Page 160 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2020 South Africa

and the mountains. jagged point that is Devil’s Rock.
So I knew nothing of the kingdom’s burgeoning (at least Brahim LeFrere, one of the three instructors for our
among Moroccans, Europeans, Aussies and Brazilians) surf group, had us doing pop-ups (jumping from a prone position
scene until I read about Jerome Sahyoun, a Moroccan who is to standing on our boards) on the beach before we hit the
one of the world’s top big-wave surfers, regularly riding water for what would be four-plus days of instruction. We
down the faces of 70-foot-tall behemoths on his board. roamed up and down the coast, seeking the best conditions.
Seeing photographs of Sahyoun surfing made this former LeFrere, the son of a fisherman, said he started surfing as
San Diegan ponder returning to North Africa to check out a a boy, eventually becoming good enough to compete in re-
coast that looks a lot like stretches of Baja California and gional contests.
surf the waves that roll across the Atlantic to break on its “In the beginning, it was too expensive for me to get a
arid shores. surfboard or a wetsuit,” he says. “So I’d wait until friends
The deal was sealed after I spoke with Nigel Cross, an na- were done and I’d borrow their gear. After a year, I’d saved
tive Australian who operates Moroccan Surf Adventures on up enough money and bought a used board and wetsuit.
Taghazout Bay, Morocco - north of Agadir - and one of the Then I was in the water, catching waves as much I could.
top surfing spots in Africa. A natural athlete, he also coached volleyball.
Cross, who is in his 40s, came to North Africa as a toddler “I like all kinds of sports that we can do on the beach —
in the 1970s with his surfer parents who were, he says, “fol- and in the water,” he said. “We have lots of space at low tide
lowing the sun.” His father had started a surfboard company to play football, Frisbee and other things. Most of the people
in Britain and first surfed in Morocco with Nigel’s mother, a in my village were fishermen, and we all grew up on the sea,
swimsuit designer. Nigel was three years old. so playing in and on the waves just came naturally.”
“Places like Taghazout and Tamraght were just tiny fishing At several spots, camels moved casually along the sand,
villages back then.” reminding us that we were indeed in North Africa. And
On a misty October morning I found myself carrying a sometimes, when the wind was blowing from the east, we
longboard down to the water at Devil’s Rock Beach, north of could hear calls to prayer from minarets rising above one of
the coastal city of Agadir, for a refresher lesson with a dozen several mosques in the town.
would-be surfers from Britain, France, Ireland and Brazil. When the day’s classes and time for free surfing were
There was one other American in our pod, a young busi- over, we returned to the Moroccan Surf Adventures hostel,
nesswoman from San Francisco. She was the only other Yank where the chef served us delicious Berber tagine, a stew
I met during my five days at Cross’ surfing school. prepared in an earthenware pot that was brimming with
It wasn’t crowded, but there were other surfers out in the onions, carrots, squash, spices and chicken and served on a
lineup and on the beach, including a group of young Moroc- bed of couscous.
can boys in wetsuits who were doing jumping jacks, jostling Advanced surfers who were staying at the lodge hired in-
each other and turning cartwheels on the sand. dividual guides and headed for more serious breaks that
Brightly painted blue fishing boats, including one with a have gnarly reputations in Morocco and Europe, such as
pair of cats lounging in it, were lined up above the high-tide Dracula’s, Hash Point, Killer Point and Anchor Point, where
line. Still higher was what can only be described as surf waves sometimes break for more than a quarter mile.
shacks. Karim Rhouli, who runs Marrakesh Surf and Snow Tours,
Tamraght, the village where I was staying, was about half a said his parents often brought him to Taghazout Bay for hol-
mile inland from Devil’s Rock Beach and had a pair of idays, where they would rent a house near Anchor Point.
mosques with minarets poking into the blue sky. “First I got into body boarding, but by the time I was 17, I
Behind them, arid hills rolled off to the east. Less than a really knew I wanted to surf,” explained Rhouli. As he im-
mile north of Tamraght is the town of Taghazout, Morocco’s proved his surfing, he began to teach. He also developed
version of Santa Cruz. (Since my visit, Cross has built a new, skills as a skateboarder and snowboarder, all of which led to
strikingly modern hotel for his surf camps in the village of the creation of his guide service.
Imi Quaddar, six miles north of Taghazout.) “Surfing is a great sport because you feel like you are rid-
Not far from the shore, a handful of surfers was lining up ing a force of nature when you are on a wave,” said Rhouli,
to hop on waves rolling in off the right-hand side of the who has surfed in Bali and Australia and taught snowboard-

160 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020