April is a really popular month for surfing in Fiji and it’s understandably difficult to score a spot on Namotu. Generally speaking, this time of year has light winds, frequent but not huge swells, and a low chance of severe weather and cyclones. However Mother Nature plays by her own rules and early in April we had a mid-week evacuation due to cyclone Vaianu. Fast-forward a few days and we were scoring some epic conditions, with the remainder of the month delivering its usual array of waves and good times.
Typically, the short period swells that hit the Fijian Islands tend not to get the same hype that the longer period swells do. They have a tendency to come with bad weather as the systems producing the waves are much closer. The Wed 22nd April swell came in at 8 foot at 15 seconds at its peak. This swell was accompanied by light north winds rather than your typical trades (ESE-SE) meaning that instead of seeing the usual spinning barrels of Restaurants, breaks like Wilkes, Tavy rights and Namotu Left stole the limelight. The short period nature of the swell meant that it was really consistent and a few of the spots – Namotu Left and Tavy Rights – were almost as good as they get with big long walls and at the peak of the swell powerful barrels.
“Namotu Lefts really had the pick of the litter this swell” recalls Namotu photographer Josh Bystrom. “Guests were getting the waves of their lives and the guests didn’t take any time at all waxing their boards and getting out there first thing. A handful of guests didn’t have the right sized boards for the swell and Namotu’s extensive range of FCD step-ups got them into them nicely”.
We are now in Fiji’s peak season swell window. It’s been a really active start and we’re optimistic for what’s to come as we get into the winter swell period.
Images by Josh Bystrom
