Journey to Middle Earth ... by Rowan Aish

Hi guys

Here's the run down of the Kiwi's first contest for the year in Europe, the Vendee Pro. Mostly its an elaborate description of how we got there and hopefully you can get a feel for traveling half way around the world between contests.

Journey to Middle Earth

Its 3pm on Friday the 3rd and the time has come. The necessary pilgrimage to Europe looms ahead like some treacherous journey to Mordor. But like Frodo and the Ring... this was a journey bigger than both of us. So after loading the gear in (or mostly on) the hire car, we head to the fabled Margaret River one last time to pick up Ricardo Christie before tackling phase one… 4-hours of cornerless - if not characterless - highway to Perth.

Being Ricardo’s first journey to the far North you could smell, among other, more tangible smells, the excitement in the car. He was also noticeably excited when an old friend from Mahia, now working the mines in Perth, decides to take us out for full night of good clean fun, before dropping us at the airport for the 6am flight to Dubai.

It sounded good on paper… stay up all night, sleep all the way to Europe, no jet lag… But come 3am, wading through the mass of inebriated Australian youth, I’m struggling to locate and hustle the boys out of the smoky sweat pit and into the car. I finally spot Rick loitering on the balcony and together we locate Nick’s mass of blond hair bobbing somewhere between the ‘Pole’ and the ‘Disco Ball’. 20 minutes later we’re at the airport and ready to check in… sort of… the Boys are a mess! Concerned with whether we’d even be allowed on the plane we were on our best behavior. We even managed to flash big smiles of appreciation when the check out lady informed Rick of a $700 Excess baggage charge!

It was now time for Nick and I to flaunt our knowledge as second year campaigners on a budget, and educate our young friend in the mystical packing process of turning 120kg of gear into 60.

So there we were, in the middle of Perth international airport, wearing every item of clothing in our bags, pockets full of anything not sharp or explosive, wearing leashes and electrical chargers as jewelry and swaying like seamen at port. The next 24 hours promised to be a sweaty journey of hung-over purgatory, but we saved hundreds of superior Aussie dollars and for that, we celebrated... with an ill advised $50 bottle of red (13 hours later the regret was unanimous).

After half a nights sleep in Paris (nothing glamorous, B&B, sushi for dinner) we picked a couple of Aussie stragglers up from the airport and tackled the six hour drive to Brettignolles.

Such a journey takes its toll. The big three… body, mind and soul… have each been bruised at various stages of the journey and time is needed for healing. But with the contest starting the following day the boys had to push on. Luckily though for this entourage of southern men, the Vendee Pro is designed for those who like to take advantage of being young, free and surrounded by exotic beauty… In short things never get going before 1pm and everyone’s happy.

This event was always going to be more about the money than the points, being a 4* WQS the points aren’t worth getting excited over short of winning, but being seeded into the round of 64 as we all were, means walking away with at least $800 U.S. in pocket.

The waves were fun, not pumping but a good 3-4 foot swell pulsed for the duration of the event. By some terrible stroke of misfortune Nick and I ended up in the same heat and it wasn’t a good feeling keeping him off a score with minutes to go, finishing second in front of my faithful companion. He more than got his own back but that’s another day’s tale.

I went on to lose in the round of 32, unable to hold Joan Duru off a low score in the dying seconds of the heat. (as some consolation Joan went on to pull the same trick in the final, winning the event)

So once again it was Ricardo Christie flying the kiwi flag. Rick was looking strong from the beginning, confidently posting eights and nines throughout the event. It was the infamous Joan Duru (aka kiwi slayer) who finally put a stop to things in the semi’s, but Rick earned himself the third place trophy and more importantly… a podium finish! That bastard could have hand picked half the girls in Vendee if he wanted!

With the comp wrapped up and the waves turning ugly, we spent the next few days growing very fond of the local disco-tech, before setting out on the long journey south to my personal favorite… Lisbon.

More adventures coming soon.

Rowan Aish