***Finally - Saturday 10:14pm my phone is ringing!!! I waited for this all day long. It’s my friend Hiroyuki. I press the answering button ‘moshi moshi’ I say (‘Ich werde dir etwas erzählen – I’ll tell you something’).
‘moshi moshi’ he replies ‘I’m infront of the MINI STOP now’. I quickly grab my board & wetsuit and run down the hallway to the elevator …
Hiroyuki is waiting in front of his car with a big smile on his face. After a quick salutation I throw my stuff into his big van and we are heading North West in direction Fujigaoka – Nagoya. It’s a warm summery Saturday evening. The girls are wearing short dresses and fancy high heels, the boys crazy haircuts and massive 35cm Louis Vuitton wallets are peeking out of the back pocket.
This scenery feels almost familiar the convenient stores, the Pachinko gaming halls, the bright advertising panels and the petrol stations with the friendly yelling service staff welcoming the arriving costumers …While the colourful city lights and concrete highways are flying by is my mind already somewhere else. Just a couple of hours and I’ll be back in the water.
A long time passed since I smelled the ocean …
Hiroyuki dropped me off at the bar where your mutual friend Joel works. He is the link between me and Hiroyuki. Joel introduced me to Hiroyuki when we met the first time at an organic wine tasting (but this is another story – ups … this shows me how long I’ve not written anything for you). Joel is Canadian, but he lives since five years in Japan, speaks perfect Japanese and knows lots of locals in Nagoya. I waited until he finished his shift around 00.00 then we went with his flatmate called Taka (like my flatmate) to a new restaurant, had a little midnight snack some beers and went around 03:00am to bed.
04: 47 in the morning my phone rings I answer, pack my things and down the staircase into the warm misty morning light. No one around. Two minutes later. Hiroyukis white van turns into a street, I jump in and we are driving to pick up two more surfers one girl and another guy …
Two more guys are joining us on the way to the surf spot. Another two are already there. They had there first session when I stumbled down the stairs.
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07:00am we finally reached the coast.
A small street led us through the bamboo forest along rice fields until we where able to see the Pacific ocean laying quietly and as flat as a pancake in front. Suddenly I felt how tired I was. I couldn’t believe it I knew that it would be small, that’s what my forecast had prophesied me all week long, but FLATTTTTTT!?
It bugged me a bit getting up so early for nothing ...
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Daijoubu … we tried the call the other guys to find out where they surfed on this flat surface. But we didn’t have any reception. Hiroyuki managed to call the others and we drove a bit further up the coast where we eventually fond knee high waves.
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Brilliant better the NOTHING!
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We surfed and surfed.
When I got out of the water the others (by now we where nine people) where having a little jam session singing drinking, eating and swinging around. Nice nice vibe …
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Such a good Sunday keeps you up for the week!
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Small, Short but Sweet …
that’s how I would describe the wave quality of this weekend surf here in Irago, Aichi, Japan. Let’s see what happens when the typhoon season starts … I’ll keep you updated.
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Some of you kept asking how the surfing conditions are here in Nippon. Because of that I decided to open a new category for those of you who share the love I feel for the ocean.
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