sketchy, but optimism is my best friend right now.
Pull In
The roads slow and then the snow really starts coming down and this is where a little foresight helps. Snow chains for the rental car. Stoked I bought them before the trip, just never put any on before and I have no shoes… Just my Ocean Minded flip flops. Not clever Bertish! So, imagine lying on your back on the side of the road in flip-flops in 6inch snow trying to put snow chains on your tyres… Not funny and friggen cold. After one tyre, I jump back in the car and turn the heater onto my frozen toes at full blast, till they thaw, then I jump out to do the other one… Repeat the cycle till snow tired up and head out at 60km top speed with chains.. Nice.
I check in to get some rest and head out again early… Well that’s if I can find my car under all the snow. 45 minutes with a Starbucks coffee cup to dig my way out and I’m on the road again…ha-ha, classic!
Naish HQ
The roads are hectic, but I manage to get up to the Salmon River in Oregon in another seven hours and meet up with the Naish International guys at the HQ, they are super cool. They laugh at my stories and that I’m still wearing my trusty flip flops and kit me out with a new Naish stand up paddleboard 9,6ft to use while I’m in town and they mention that the storm just starting to hit is bad and if I don’t leave now, I’ll probably be snowed in for the next couple of days. So I pack it all in my car and hot foot it back south.
What a funny couple days…got to laugh!
I stop off on the way and stand up paddle Shazda lake with snowy mountains in the background solo … beautiful & peaceful!
SUP Surfing Santa Cruz
Between then and Christmas, its lots of acupuncture and swimming and paddle boarding to keep fit and to strengthen the knee. I hate needles!
I’m back just in time for Christmas with Jeff Clark and Cassandra, his lovely wife and Pico the pet and just in time for a small 10-12ft day at Mavs. Wrap that leg and put it in a heavy brace and head out with Jeff, for a paddle on my new flying peach. A magic 9.1fter, Jeff shaped for me, before I arrived.
We share laughs while reminiscing about past swells and good times, under a crisp, chilly, but bright blue sky and share some super fun waves, with no wipe outs for me, to keep the leg safe and in one piece.
The waves stay small and New Years comes and goes with house parties in the streets in San Francisco. Not much surf besides some fun SUP sessions in Santa Cruz and some good times catching up with old friends…
The forecast is looking better for the next week or two and the opening ceremony is in a couple days, so life is good, 2009 is looking good!
The follow up reports coming soon …
