Sweating It
By Michael Kew
Quite selfishly and myopically with typical surferly logic, our problem with Tuvalu is not its lack of fresh water but its dearth of surf spots and their odd proclivity for not catching the same swell that all week has afforded well-overhead tubefests at Cloudbreak, 657 clear blue miles to our south.
It should all compute. At Funafuti’s shapeliest of reef passes, the easterly tradewind blows offshore. Despite Tuvalu’s global position, the Tasman Sea is a reliable swell-kitchen and the Mamanucas’ consistency is our planned panacea.
Previously unconsidered: much deeper than Fiji’s, Tuvalu’s bathymetry plunges to 6,500 feet and does not lure southern swell to the atolls. Instead, once freed of Melanesia, swells roam northeasterly across the Pacific, past Tuvalu to barrel away in Kiribati and along Hawai’ian south shores.
Fiji, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia are also highly effective swell-blockers. We decided that any surfable swell needed to be legit large to properly ignite Funafuti. Recall “Big Friday” during 2012’s Fiji Pro and the great pulse of May 2018.
That kind of action? We might never know.
Tonight we do know, via the hotel’s transient Wi-Fi, that Cloudbreak is again pumping.
“If we leave tomorrow, I can catch this swell at Bowls,” Jones says. He’s half-joking. “Or Cloudbreak.”
But today is Thursday. Saturday’s flight has been canceled. Zilch till Tuesday.
Hopes dashed faster than Jones can poo in the lagoon.
Manos, Ciguatera Pass, Tuvalu. Photo: Kew.
