Africa: Nile Special Night Sesh

Photo- Jacob Slobodian(left) Kalob Grady(centerleft) Nick Simpson(centerright)

Alex Anderson(right) Jordan P( bottem)- Courtesy of Jacob Slobodian

It was 9:30 on a Tuesday night, sitting at the bar sipping a coke and talking with Jason, a Brit who had been working here for the past year. Along with me were a few other New River Academy students. Lorenzo, one of our coaches was sitting at the table talking with some of other NRA teachers. We were discussing the wave just 5 minute paddle up the river, one of the best waves in the world named after a beer, Nile Special. Generally its about a 9 foot tall, tow on wave. Meaning you have a rope attached at a point up stream, and in order to get onto the wave from the eddy, you hold onto the rope, swing out, and surf onto it. Jason was telling us about how, because the river is dam release, it hits maximum flow at night, and when it peaks out the wave gets stickier and you can surf on. Most of the time the left shoulder is flushed green, so if you ever throw, and land too much to the left you will flush off. He told us that when the river went up, the left shoulder formed and the wave got wider, stickier, and we wouldn’t have to use a rope around midnight. 5 of us walked over to Lorenzo and began to beg for him to let us go out with Jason to the wave. After all, it was a full moon. We could all tell he really wanted to go as well, but as we were all still with the school it was a hard decision. After much discussing with Jason and the rest of us he finally said yes. Though the water was not quite high enough yet. We knew that the water on the beach had to touch a stump, it was about 2 inches away. Lorenzo said that if we were going to go we had to go now, otherwise he was going to go to bed. Though Jason said it was not going to be worth it. So our group slowly disbanded and drifted back to their tents. Alex, a student at NRA, and myself decided to stay at the bar and talk with Jason for a while. After about an hour, around 11, he went off to check the level. He came back looking somewhat excited and saying that it was just barely touching the stump and that in about 30 minutes it would be perfect. We ran over to see if Lorenzo was still awake. He was so we told him the news, he told us to go round up the troops. After telling the others we sprinted to our boats and threw on our gear, jumped in. We went over a quick buddy system so that we would lose anyone and paddled up. It turned out it was not quite high enough yet, luckily we brought the tow rope up. So we took turns for about an hour and a half operating the rope. Even though the wave was not yet paddle on, it was still the best level we had ever been at it. For the first hour the wave had a big, sick green face to launch off of and a solid pile at the top. For the last bit of our session, the water had come up even more and it was not just about paddle on. The wave also got much stickier, and even a little trashy, I had a few pretty hardcore window shades. Tired out we finally headed back in, all exclaiming about the sick paddle session. Definitely one of the more memorable events so far on the Uganda Semester of New River Academy.

Jordan P

Africa: Week 1

Winter is over, at least for me. After a sweet six weeks of winter vacation, snowboarding whenever, and sleeping quite a lot, now its time to get back to work... If you can call it that. For now I am sitting here, on an island, in the middle of the White Nile river, in Uganda, which in fact is in Africa, in an everlasting summer. It's the dry season, so the suns out, hot as can be palm trees all around. The nice part about dry season is the lack of mosquitos, at least during the day. Though every night they come out in swarms. Though by sunset I am generally already asleep, safe in my tent. Wake up in the cool morning air, just as the sun begins to tip the horizon. Monkeys running through the trees(somehow they made it onto the island). During the day, while we have classes, whether they be in the shade under a tree, in one of the few chill spots(domes with a roof and couches, pillows or hammocks) or maybe next to the river, sometimes even in the river. Generally, even with school, its a very relaxing day on the Harry Lemon( yes that is the name of the island we are staying on). Only every once in a while will we come in contact with a Cobra swimming in the water, though it is advised to use caution when sitting on the grass due to the large biting ants. Overall just a chill day, until we get to the river that is.

The White Nile is a very high volume river. The Nile Special rapid, named after the beer, is about a ten minute paddle upstream, and a ferry across the current to get to the waves. There are two waves the come in at a different time of day. The first wave, Club Wave, comes in around 8 or 9 in the morning and stays in until about 12 to 1. The second and more famous wave, Nile Special, comes in around 2 or 3 and stays in past dark. Club wave is a pretty sweet, 30 foot wide, 5 or 6 foot tall wave/hole (river right is a wave and river left is a hole) This wave is sweet for the begging/intermediate play boater, as its fairly sticky, with a good pile and bouncy. Nile Special on the other hand is a tow in wave, and is a 9 foot tall green monster, and if you know what your doing you can get some of the biggest tricks there.

Every day we switch between the two, due to having to do school we are only able to go to one. The waves are some of the best I have ever surfed, and with switching to a the bigger Biscuit 55, I am able to get huge amounts of air with some of my tricks. I am not much of a wave boater but I have been able to hit some massive air, Pan ams and Blunts, and every once in a while I can hit a huge snappy Blunt-Nasty Combo.

So far, though only my first week here in Africa, it has been one of the more spectacular weeks of my life. I am afraid I am currently unable to continue writing about what amazing experiences I have had here already, due to a lack of battery power and time. But definitely check back in for another post next week.(which will hopefully be accompanied by pictures.)

Jordan P