SPORTS
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Photos: Inken Janning
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Ins & Outs of Trinidad and Tobago
“Callaloo Island”
The Holy Grail of Surfing By Keith Lewis
If you found the Holy Grail, would you tell anyone? Would you show your discovery to the world? Surfers spend most of their days searching and dreaming of the perfect wave in a warm, un-crowded tropical location. Their pursuit of perfection often results in discoveries coined “secret spots”, which eventually become “not-so-secret spots”. Generally, surfers can be a selfish group; they’re unwilling to share their surf spots, hesitant to share their waves, and would generally blow off any commitments for the sake of catching a few good rides. A non-surfer may find this very hard to understand, especially in a person who otherwise has outstanding values. One surf company coined the phrase that best describes this phenomenon: “Only a surfer knows the feeling!” That incredible feeling of wave riding is magnified when it takes place on a near-perfect wave, with only a handful of one’s friends in the water to witness and share it with. In the early 70s, some American surfers from the east coast of the US discovered the “Promised Land” in Tobago. Long before surfing took hold amongst the locals, this lucky group of foreigners set up camp at Mt. Irvine for the winter months, where they shared perfect, blue waves that broke over the colorful live coral reef with machine-like consistency of shape and form. Modern-day surfers can only dream of the bliss this crew experienced winter after winter. This group of core surfers had seen first-hand the effects of over-publicized surf breaks in the US, Hawaii and Australia, and they knew it was in their best interest to keep it to themselves. They did just that. Even years later, when the Caribbean was becoming a hot spot for surf exploration, islands like Puerto Rico and Barbados were taking all the glory. Tobago remained under the radar. In the late 70s, local Trinidadians picked up surfing and became regulars at Mt. Irvine, forging lifelong friendships with the group of foreigners who discovered it. In the 90s, South American surfers caught wind of the “secret spot”, and later produced an article calling it “Pelican Point”, a name that sticks to this day. In 2010, a group of American professionals visited Tobago on a monster swell and ran an online photo feature calling it “Callaloo Island”. Most of the international coverage of Tobago deliberately omits details to keep a bit of mystery about its location, and rarely actually names the island, much to the appreciation of the locals. After all, waves are a precious commodity, and surfers are a greedy bunch! That being said, any surfer who knows Mt. Irvine will tell you two things about surfing in Tobago. The first is that it has a natural way of regulating the crowds by the inconsistency of the waves. Even when you think the forecast will guarantee you surf, you may still get no waves, an experience referred to as a “body-slam”. And when you least expect it, she will bless you and just a handful of your friends with the surf session of a lifetime. The second thing they will tell you is that when you are here to surf Mt. Irvine, you will be treated like family, both in and out the water. As long as you give respect, you will get respect. At the end of a long day of surfing perfect waves, while you stand on the beach sharing stories of rides with your peers, watching an epic sunset, you will be assured that you have found the Holy Grail.