Chasing a wave worth losing your job over.
I’m motioning through mid-week-monotony when I receive a call from Darcy Ward, asking about the chances of me getting a few days off work for a strike mission.
Darcy is the man behind the video lens, a prolific chronicler of all-things surfing over the last decade and currently the creative/marketing director of Vissla Australia.
As I’m amidst a busy summer holidays’ lifeguarding season, I answer with an initial, ‘No chance!’ I hang up the phone and then Darcy texts through a photo of the swell chart with a message: “It’s looking like eight-10-foot for two days with pretty much no wind”. My heart drops. I’ll be absolutely devastated if I miss this. Toby Mossop and Darcy are going with or without me and the FOMO will be unbearable. It seems an opportunity worth losing my job over.
I nervously call the boss and plead my case. “Leave it with me”, he answers. A few nail-biting hours later, he calls me back and lets me know he’s updated my roster. Four days off! We’re on. I let the boys know I’m in and the flights are booked.
Perched roadside atop my board bag in the darkness before dawn, I eagerly wait for the boys (Darcy Ward & Toby Mossop) to pick me up. This wave is the Unicorn we’ve had on our radar for the last eight years. There is no chance I’m going to miss this flight.
Louie Hynd locked in.An hour goes by watching dishevelled humans stagger out of taxis after a night on the town. I anxiously make a call to Darcy assuming he’s slept through his alarm. No answer, then a text pings back, “Mate we leave 2:30PM, not 2:30AM”.
‘’Shit!” At least this is the earliest I’ve ever been packed and ready for a trip. I ...
