Words: Pete Cabrinha / Photos: Stephen Whitesell, Pierre Carreau
It’s all about the day.
My eyes were cracked open by the sun arcing through the window around 6:30am. The trip started for me around 40 hours ago. The bulk of it thus far was spent on planes, taxis and boats. Standard issue for any surf trip worth its weight in saltwater.
However, this morning the sun was shining, the wind was blowing and there was surf on the reef. Andre Phillip, Susi Mai, Stephen Whitesell and I had traveled from all over the place to shoot our new Contra in St. Barth. Like most photo shoots there was an urgency to get things going, and with today’s epic conditions beckoning, we couldn’t wait to get on the water… but we had to start from scratch. Putting fins in boards while watching waves march through un-ridden was making me a little edgy. I couldn’t get out there soon enough. The large quantity of coffee running through my veins wasn’t helping the situation either.