ocean drift: Gliding into the NEW.

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After Hiroko caught the Shinkansen back to Nagoya I started the next level of the trip on the 30-12-09 at Fukuoka Station.

I had only two days to go in this turbulent year 2009! So many things have happened …

I left the concrete labyrinth behind me with mixed feelings of freedom and loneliness. The winding Japanese country road got me back; now on my own heading towards freezing liquid. I was back on track searching for some waves. I checked the surf report along the Kyushu coastline. My first target was Hyuga & Miyazaki, according to the ‘magicseaweed’ forecasts these where the spots where waves would be. It took me hours to get there all the way from Fukuoka. I didn’t take the high way, because I wanted to explore the landscape. It is amazing scenery down there. And I arrived around 2 o’clock at the beach, set up my car for surviving mode in the cold coast wind ...

I woke up around 07:23 seeing him getting ready with the plank … I knew immediately that it must be smaller.

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the old man and the sea.

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I got out of my personal mobile capsule hotel and checked the swell. As I assumed; NOTHING smaller then small. But around 6 people in the line up. All of them with Longboards. So what to do?

I sat down in the sun freezing cold wind watching the acrobats riding the waves. It was very cold. Some Japanese guys sat down next to me smiling. I started to open up an conversation with my few Japanese I picked up so far. They told me that there where no waves since two weeks … and that there won’t be any for the next two. (!!!?!!!)

One guy stood up, went to the wending machine (which you can find anywhere in this country … nothing is easier to find than a dink in this country. It seems that any soft drink not further than 12.5 m away. Even in the most isolated countryside) and got back with three coffees one for him, his mate and the strange blond dude. So cool. Then he checked the waves on a Japanese forecast and showed me some places on the opposed side of Kyushu. I went to the car and grabbed my road map and he marked the spots I should check there.

So I made the decision and drove all the way across along beautiful rivers through green valleys until it started to snow and the landscape turned from green to white. I couldn’t believe it my searching for waves in the warmest region in Nippon and then SNOW!!! And it didn’t stop. I had to pass one mountain pass to get down to the shoreline. And the snow just got worse. When I rented the car, I didn’t take the winter tires, knowing that I’ll go down south and now I was in the middle of a snowstorm. I climbed the mountain pass, but then sliding through the curves. Finally I got stuck. I had to slow down because of another car, which was hanging there. The ride was over … at least uphill. I didn’t have any chance to make a u-turn so I had to go all the way in reversing gear. It was crazy.

***

I had about two hours left in 2009 and I really didn’t want to celebrate my Japanese New Year in the middle of nowhere trapped in my car. I didn’t know where to go so I flipped a coin and took the most convincing track up into the dark forest. The road became narrower, the asphalt wound further into the dark.

Finally the peak!

DOWNHILL … and suddenly I saw the ocean right in front of me. And wild waves where crashing on to the rocks. Finally I found what I was looking for.

I parked the car, set up a board, opened the champagne to welcome the New Year.

***