Discover Cape Verde

Boardseeker, 2007

Name:

Nick Moffatt

Job:

Angulo Cabo Verde Centre Manager

Nick: I am responsible for running everything to do with the Angulo operation out here, from managing the centres, looking after and training the team, looking after our guests and then answering all the emails, bookings, safety, equipment maintenance, ordering/selling of kit etc. Josh is currently based in Hawaii and helps where he can but basically now leaves it all in my hands, which is great. Claudia, Josh’s wife, runs everything to do with the shop and helps me with some centre operations when needed.

0700

Wake up with coffee or tea. I then do my exercise routine from my physio; shoulder strengthening, core, lower back, stretching and some yoga or tai chi postures. I got it down from 1 hour to 30-40mins. I should do this everyday, but this doesn’t always happen!

0830

Cycle to the Riu centre.

All staff arrive by 0845 to setup and the centre is ready to go at 0900.

0900-1000

Chat with our current clients, book in new courses; there are flights all through the week from many countries so we have new clients daily. Some have come knowing about the windsurfing and kitesurfing here, others are new to it all or are experienced but hadn’t planned to do much until they saw our centre. Windsurf and kite courses start at 1000.

1000-1400

I’m to and fro between the centre and our office in Santa Maria and to run any errands with the centre truck. I can do some work on my laptop at the centre. Also we offer guided surf trips to windsurf other spots, or for example to be coached entry level wavesailing. If conditions are good I’ll have had a freesail, usually after my coaching or lessons. If Ponta Preta is on I’ll be there, otherwise it's freestyle just in front of the centre. I have had a pretty steady stream of clients who see the value in getting some quality coaching and I limit myself to being available 2hrs/day, mostly private or in small groups. (I have a quick lunch at various nice places around here!)

1400-1700

We get going with courses in the afternoon from 1400. From time to time during the week Juan, manager of ScubaCaribe who we work with next door, Claudia and I will have a meeting. Depending on what’s going on and how busy I am I’ll either be in the office, coaching, or overseeing what’s happening at the centre, or if I’m lucky get another sail in! It's great to be based in such an amazing location but sometimes watching the best waves of the day being ridden at Ponta Preta when you just can’t leave what you’re doing isn’t easy to take! Of course it's no worries as I can get plenty of sailing in being based here 8 months of the year from next September.

The centre closes at 1700. This is never a problem as it's windy 24/7 - no joke.

If conditions have been good, obviously there is Ponta Preta, or very occasionally I might have sailed at another spot, during lunch or after work, such as kite beach, E facing, cross on from left, or Punta Sino, 90 deg. round from the Riu, cross off from the left, which can be very good surfing and sometimes jumping.

Pick-up truck taxis to go windsurfing are commonplace, the Angulo centre kit can be taken anywhere for no extra charge, only no insurance or safety cover.

1730-1800

Possibly a beer or two with the team and guests at the beach bar.

1800-2000

I try to make some time for marketing, website update and getting future plans together, as our centres here will need to grow for sure with an increasing demand- it’s an exciting time! I’m usually in touch with Josh once a week about everything, as well as catching up with Claudia daily. Sometimes I’ll do this stuff now for a bit and during the week email or speak on the phone with my girlfriend Esther, and maybe catch up once in a while with mates back home online. I reckon I average 1-2 hours sailing a day max; not a lot in training terms, but if I’ve been sailing more than normal then for sure I’ll do all this kind of work or anything else that needs doing from the office in the evening.

If work is all done, I like to catch up with friends Simon and Bibi, who are part of Cape Verde Portal, a property agent, but also run: www.discovercapeverde.com which is a travel/activity info and booking site. They are very experienced in their field and left London to live the dream here. Simon is a very talented surfer and wavesailor. We all wish him a speedy recovery from a nasty leg break getting an aerial wrong a couple of months back.

Around 2000

Dinner somewhere in Santa Maria or I cook something simple at my apartment and get an early night, around 2200. A bonus of it being on the top of a 4 storey building is on my day off I can relax, watch a video or whatever and keep an eye from my window or terrace on how the wind and waves are at kite beach or Ponta Sino. If you want to party, here is the place. A different night every week with a variety of local or western music in the clubs/bars. It’s a fantastic atmosphere with great people. They go till the early hours and sometimes you’ll find it hard to leave! On a Saturday night the local pool competition and food at Hibisco followed by Chillout and Calema and then maybe Pirata is always a good one.

Sounds like Nick doesn’t always get to bed by ten!

The London Paper, April 2007

Say hello, wave goodbye

by Jessica Fellowes. Friday, 13 April 2007

You may think of people living in the country as straw-munchers rather than surfing dudes. Well, you’d be wrong. Just a few hours from London are the kind of surfer communities you thought only existed in Cape Verde or on the set of Point Break. If you get yourself in gear early enough, you could be with them by lunchtime tomorrow, riding the waves.

Newquay in Cornwall is generally acknowledged to be the surfers capital of the UK, with 11 beaches over seven miles of sand. Watergate Beach is one of the most beautiful of these, with a kite-surfing school and a Jamie Oliver restaurant. It will take you five hours to drive there, but flights are just an hour from Gatwick or Stanstead (if you’re not worried about your carbon footprint of course). Other big surfer areas are in Polzeath, North Cornwall, Woolacombe and Croyde Bay in North Devon and Sennen Cove by Land’s End.

Nearer to London is West Wittering on the south coast (less than 90 minutes away) and keen surfers will just go where the conditions are right, there’s nothing to stop you going to Brighton Beach, after all.

A blisteringly hot (for April) weekend has been predicted and if there’s just a slight offshore breeze (when the wind goes from the land onto the sea), you’ll be looking at the perfect surfer’s weather. All you need is to know how to look the part and know how not to piss off the pros.

Local surfers have a permanent tan (so get out the Fake Bake tonight), sun-bleached hair, shapeless, faded, baggy shorts and never, ever, wear shoes. If you’re a hardcore townie, I’d leave your 4x4 at home and remember to order smoothies at the beach shack rather than champagne.

Of course, even it’s hot, the water will be damn cold – and this is the coldest time of year.
You need to wear a wetsuit, and it needs to fit properly or it won’t keep you warm. Not to mention that a chafing suit on salty skin is as painful as plum rubbing on sandpaper. Don’t bother buying one – they’re awkward to carry, stink out your bathroom and take ages to dry out – at about £8 a pop to hire one, they won’t break your piggy bank. Get booties, gloves and a hat too. Hiring boards is also the way forward, in any case, a pro-surfer would rather get a job in the City than be seen with a brand new board.

Next you need to get out on the waves. If you’re a beginner, have some lessons first or restrict yourself to the white water. A classic starter mistake is to hold the board flat in front of you in the water so that even a small wave causes it to smack you in the face. (Been there, got the bloodied nose.) If you’re a beginner, do not go ploughing off to where the experts are. Nothing will ruin their weekend more than having to stage a rescue.

If you are close to another, more experienced surfer, DO NOT attempt to catch the wave first, thus exposing yourself to ridicule if you miss it. It is also strictly against surfer etiquette to try to launch yourself onto a wave that someone is already on as it comes towards you.

Avoid conversation. Leave that to the guys who know each other. If another surfer asks if you want to go “out back”, they’re not asking you outside for a fight. “Out back” refers to the point in the water just beyond the break (where the waves break on the rocks is the “point break”). And remember to say “dude” and “tube” a lot (the hollow inside a breaking wave).

Even if you never ride one, at least you’ll feel the part.

BOX OF SURF

Where to catch the best waves in the UK
Newquay, Cornwall: www.surfnewquay.co.uk

All the info you need on finding hotels, surf-cam, tide times etc
Learn the lingo: www.surfing-waves.com/surf_talk.htm

Too cold here? Go to Cape Verde on the African coast: www.discovercapeverde.com

Dos and Don’ts
DO get a wetsuit that fits. Anything else can prove painful to say the least
DON’T think you can manage without the idiotic booties and cap
DO say “dude” and “tube” as much as possible
DON’T steal someone else’s wave who is far more talented than you are. This leaves you open to ridicule when you miss the wave
DO know that out back means beyond the wave break
DON’T go out there unless you know what you’re doing