Cyclone reduces Cloudbreak tower to splinters
"We want to show the world Fiji has come back stronger," says Ian 'Kini' Muller, longtime Cloudbreak local, via email.
Attached to the email were photos of a Fijian flag raised above a timber wreck. An explanation was in order.
Fijians, like the rest of the world, went into enforced lockdown back in early April. A few days afterwards, Tropical Cyclone Harold, the strongest South Pacific cyclone in two years, swept in from the northwest after killing one person in the Solomon Islands and reducing buildings in Luganville, Vanuatu's second biggest city, to rubble.
Harold tracked just south of Fiji as a Category 3 cyclone with winds gusting to 160km/h across the Mamanuca Islands. It was these winds that blew the Cloudbreak tower fair off its foundations.
All that's left of the Cloudy tower (Kini/Fiji Surf Co)
Built in 1999 for the inaugural Fiji Pro, then sponsored by Quiksilver who split the bill with the ASP to use it as a judging tower. It's since been used for each succesive contest at Cloudbreak up until the WSL and OuterKnown walked away one year into a three year deal. That was in 2017, with the tower falling into disrepair ever since.
Photographer Peter 'Joli' Wilson last saw the tower in February and said poles on the southeast corner had rotted all the way through.
After taking a battering from the combined effects of cyclone Harold and COVID-19, Kini recently raised a Fijian flag on the ruins of the Cloudbreak tower. The gesture a symbolic show of defiance. "We might be down but we're not out," says Kini.
"Fiji is now COVID free with no deaths thanks to the government, health workers, law enforcements, and our dedicated citizens. We stand with the world in solidarity. We will get through this together."
"Fiji is strong!"
According to Kini, there have been no plans to rebuild the tower yet.
The tower in 2016, adorned in WSL livery (WSL)
As for surfing, Fiji is urging Australia and New Zealand to include them in the trans-Tasman 'tourist bubble'. Yet even if that were to happen, travel couldn't resume till September at the earliest meaning the bulk of the season has passed.
Comments
I was lucky enough to surf it the morning Sco Mo put the 2 week isolation rule in place. Surfed it for 2 hours early, flew back in the arvo and just made the cutoff. Tower was looking pretty dodgy for sure.
Fitting really, tower could be seen from airplanes coming and leaving
Fiji. a chicken pie in Fiji! A must every time.
I sincerely hope they dont rebuild it , fucking eyesore
Agreed! Bloody ugly thing
Exactly! That thing shouldn’t have been there in the first place, so Mother Nature has removed it as she always does eventually. Who ever built it should clean it up & totally remove it... hello... WSL?
It is ugly but its pretty useful to position yourself in the lineup when you're bobbing around 2 miles out in the ocean. Every time I've surfed there I used the tower and the hills in the background to position myself, especially as the current is often super strong without a reference point you could end up drifting way out of position between sets. I guess you could just use the boats in the channel maybe...
The WSL, having declaring their ownership of decades of pro surfing history, will no doubt be rushing a team in to clean that shit off the reef ASAP.
Fair point.
First thought that crossed my mind Blowin. More crap in the ocean....used it, don't need it now, she'll be right, someone else will clean it up. More environmental vandalism from an industry that should know better, but are more concerned about the mighty dollar.
From another thread:
For those who have been, does anyone have a preference for Tavarua or Namotu?
Hard to go wrong with either. Tav is closer to cloudies and restaurants is out front. Namotu has the more user friendly Namotu lefts and swimming pools and the forgotten right across the channel. You can surf all breaks from both islands with their boats. More mals and cruisers at Namotu
Liked it for the fact it gave u a reference point in the lineup, BIG arena. I’ll miss it
Not much on Namotu just a tiny bit of sand. Tavarua is much bigger in comparison but still small. I would go Tavarua can get out of the wind in the arvo which can blow a gale Namotu is super exposed.
Thanks Mem and lost. Such an exorbitant trip but is something I’d love to do just once. Have been over there but staying right on it would be something else I’d imagine. Looks like heaven on earth.
Hey Solitude, I've been to fiji 6 times and have flagged those 2 islands. I stay at Plantation Island and know the crew there pretty well. Boat ride is a bit longer but have always surfed for 3 + hours and back for lunch. most of the time it's blown out after lunch and your body needs time to get over catching so many waves from the morning. You also have a crap load more things to do and save your self a deposit on a car at the same time :)
I'll 2nd that. Stayed at Plantation (Mololo) island both trips Ive done to Fiji and everything Troy Russel says is right on.
*Last time I was there was 2011 but
They leave early from there to cloudy?
Both trips when I stayed there you'd be on the move within 30-60minutes of 1st light and its about a 25 minute ride. You work it all out with them on the afternoon before.
Only handbrake can be if you've got crew on board who wanna surf Namotu or Wilkes as opposed to C.B. I had a few runs where there was only 4 or 5 of us and it was straight to Cloudbreak with no fucking around.
Each trip you get between 3 and 4 hours of surf time.
I've racked up about a dozen surfs out at C.B and can honestly say I was pumped after every one of them. Would get back to Malolo around 11.30-12 and be more than happy to do whatever my girl wanted for the rest of the day!
Aw man used to love looking back at the tower pretending Joey T & Potts were frothing over my last wave.
Yep, every paddle back out they’d be breaking down my poo stance head dip and hot rail off the cut down.
I’m glad it’s gone, it’ll take the pressure off.
Wondering if, now that the judging tower cum photographers platform is gone, Cloudbreak will be come less enticing for the paid free surfer with obligatory cameraman in tow.
'Paid free surfer' is still a thing?
Ah, did you mean paid-free?
I'll be here all week. Try the veal.
Why the hostility thermal boy?
No hostility at all.
I am just very surprised that surf companies can still justify paying large salaries for people to go surfing, in order to promote their brand.
It's nothing to do with the skill (or personality) of the surfer, the quality of the video production, or the history of the surf company. It's simple economics 101.
And, it's not just relevant to the current economic climate (i.e. Covid-19) either; surf companies have gone through tumultuous change over the last ten years as surfing has become a less desirable fashion accessory.
As such, I just can't see how freesurfing videos from (say) Fiji make a significant impact on the bottom line of surf companies any more, when the brands can (and do) collaborate with non-surfing social media "influencers" to reach an exponentially bigger audience.
amazing this is what the tower looked liked between comps
That's pro surfing right there .
Smoke and Mirrors!
I actually found that tower pretty handy on the 2 trips I've done to Fiji. Was a good point of reference combined with Tavarua when working out exactly where you were in the line up.
Yep, Kelly once gave away one of his lineup points (in an interview) that I would use when it was 3-6 foot - Sitting further up the reef than the tower you would look at the point where the mainland met the tower at water level and sit right there. It worked a treat. When it was proper 6 - 8 foot I was too scared to sit that deep. I would find myself at the tower or even further past it when it was big.
The WSL has been secretly testing a new tower to be towed in and planted at Cloudbreak. It’s very hush-hush, but here is a leaked photo of the water safety team being deployed from the trial structure.
I have heard somewhere, that similar plans are afoot for surfers point if the 5 star resort gets built... Margaret river.
Ha. Waterworld. Check the old skis
thank god its gone, uglier than a bucketfull of arseholes it was
Same as Lakey : eyesore towers , concrete cancer, weird statues & 4 lanes of blacktop that don't connect to anything!. This is not a good reminder of what professional surfing does for remote communities in far off lands.
So does this mean Quiksilver is finally and officially deceased?