Cheyne Horan and preparing for big wave surfing. Big wave surfing has inherent dangers. It’s not a walk in the park. Cheyne Horan has been on and under enough big waves to be able to give hard-earned words of wisdom. So for those who want to give it a bash and see if they are ready to take off or would rather sit on a boat from the safety of the channel, here’s what Cheyne reckons. Jarvi: So how do you do it? How do you get yourself ready for big waves? Cheyne: I train. There are all sorts of ways to train. The most important element of training for assisting you in big waves is the poolwork. Like laps and stuff? Naaah. Laps are good, but you need to get into serious breathing and breath-holding techniques and methods. Off the top of your head, how long can you hold your breath? I don’t for how long myself, but the guy who trained me, a guy called Nam Baldwin could hold his for six minutes, and the guy who taught him could hold it for eight minutes ten seconds. So what do you do? Well, you need to simulate wipe-out scenarios. I was talking to Chris (Bertish) and he was telling he does the same thing. He simulates wipe-outs in a pool. A good start is to go down, breathe out for twenty seconds so that there is nothing in your lungs, and then hold it for a further twenty seconds. Is that hard? Naah mate. Easy as. But you’ve got to take it to the next step. You’ve got to then go down the same, but hold for fifty. Bit more difficult. Yeah. And you have to simulate the wipe-out experience. Just ‘coz you can hold your breath for a long time doesn’t mean you’ll be alright. Sometimes you surface in a wipe-out situation, and there’s another massive wave bearing down on you. So to simulate this, you’ve got to hold for fifty, swim to the surface, then go straight down for another fifty seconds. If you can pull this off four times you’ll be alright. Heavy. Yeah, but you’re simulating a four wave set. If you can deal with it you’ll be in a good place. What happens when you do it all the time is that you start recognising the moment, the exact time that your body is hurting for air. Then after awhile you start relaxing with that moment. This is when you’re staring to deal with the situation. And if the dreaded seven-wave set comes through and nails you? You’re in serious trouble. As I told you the other day, a seven-wave set can kill anyone no matter how trained up you are. You just better hope that if it happens to you, the safety crew have got a gap to haul you out before the whole set wastes you. It’s not going to happen to me bru, let me tell you. It’s just advice. But no advice can really help in the situation of a seven-wave set. Any advice you can give to people out there about equipment? Heavy boards. If you drop a stone and a feather out of a window, what happens? Well, the stone hits the ground and the feather just slowly wafts down. Exactly. Some of the guy’s boards are too light and they’re wafting down the face on the big ones. My boards are all glassed heavy, and I’m just going straight down to the bottom of the wave without wafting. When the waves are big you don’t need a light board. On that note, good luck for this last swell bru. Thanks mate.

Into The Black - Cheyne talks us through Dungeons We caught up with Cheyne again, after he had a couple of Dungeons sessions under his belt. What he told me sent a chill through my spine, but made me realise what we have here sitting under The Sentinel. By Craig Jarvis Jarvi:I saw you get a couple. What did you think? Cheyne:Well, it's a real wave. It's a serious wave. I got caught inside so badly. What happened? I got past the first one, and got past the second one, but the third one caught me. I got under it but I threw my board. The wave sucked me and threw me over and into the black. Heavy? Yeah mate. Straight into the black. I was down so deep, and didn't know what way was up. I swam and swam, but then I realised that I might not be swimming up, like maybe I was swimming sideways or something. So what did you do? Well, I stopped swimming and waited until I started floating. That was the only way I'd be able to work out which way was up. Turns out I had been swimming up all the time. So I wasted all this time underwater waiting, when I was doing the right thing anyway. Even after I felt myself floating I was still swimming and swimming and wasn't coming to the top. When I finally got to the top I took a massive breath and another wave hit me immediately. Yeah it was horrendous mate. I was under for about a minute. So you reckon it packs a bit? Yeah mate it's got it all. Big faces, long wall, heavy, heavy take-offs. It's a premier big-wave spot. Can you make any comparisons? Well, I've surfed Waimea heaps, and Todos, Jaws, Phantoms, loads of other big spots. What you've got here is a premier big wave spot. It'll become the Waimea of Africa. Might take some time, but there'll soon be more guys wanting to surf this wave. Some of the waves are just so heavy you know. There are waves out there that are just impossible to get into. Like the whole ocean is just falling over itself. You can't get those ones. At Waimea you see waves like that, when the whole ocean is moving and you just know that you won't be able to get on 'em. Sometimes you can move more towards the shoulder and get them, but that's not what you want. Todos has got the same height as out here at Dungeons, but Dungeons has the height plus the thickness. What do you mean,'that's not what you want?' You don't really want the shoulders? Yeah, you don't really want to go the shoulders you know? That's not what it's about. The next thing for me is to find the heaviest part of the wave and take it from there. That's the way to learn about the wave. When I got the horrendous caught inside, Marcello (safety guy) was there on the ski to get me, but I waved him off because I wanted to cop a few on the head, to get a feel of it. Did the hold-down unnerve you? I wouldn't say unnerve me. It just made me realise pretty quickly what we are dealing with out here. Something is going to happen out here. Somebody will die. Someone with no training and experience could easily die out there. If a seven-wave set comes through on a big day, and you go the first one and don't make it, you're gonna get killed. A seven wave set at Dungeons can kill anyone regardless of training and fitness. I paddled out there once, got one on the head on a smallish day, and I'm over it now. Isn't it insane? It is so radical out there, and shifty. You can get into serious trouble so quickly. You can't mess about out there. And the feeling in the water? Yeah it's good. All the boys work together. The peak shifts heaps, so the lads were calling where the sets were coming from and stuff. Then they all started talking about sharks, and I quickly lifted my legs out of the water. Yep, there are sharks out there. I've seen 'em. I know. It's heavy out there. There are also some big barrels to be had. Some big ones. Thanks Cheyne talk soon. No worries.

Cheyne Horan – The Law of Modesty Part I Four times World Champion runner up, third in the world twice, and two times runner up to the Billabong XXL big wave awards, Cheyne Horan is a legend and inspiration to surfers the world over. Fitness freak, design innovator, big wave charger, Cheyne has been going hard for thirty years and shows no sign of slowing down. One of my heroes for years and years when I was younger, I remember watching him on video, analysing his surfing, wishing I could surf like him. I was a bit nervous to meet him in the flesh, but it turns out that Cheyne was one of, if not the easiest guy I have ever interviewed. It was just like I was chatting about the waves to a good mate. Our interview went on for a while, and thus part two will follow tomorrow. Jarvi: I remember surfing with you years ago, at Noordhoek. It was a very long time ago. Cheyne:I first came here in 1984 for the Spur Surfabout. Then again in 1985. I haven’t been here for about ten years. In fact the last time I was in Cape Town was in 1993. So yeah, ten years ago. Things have changed since the days when you were displaying your “Free Mandela” sticker on your board. Oh, the changes are radical. It’s unbelievable. You notice it on the ‘plane flying in. whereas there only used to be white people working on the ‘planes now there are all sorts of people working on ‘em. When you get down to the streets there are black people driving cars. So much more than when last I was here. There’s so much more of a balance nowadays. Well, that’s what it seems like, a balance…with myself too. These days I have made my life so much simpler. No complications. I work so that I can surf. It’s so simple. And the mood of the country? Yeah, it’s so much better. It’s just the Law of Modesty coming into play. Eventually things will go from the people who have too much and go to the people who need ‘em more. It’s the natural order of things. I mean, you still see the poor people riding in smashed up cars, but at least they got the cars these days, and it’ll get better. What about in the water these days? How does it feel to be surfing in Cape Town after so much time? It’s good. There’s so much more acceptance these days since the days when I was full-on competing on the pro tour. These days there is longboarding, tow-in surfing, all sorts of other disciples that are more and more recognised. I mean, longboarding is unreal. When the waves are small, like two foot or smaller, what else are you going to do? You want to surf, and you want to enjoy yourself. Longboarding is perfect for this. There are less barriers these days? Yeah. Why be a strict shortboarder at the detriment of having fun? Surfing is like water you know. It flows. It’s always going to find a way. It’s going to evolve and change. It’s never going to get boxed in. There are so many directions for it to run. I have fun paddle-boarding, and bodysurfing. Where do you stay these days? On the Gold Coast. Burleigh. Summer there all year hey? Yeah (big smile) summer all year. It’s pretty chilly down here. You getting cold? It was four degrees last night. Naah . I kinda like the cold. Got booties and gloves, good suit, helmet. It’s no problem. I come from a surf because I’m tired, not because I’m cold. In fact, some times when I come in I’m hot. It’s amazing. Yesterday we were surfing these perfect waves. It was just so good. It was cold, but what was amazing was that I was just yelling and screaming. I was so excited with the waves. Going back to the breakdown of barriers. It’s those people who don’t evolve, who don’t change, who get burned out and bored with surfing. . I’m just as stoked as I always have been.

Cheyne Horan – The Law of Modesty Part II Jarvi: In my mind you were always well known for two things: your fitness and your different boards. I take it this is still the case. Cheyne:Yep. Pretty much. Okay. Let’s talk about your fitness. You still train hard? Well, obviously not as much as I used to. When you’re a professional athlete you need to be razor-sharp. Your mind, your body and your equipment. I used to take it real serious. I still do, but just not with the same intensity as I used to. What sort of regime do you have now days? Well, more of a weekly program as opposed to a daily program. I do loads of poolwork. Roadwork. I have a sprint program, and I have my own gym. We’re kinda in transit right now, busy moving, but when I’m settled the gym will be at home again. And your eating program? You used to be so strict. Still strict, just not as strict as I used to be. My wife eats the junk y’know. She eats all the crap, and I find myself moving over that way sometimes. Then I turn it around and get her going back towards the really good food. It’s a balance, but I still watch what I eat. You used to have a slant towards eastern philosophy as well. What was that all about? Yoga. I was into yoga, and I still am. Still doing it all the time. Moving onto big waves. Second last year. Do you think it was a fair call? (quickly) Well, what do you think? Well, I’ve seen the photos, and it’s really hard. With waves those size, what with photo angles, degree of crouching, two waves similar in size, it’s really hard to say. How did you feel when the results came out? How did I feel? Yeah how did I feel…well I wasn’t surfing those massive waves to win an event you know. I came over to surf giant waves. It’s so much easier these days you know. We tracked the surf, flew over, and then got the four biggest days of the season. In the past guys would wait for up to three months to nail four days, now you just fly over to meet it. Back to the contest. It would have been nice to win. I guess it would have been nice to win, but it’s not what I’m into this for. Riding big waves is like something you don’t do to win prizes. It’s bigger than that. It’s like here at Dungeons. I’m just amped to surf the wave. I don’t really care who gets to win the prize; it’s not about that. It’s about putting yourself in the zone you know. It’s about placing yourself in the right spot and just charging. It’s not about winning. It’s quite a scary wave. It barrels. Yeah I’ve heard. I want to get on it. I’m so pumped for it. Looks like this swell on the weekend could be the one. No false starts, no bits and pieces. Just one king hit is all we need and I reckon we’re going to get it.