A terrible day at the office.

On sunday just passed I had one of those days. Long drive, bad servo food and way too much coffee. I was with Joe Clark and Jake Stone looking to shoot some images for the issue 2 of le boogie magazine. We launched our ski at around 10.30 am hoping to be surfing by 11.30. The ski ride was estimated to take 45mins so we allowed an hour due to having 3 guys on a ski with camera equipment. 1 hour and 30 minutes later we all realized we must of missed the spot along the coast somewhere along the way, we were all starting to really feel the effects of such an epic journey at sea when the crisp offshore breeze died and the cold dull onshore rolled in. We knew the only thing to do was to cut our losses and return to the launching spot. By now the last the last thing on our minds was fuel and safety. The lacerations from my wetsuit rubbing against my genitals for that amount of time was the only thing filling my mind. With each second the wind grew stronger and the chop got bigger and the ride got harder. We did come across the wave by now onshore and hardly inviting, but by our calculations it would of been pumping earlier. We decided to head back to safety. The ride home was alot worse due to the weather and then all hell broke loose. We started to run out of fuel in the middle of no where and close to some very large waves and cliffs. We had not seen another human all day and the sun was falling fast. We spotted the only boat we had saw all day and used the last drops of fuel to get within eye sight of the  boat. We screamed and yelled until by some lucky start they saw us and the old boat started to turn.

They came to the rescue of us and threw a rope to attach, lets say it sounds simple but attaching a rope to a ski in the middle of a raging ocean with three dudes freaking out and the recuse boat still moving due to the conditions at a steady rate is no easy task.

We all ended up in the ocean and the ski was set afloat.

The boat picked up Joe and Jake and I tried to attach the rope which in the end worked out sweet until the swell and tow rope flipped the ski.

Off the boat i dive again and skim out to the ski and flip the sucker back over. Now I know ski's are meant for the ocean but if there is one thing they hate its being upside down in the drink.

Anyways man strength kicked in and I flipped it back up right. Then the boys threw another rope to me which i pulled my way back to the boat. Totally shaken up by the whole ordeal I sat on the floor surrounded by fishing rods and empty beer bottles wondering just what the hell happened. I asked one of our bearded rescuers " you guys catch anything besides us today?" He replied " just one big tiger shark earlier and nothing else really made it into the boat due to the bronze whalers taking our fish when we were reeling in, just ended up with heads". Stoked sharks to just to top it off. We made our way back to safety and tried to just recap on what had gone on, but it was just to crazy. By now it was dark and cold. Today I tried to fix the ski as we could not get it started. I took it to the local dealer and they worked hard all day on the sucker.

Final result, $806 worth of labour and parts. Not cool seeing though I shot not a single frame that whole day. No photo's no money.

But the good days far outweigh the bad this is just one i thought i would share. And Brad (hughes) if your reading this in Chile don't stress the ski is better than ever I promise. Brad was nice enough to lend me his ski to use while he was away. 

Just a little thank you to the guys who saved us, the nice lady who sold us cold beer at the end of it and the hard working Matt who fixed the bird.

And remember always put safety first when putting your life and others at risk.

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