From 10 to 20 May 2010 the Moroccan town of Essaouira was host to the Essaouira Wave Classic. Initiated by Boujmaa Guilloul, Thomas Traversa and JB Caste, the event gathered some of the world’s best wave riders looking for the best wave riding conditions around Essaouira’s coastline, to offer the most radical and explosive windsurfing show possible. Besides Thomas, team umi was present with the film crew Brendan Pyatt and editor and competitor Jamie Hancock, as well as Graham Ezzy, who reports about these 10 days in Morocco.
After spending two weeks on the beaches of Essaouira and Moulay for the EWC, the country is even more mysterious than when I arrived; the place escapes description, for it is a juxtaposition of contradictions. The beaches are littered with broken glass, yet underneath the rubble is uniquely beautiful sand cliffs and beach pebbles. The locals control their camels and other animals by hitting them with sticks, but the same people were incredibly friendly and helpful to us. And the windsurfing was just as multidimensional as the place. At Moulay, we could jump, ride down-the-line, and go for tricks like takas and goiters; every style of wave sailing is jammed into this one beach, giving us the perfect environment for competing.
The competitors were from all over the world: Hawaii, France, Italy… and naturally each sailor approached the wind and waves with his home spot biases. And with the versatile conditions, the Hawaii guys were able to focus on carving up the waves while the Moroccans searched for soaring jumps. So, every rider was at home.
The conditions, though, were not alone in making the riders feel at home; the team competition format fostered a feeling of unity and camaraderie throughout the riders. Without a rigid focus on individual performance, we were able to support not just the riders on our team but also all the other riders in the event. All the riders pushed ourselves because we all wanted to win (obviously), but at the same time, our desire to win did not cause any animosity. So, everyone honestly cheered when Boujmaa launched massive doubles or when Thomas threw a taka and a goiter on the same wave.
At the end of the event, we were left with another contradiction; there was a winning team (Boujmaa, Fettah, Leo, and I), but every rider felt like he won. And every sailor did win in that each scored Moroccon waves with the best windsurfers in the world.
Photos by Maxime Houyvet/Open Ocean Media. umi 2010
