Mick Fanning and Natxo Gonzalez new clips this week documented a return to their secrets. Yet surely they won’t be secret for much as longer.
“The photographer blindfolded me for the last four hours of the trip, so I have no idea where the wave is.”
That was Natxo Gonzalez talking to Tracks after I had asked the inevitable question; so exactly where is the wave in his latest clip A Dream To Share?
The Basque charger was, of course, lying. He’d found the wave by searching on Google Earth. He then waited four years for a swell. Then last year he took a punt, traveling to the wave with just his filmer to check it out. It was good, but not epic. However the potential was clear, as seen by the image below. This year he went back with a few friends and hit pay dirt.
However even by then the word was out. The Portuguese charger Nic Von Rupp has seen Natxo’s clip and following the same swell also tracked down the wave. He turned up on the first day of the swell and “surprised” Natxo, Aritz and their crew.
<blockquote class=”instagram-media” data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=”https://www.instagram.com/p/BnQqz2_FvWn/?utm_source=ig_embed” data-instgrm-version=”9″ style=” background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% – 2px); width:calc(100% – 2px);”><div style=”padding:8px;”> <div style=” background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;”> <div style=” background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;”></div></div> <p style=” margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;”> <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/p/BnQqz2_FvWn/?utm_source=ig_embed” style=” color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;” target=”_blank”>Yes, we went again! But this time with my best friends! Thanks boys for the best trip ever! @aritz_aranburu @adrofernandez @aletxugironi @jonbakio @angula #adreamtoshare Link of the full clip on my bio!</a></p> <p style=” color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;”>A post shared by <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/natxogonzalez1/?utm_source=ig_embed” style=” color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;” target=”_blank”> Natxo Gonzalez</a> (@natxogonzalez1) on <time style=” font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;” datetime=”2018-09-03T10:28:04+00:00″>Sep 3, 2018 at 3:28am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src=”//www.instagram.com/embed.js”></script>
Natxo has a hypothesis that on the same exact swell Mick Fanning was surfing his discovery, “The Snake” with Tyler Wright. “I’m not sure where Mick’s wave is, but that was a special swell. And his clip came out the day before mine, so it seems to make sense. I don’t know for sure though.”
After both African secret sandbar clips dropped this week there was the inevitable mission to find the location of the waves. After all if Natxo himself discovered the wave online, then so will others. The internet sleuths just have more data to work with now there is more footage of the wave.
If that wasn’t enough incentive, one American website even offered a reward of a thousand bucks to locate Mick’s wave. Like Mick, Natxo however has vowed to keep the location a secret, even if he knows that in the modern age he’s effectively pissing into the wind.
“People will find that wave for sure,” says Natxo, “And then someone will publish the name and the location. Personally I won’t reveal it, but only because the way I discovered it myself was so special. I’ve had some amazing surf trips and adventures, but this was more special because of the excitement of the unexpected.”
<blockquote class=”instagram-media” data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=”https://www.instagram.com/p/BnR14X2Bh4e/?utm_source=ig_embed” data-instgrm-version=”9″ style=” background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% – 2px); width:calc(100% – 2px);”><div style=”padding:8px;”> <div style=” background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;”> <div style=” background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;”></div></div> <p style=” margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;”> <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/p/BnR14X2Bh4e/?utm_source=ig_embed” style=” color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;” target=”_blank”>“The anticipation of traveling to the other side of the world, spending all that time and money, not sure if it’s worth it or not. And then, the wave is even better than you imagined. That’s what it’s all about.” – @nicvonrupp, somewhere in Africa</a></p> <p style=” color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;”>A post shared by <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/hurley/?utm_source=ig_embed” style=” color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;” target=”_blank”> hurley</a> (@hurley) on <time style=” font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;” datetime=”2018-09-03T21:55:38+00:00″>Sep 3, 2018 at 2:55pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src=”//www.instagram.com/embed.js”></script>
Now that sentiment is admirable, if a little hypocritical. If Mick and Natxo really wanted to keep their waves secret, they wouldn’t have traveled there with a filmer and dropped edits whose only goal was to be seen by as many surfers as possible.
On the flipside, these waves are so remote and fickle that crowding should never be an issue. With Natxo’s wave it is also ridiculously heavy. He broke nine boards in two days, describes it as far more powerful than Namibia (with a far more difficult takeoff) and reckons it isn’t rideable under six foot. The waves, as far as anyone can guess, hadn’t been surfed before. Mick and Natxo found the secrets and so it’s entirely their decision as to whether they want to keep them or not.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes last year,” said Gonzalez. “To find a wave like that in this day and age is a beautiful thing. It has motivated me to keep adventuring. I’m not going to stop. There are other waves out there. The next one I might just keep secret.” Good luck with that.
