Join Colleen Carroll as she takes a ridiculously long flight to go and explore the wilds of Namibia joining the Duotone team and getting well and truly off the beaten track!

Colleen Carroll joins the Duotone Team for an off the beaten track adventure in Namibia. Stunning scenery, wildlife and more wind than you can ever imagine await the team as they search out the best locations for the Rebel and Dice photo shoots.

I departed Portland International Airport early in the morning to fly across the continent before hopping my next flight, which would be one of the longest I've ever taken. Thirty-five hours, a few blockbusters, some mediocre airport food and not nearly enough hours of sleep later, I was disembarking in one of my favourite kite cities – Cape Town, South Africa. However, I wouldn't be sticking around. I was merely meeting up with my Duotone Kiteboarding teammates to take the next flight to Walvis Bay, Namibia.

I had heard of Namibia's empty and vast coastlines but mostly from a few of my kiteboarding friends based in neighbouring Cape Town. In the lead up to this trip, whenever I mentioned where I was off to, I was met with a quizzical look implying that they had heard of it somewhere, at some point, but had no idea where or what it was, and in hindsight, I didn't either. I expected wide-open beaches with booming hollow waves, hopefully, a lagoon or two, and it was Africa after all so of course, I was banking on seeing some wildlife. Naïve as I was, I had no clue about the country or culture I was about to become acquainted with.

We excitedly touched down in Walvis Bay, Namibia. Reno Romeu, Tom Hebert, Matchu Lopes, Aron Rosslee as well as our rock star photography crew who were along to capture what we hoped would be all-time conditions in big air, flat water and waves to shoot for the 2020 release of the Dice and Rebel.  Relieved to see our dozen or so board bags unloaded on the tarmac from the small-ish sized jet, we were in an out of customs without any noteworthy mentions and were on our way to meet our guides from Photo Ventures Namibia. Leaving the arrivals area, we must have been easy to spot as our guides were instantly upon us, loading our oversized board bags onto the cargo racks of several bright orange land rovers.

Settling in for what was to become the shortest journey of our two-week trip we were already unloading at our base camp at the Lagoon Chalet only minutes later.  We quickly assembled our boards and unpacked our kites, loading up just enough gear to catch the tail end of the day's wind at the local spot right in Walvis Bay. A large flatwater tidal lagoon borders the edge of town offering up easy access to side onshore conditions, prime for freestyle. Everyone shook off their jetlag with a late evening session as we watched the first of many epic sunsets.

The next morning, we congregated early to make a game plan for the upcoming week and a half and of course to find some food. Quickly coined the crowd's favourite amongst this carnivorous crew, a breakfast 'sandwich' piling five different types of meat onto one caloric packed plate, it looked like the fare was going to bode well for this energy-intensive trip. The owner-operators of Photo Ventures Namibia and our guides for the duration of the journey, twin brothers who run photo, exploration and kite adventures throughout Namibia arrived bright and early to breakfast to inform us that our entire plan had to change. We had told them that we wanted strong winds to see just how high Tom could send the new Rebel and for Reno to test the mega-looping capabilities of the new Dice. They told us that if we wanted to see what 'strong' meant in Namibia, we would pack back up our bags as soon as possible and hit the road south. Some of us had travelled for almost three full days to be in Walvis Bay, but team shoots were about chasing down the best conditions we could so, of course, we were going. Now.

I assumed we would be loading into the same bright orange Land Rovers from before, but it was unmistakable when I turned the corner what we would be riding in. Wheels as tall as I am, with extra lights, gas tanks, cargo containers, the works - we were loaded up into what I think easily classifies as a monster truck. The truck was painted bright orange to match the unmistakable fleet of vehicles the brothers operated for their tours throughout the Namibian parks.

Settling into our 'monster truck', we found that it made our upcoming 13-hour journey much more entertaining than it could have been otherwise. Winding our way through rugged mountainous and barren desert-like terrain, we asked for far too many stops to get out and check the epic scenery. Once over the mountain pass, bathroom breaks mostly consisted of looking for a single bush or tumbleweed. There was one place to stop along our 800 km journey for gas, food or other supplies, making us even more grateful for our oversized rig and savvy guides. You would not want to break down out here. 

Enthralled by the variety of colours in the rocks and awe of the herds of kudu, odo, baboons and zebra we encountered – we wondered if we would ever arrive at our destination. The sunset went from pale blue to peach to neon shades of deep red and purple that I didn't know existed without an Instagram filter as our scenery slipped into the darkness we had to find other forms of entertainment. After all the joke-telling, selfies and movie sharing had tired; we entered into what became a hilarious 3-hour game of charades (there was no signal of any sort aboard the bright orange monster) following which, nearly everyone fell asleep for the final hours of our journey.

We pulled into the once German-occupied town of Luderitz, more well known amongst the kiteboarding world for the infamous 'Speed Spot' where world records have been set in the narrow channel dug out at just the right angle to hold maximum speed through your edge. The town had an old-school European feel to it with gold plated dates and names on each of the buildings that bordered the main cobblestone streets. Restaurants commonly offered brats and schnitzel alongside more local fare like kudu and ostrich.

When we woke the next morning to our windows howling and our vintage bed and breakfast all but shaking from the blasting wind outside, we knew that the twins had advised us well. The spots are all relatively close around Luderitz, and we took a quick tour to decide the best beach for the day. We settled on what we were told was called 'Beach Three', where the wind blew side shore with a rocky finger that leads to Hali Fax island blocked the chop at the upwind end. It was easily blowing 40 knots.

Just setting up the gear was a feat of its own. Weighing down the pumped kites with 3-4 bagged kites on them wasn't enough to keep the gear from being blown down the beach because even kites in bags would go flying if left unattended. Reno and Tom were ecstatic! They had never experienced wind this strong for a Duotone photo-shoot before so they were excited for the chance to show how hard they could send it.

For the next few days in Luderitz, we fully grasped why this spot was so famous for setting world speed records. It wasn't just typical windy here; it was the kind of windy that shook windows, tried to blow you over at the slightest misstep and engrained sand in absolutely everything. We rode at all of the main spots close to town finding nice flat water as well as peeling little kickers that Aron found particularly fun and similar to those of his home spot in Cape Town. Megaloop sessions, big air, freestyle and even a few cruises through the speed channel made us very happy we took the road trip down here but we were also on a mission for swell, and Matchu was starting to itch when he heard that a sizeable one might be hitting the Skeleton Coast in the next few days. 

Back in Walvis Bay, we eagerly awaited the incoming swell, but it didn't show. We checked the spot, but it was flat; not even a ripple. The only disruption in the water was caused by curious seals popping their whiskered heads up to give us a look. We waited around a few days to see if something would materialize, spending our days finding other nearby lagoons and flat water spots for freestyle and big air sessions.

We couldn't stay in one spot for too long, so our guides planned a special excursion for us to go to Conception Bay. Permits and all the supplies we could need were loaded into a caravan of five off-road vehicles. We headed into the Namib Desert driving not by road but through dunes that our drivers were intimately familiar with yet they continuously change in the strong winds. We found our path as we went, the most experienced driver always leading the way to navigate the steep shifting mountains of sand.

While the kite sessions were all-time, driving through the dunes was arguably almost as fun! I was in awe the first few dunes we climbed that our vehicle wouldn't immediately topple over sending us into a terrible tumble. I had never experienced a ride like this other than maybe a roller coaster that I knew was securely fastened to its track, but there was no track here; we just had to trust that our divers and guides knew what they were doing.

Luckily for us, it turns out that they did know what they were doing and very well at that. We cascaded down one last monstrous dune floating on what felt like a cloud until our tires met firmer sand. We had reached the coastline where we could pick up the pace and make our way to our next kiting location. Cruising the beach, we stopped to check out families of hundreds of seals lazily basking in the heat of the day or the surprisingly frequent shipwrecks that strewn the shore left from the early 1900s. One site we came upon was an uncovered gravesite from indigenous people who lived in the dunes and dug shallow graves near the water. Our guides informed us that this was nothing to be alarmed by, and that the graves often were uncovered and recovered by the moving dunes, and of course, that they were not to be interfered with.

At this point in the drive, we had been on the road for most of the day, and like many of our other outings in this beautiful country, we had hardly seen another person. Plenty of animals including dolphins, flamingos, mackerel, seals, ostrich and others who found their ideal habitat closer to the water but really, we barely ever saw any people.

We found an empty lagoon with a steady breeze blowing over the narrow sandbar and decided that it didn't get any better than this for a freestyle session. Kiting until we couldn't see a thing, we headed to our home for the night where we were welcomed to a full set up camp with fresh fish caught during our session roasting on the grill. A day of travel away from anyone else, the stars, sounds, and mix of salt air with campfire smell sunk in as we exhaustedly settled in for one of the best nights of sleep of the entire trip.

On the way back from Conception Bay to our base in Walvis Bay and our last shot at getting a swell on the trip, Reno begged us to stop at the biggest dune that bordered the coast. Apparently, for the entire ride to Conception Bay, he had been looking for one thing, the biggest dune within close proximity to the water; he wanted to jump!  The wind was light, just enough for his upcoming stunt. Wingman Tom couldn't let Reno jump alone, so the two pumped 14 and 15m Rebels and bounded up the dune. Aron, Matchu and I had to get a closer look, so we too ran up the mountain, each step crumbling beneath our feet as we went.

Sufficiently out of breath we waited, as Reno and Tom quickly argued over who would go first. One after the other they jump backwards away from the mountain and towards the water, expertly navigating their kites as to pull them away from the mountain and down to the water each riding away from their jumps, hearts pumping from the adrenaline. So much so that they each had to do it a second time just for fun.

Back in Walvis Bay, we couldn't believe our luck; a swell was coming. This time it looked even better than before. With only a few days left in the trip, we knew this would be the icing on the cake if we could time it right. We watched the forecast and busied ourselves riding at Lover's Hill and another nearby flat water spot that our guides had scouted. A jetty built entirely to break the chop but allow clean wind pass over. Made of boulders and concrete, Reno and Aron hadn't gotten their fix for thrills, so each proceeded to megaloop over it.

We arrived at the surf spot and knew it was on because we could hear it even before we could see it; fast, hallow, clean. It was breaking, and the wind was blowing. I've never seen Matchu move so quickly. His wetsuit was on before the truck came to a stop. He bounded out, scrambling to the roof where we kept the gear — kites, bars, harness, flying past the windows down to the sand below. Matchu wouldn't come off the water, lining up sets and dancing along their faces. He didn't have to say it; I could see it written all over his face that this was an epic day for the rider who has travelled the world looking for incredible breaks. The rest of us couldn't help ourselves either; we had to get in the water. Reno even paddling into a few and tucking into the fast-moving barreling wave. It was hands down the ideal finish to what was arguably one of the best team trips we had ever been on.

We were tired mentally and physically, we had shot everything we could have possibly wanted to, and this was even before we found our perfect wave. As Reno recounts of team manager and trip organizer Tommy Kaiser's goals for these trips; "Too much is not enough".

Videos

Duotone Dice 2020 Product Clip
Duotone Rebel 2020 Product Clip
Duotone Soleil 2020 Product Clip
By Colleen Carroll

Comments