Tales and Spills with Kirk Mantay Short/LongBoarder Baltimore, MD

Barbados 2002:
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 07:13:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kirk Mantay <polyhaline@yahoo.com>
Subject: [annapolissurfclub] Barbados report (no photos yet).

Barbados was something else. I'll just jump right in.

COUNTRY
Barbados is a former British colony that borrows a lot of culture from Jamaica to the north and Trinidad to the south. Tourism and sugar production (rum) are the 2 biggest industries. Currency is Barbados Dollar: $1 US = $2 BDS = $0.70 British lb. Barbados is the only Carribean island that is made of coral instead of volcanic rock. Easterly trade winds blow all year, but die from May to July. Island is basically triangular, with East, West, and South coasts. All beaches are technically public, you can NEVER be refused access to a beach while walking through ANY resort. They try to steer you towards public access points though. Water supply is filtered through the coral, and is clean and very, very safe (but tastes like coral/algae).

SOUTH COAST
We stayed at a resort on the South Coast, which receives waist-chest swells from November to April.
The south coast is composed of highly variable reef breaks, sandbars, and little beach breaks. All are
really easy and pretty close to shore. Very mushy, but some long lines.  Through our whole trip, the wind blew out of the east (side shore) over short period knee to waist SSE windswells, about 5 second periods. The last two days, a thigh to stomach SSE groundswell set in, producing long lines that were less sectiony at low tide over the reefs. At high tide, very sectiony and mushy due to winds. As predicted, there were tons of sea urchins and the reef was very shallow in UNPREDICTABLE locations.  Swell was generally too weak and windblown to connect the outside reef/sandbar breaks and the inside shorebreak. Accra Beach in Hastings (where I think Flips has surfed) was a little
better, cleaner, little wind protection, 1' bigger than our beach (Dover Beach).

EAST COAST
The east coast is pretty violent and rocky. All week it featured a pumping, short period windswell (waist
to 2' OVH) that cleaned up at low tide over the reefs, but was still pretty mushy and where the reef wasn't long enough to provide a long legitimate ride, it was hard to get enough power to connect to the inside section (having my own boards would have helped), leaving you stranded in Sea-Urchin Land (4' deep) having to paddle back over the reef (1.5' deep) to the lineup (6' deep). Surfed two days at Silver Rock, which was beautiful, but I am glad I've been working out all winter--the paddling was brutal. Silver Rock's signature long left works when the reef is more exposed at low tide and the winds are offshore--which they never were. I paddled out next to the rock and rode a left which was very similar to the jetty point break (right) at NJs, but bigger I guess. Again, had to pump that board AND ride the nose to get inside.

Up the coast is Bathsheeba--home of Soupbowl and its sister break, Parlars. Let me first say that Soupbowl is a very advanced break, far more technical than anything I have been around before. The paddle is significant--maybe 500 yards, and the reef is shallow, and the current is very strong the more inside you get. I rode Soupbowl (yes, me) at about chest to shoulder high with nasty onshore winds. It was very easy to paddle into and drop in, but the tube section is NASTY. If you don't make it through the tube section, you will get smacked onto the reef. If you do, a mushy remainder of a ride awaits, with enough power for good turns but no airs or noserides. Speaking of noserides, Soupbowl is no place to have a longboard. I rented/rode a 7'10" fun-gun that was a little floaty but nice and squirrely when it came to turning. That day the tube section wasn't very makeable, but lots of guys tried it anyway. I just
tried to beat the wall before it tubed, or rode around the section if I took off late. It was okay.  Bathsheeba itself is pretty lame but beautiful, with nowhere to eat, nothing to do, etc. Very low income
area, a little sketchy. Beach access to soupbowl is pretty easy. The last two days before we left the
swell and wind got cranked up, swell was 2'OVH+, wind was E about 25kt. No way I was paddling out there.

Parlars was way more fun, and is right up the road. I rode it twice, once on the fun-gun and once on a
rented longboard. Long, fun, mushy rights with NO crowd whatsoever. Long, fun rides on beautiful
turquoise waves, waist high on my soup bowl surf day and about stomach-chest on another day. Watched the little (2-3') reef sharks swim below on the reef as I sat out there. Totally mellow, what a great surf spot.

WEST COAST
The west coast (Carribean side) of Barbados is amazing.  Beautiful water, wind offshore ALL THE TIME. I never saw it more than knee high, but it was always clean for hundreds of yards. This side of the island is very lush and tropical (the south side of the island is very desert-like, chapparal etc.).
Supposedly when hurricane swells get cranking in the Carribean, this area offers double-overhead clean rides of mythical proportions. I surfed the southwest corner of the island--Brandons--across the street from one of the Mount Gay Rum distilleries. It was knee high (or less) and super clean. Rode a crappy, full-o-holes Bic board that was barely long enough (8'0"??) to get in front of the waves. Water was greener than anything I had ever seen in my whole life.

Trip Summary
Lodging options: A+ (anything you want, any price).

Food Options: C- (bland, expensive UK food until you learn where to get the native stuff). We took lots of food with us (breakfast, snacks), which was a good move.

Transportation options: B- (good bus/taxi system, but hard to drive yourself around b/c you drive on the left, in rental cars with steering wheels on the right, and gear shifts on the left). Bus drivers and
taxi drivers do not like surfboards, you "have" to pay them extra (i.e. bribe).

Surf Options: B (Sandbar, beach breaks, reef breaks. Urban surfing, cliff surfing, whatever. All very nice except that the winds don't provide the ideal conditions you might expect in Costa Rica, etc.
Barbados is probably very similar to wind/surf setup in Sayulita--just a guess.

OUR GOOD MOVES
1. Reef booties
2. Longsleeve rashguards
3. Own wax and leash
4. Packed lots of food and used the local grocery store HEAVILY instead of purchasing bland, washed out British cuisine 3x a day from overpriced restaurants.
5. Got a room with small refrigerator and hot water kettle.
6. Drank only the local swill--Mount Gay Rum, Foursquare Rum, Malibu Rum, and Banks Beer. This cost us less money, kept us plenty drunk, and didn't piss off the natives.
7. Packed plenty of tylenol (I sprained ankle one day), Gas X (enough said), and Immodium AD (More than enough said).

THINGS TO CHANGE NEXT TIME
1. Bring own boards
2. No boards with glass-on fins
3. Be more aggressive in searching out native food
4. Be able to access surf reports, tide and most importantly, WIND DATA!!!!!
5. Water purifier, even a cheap one to get the taste of coral/algae/gravel out of our coffee, mac+cheese, etc.
6. Bring ace bandage since I tend to roll my ankles at inopportune moments, and this could cost DAYS of surfing if not properly managed after injury.

Hope you enjoyed my little report.

doubledown/kirk