THE DREAM TICKET
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If you work hard, play the game & take your opportunities then one day you might make it as a PRO RIDER. If you do that then maybe one morning you’ll check your emails & find that you have an invite to a trip on a 95ft catamaran cruising the Caribbean. Sam Light assures us that this kind of thing is actually pretty hard work, but we’re not so sure.
I have always wanted to go to Union Island and the Grenadines. I have heard nothing but good things about these southern islands in the Caribbean chain with the most untouched, untraveled, raw Caribbean vibes. So when I heard about the Slingshot shoot on the Wind Voyager boat I was so excited!
Having spent a week on the boat in the Mediterranean last year I knew the Slingshot crew were going to be blown away and that this would be like no trip we had done before. We have done plenty of trips sleeping on blow-up mattresses on a shoestring budget but this is the ultimate trip in my eyes. Boat trips are kind of like van road trips, but even better. It’s so good and easy because all the gear and crew are always on location and ready to go at all times…
The boat was anchored in Union Island, a small idyllic island south of the Grenadines, with a population of less than 3000. It’s a bit of a pain traveling to Union Island, which is what keeps special places so special. If it was easy then everybody would go… So I flew direct from London to Barbados and then down to Union Island on a small eight-seater plane; there were only two people and myself on the plane down. I spotted our boat ‘Cartouche’ from the plane flying in as it was twice as big as all the other catamarans in the bay! Then, after landing, it was a quick ride on the tender out to Cartouche.
Let me explain in short just how cool Cartouche is. It’s a 95ft catamaran, yes 95 feet! There are only a handful of catamarans in the world that big. It has four en-suite double cabins, four crew at all times and an extra two crew members that help facilitate fun activities i.e. kitesurfing, diving, surfing, foiling, you name it! Ian and Joel are the coaches that learnt their craft at Real Watersports and they sure know how to have a good time and create seamless fun. They have just about every toy you could ever want on the boat. A jet surfboard, diving gear, two sea bobs (kind of like underwater scooters), five foil boards, and every Slingshot board and kite. Then there is a jet ski that comes out of a garage at the back like something from James Bond! Basically: there’s something wrong with you if you don’t have the time of your life on the boat…
We had a solid Slingy team to make the most of the opportunity; starting with Karolina Winkowska, one of the greatest female shredders of all time. Fred Hope, foil wonderkid who’s carving his own path in the industry dancing on a foil. Patrick Wieland, filmer/drone pilot extraordinaire. Alex Fox, artist/brand manager and leader of this motley crew. Mo Lelii, a photographer Fox went to school with, and myself, the veteran photoshoot guru! It was a streamlined crew as there was only so much space on the boat.
We started the trip on Union Island at ‘Frigate Rock’ which is an idyllic flat water spot, perfect for mooring the boat and kitesurfing straight off the back, turquoise water and white sand beaches scattered with palm trees making it hard to take a bad picture! We spent the first 24 hours here to bag some content, the wind was light for the first day but foiling has changed the game and we were all flying around on the new foil range in 10 knots. Only stopping off for refreshments and more sun cream while your kite flies off a cleat at the back of the boat. Karolina even managed to get out on a twin tip. After the session we jumped straight in the hot tub to soak it all in! I don’t think any of us have ever experienced such luxury; the dinner table was already set with white gloves (to ensure no fingerprints) and we sat and enjoyed fresh tuna steak and talked through the shot list and schedule for the week.
Unlike a lot of the Caribbean, the wind in Union Island is strongest in the morning this time of year and the forecast looked good for a sunrise session on the first day so we set our alarms for 5am to catch that morning golden hour. We hammered out a load of product shots using the ‘over/under’ port so you can see both above and below the water as it’s crystal clear. So we knocked out loads of important shots until we stopped around 10am for an insane breakfast on the boat. Rehydrated, and we went for a cruisey GoPro foil session. After a late lunch we packed up the tender and headed into the beach at Frigate. The boys set up a long lens on the sticks and we went about trying to land some cool tricks. It was a huge first day, and we probably got more on the first day of shooting than we ever have before. After a hard day’s work of about six hours on the water it was time to get in the hot tub on the fly bridge and crack a well earned beer!
THE DAILY GRIND
Riding for a photo-shoot is very different to freeriding. We have a shot list and we grind it out until we have everything we need. There are so many variables to contend with so you can’t always stick to a fixed plan, you have to be able to adapt to the conditions to get the most out of every moment. People think we just have a jolly up during the shoot, but we work hard all week, and it’s generally the most physically demanding week of my year! Waking up at 5am every day for the sunrise and spending all day on the water grinding the shots. Your body falls apart, it doesn’t matter how much sun cream you put on, you’re still sunburnt as we are in the sun for at least 10 hours a day. Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful to do what I love for a living and have these opportunities to go to amazing places, but we work hard for it. It’s not like we’re smashing beers every night, we are in bed by 8pm. Creating content motivates me as much as freeriding, getting a good shot of something simple is as good as landing a trick you have never done before, I really enjoy doing the best possible job I can. It’s all about making the most of these opportunities!
That next morning, we had another crack on the twintips before pulling anchor, hoisting the sails and heading to our next destination. Fred wouldn’t stop foiling so we left him out on the water and he kited alongside the boat as we sailed about 40 minutes to Petite St Vincent and the sandy island of Mopian. The wind was just enough to foil so we foiled our brains out all afternoon. Petite St Vincent is a tiny Island with a posh hotel on it and a cracking beach bar, the wind dropped and our captain Angelo spoke highly of the cocktails so we thought it would be rude not to go ashore and sample the local produce. The cocktails were great!
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