Water's Way

Water’s way

As my search for adrenaline continues, my mates and I decided to hit a local beach, Riviera, to check out the surf. Now, none of us actually surfs, but each one of us would absolutely love to have a crack at some 10 foot waves found in Hawaii. Sadly, in Malta you’ll have more chance finding a gold Rolex than a 10 foot wave.

Another of my top goals this summer is to surf, or wind surf. A cousin of mine has offered to take me, but this weekend it was time to test my swimming strength in the dangerous currents of Ghajn Tuffieha bay, aka Riviera: My favorite local beach, which offers stunning views and smooth silky copper sand for comfort.

What we discovered when taking our initial jumps is that in the sea, it really is the water’s way. Deep sea under currents ensure your swimming capabilities are seriously diminished, and large waves breaking in your face doesn’t exactly help your case. We were equipped with jablo filled body boards, and looked as happy as kids in an adventure park as we hit the first waves. Attempting these with no board was a tough job, and I soon found myself attempting an underwater Dutch roll after a mountain of water smashed my way. Back flips, front flips and corkscrews quickly followed, and I had soon swallowed enough water to fill my belly up for the day.

The sight of a mammoth (by our standard) wave coming towards you makes you feel rather insignificant. For a few moments, you are powerless as the water pushes you towards the beach. White foam surrounds you and dizziness does tend to follow a curly corkscrew. Quick reflexes are required in order to shake off the dizziness and prepare for the next wave, and one thing I noticed is that the next wave always seems bigger.

By this time I managed to grab a body board, and set myself in position to body surf the bay. Trying to outrun a wave is impossible, and when it eventually catches up to you, it takes you and your body board swiftly down the bay, knocking into people and picking up more water, and sand along the way. The speeds you pick up seem Ferrari-like as you are extremely close to the surface, and again you are powerless, a victim of the wicked wave that takes you from your location to any destination it chooses. You finally open your eyes and realize you’re now beached, and like a whale can’t believe what just happened to you. Time to go again, and again and again! This may not be surfing, but boy, it never gets old. As I type this I can still taste the salt in my mouth and it feels like I’ve just got back from eating a well cooked sword fish down at the local restaurant. Awesome (or gnarly to stick with surfing clichés)

Body surfing is kids stuff really, and investing in a nice short board would be the ideal thing to do, but that’s just another thing on my ever growing bucket list.

Skim boarding was up next on the agenda as Pablo, Tommy, JD and I were determined we would make maximum use of the powerful and wonderful waves. Jumping on a skim board is not exactly as easy as it looks, as I found out on my first attempt. I started off brilliantly, and smoothly glided over the sand until my balance gave up and threw me straight on my back side, much to the delight of the onlookers. As we tried more and more, the crowds gathered and I soon felt like I was David Beckham, minus the good looks, spice girl and oh, infinite amounts of hard cash.

If only everyday was as rough as today in Malta. If that had been the case then football wouldn’t exist in my world, and my buddies would have to stop me from talking about surfing too much, not Manchester United or the World Cup!