3 minute read
ESCAPING SOUTH AFRICA: JACK RIEDER
TRAVEL GUIDE
Escaping South Africa
This spot was heaven; endless white sand beaches and flat turquoise water all to ourselves.
WORDS BY JACK RIEDER / PHOTOS BY RAMIRO GALLART
After spending over a month-and-a-half in Brazil shooting freestyle and training it was time to travel onwards to South Africa. There I would link up with the team and get going on some projects we had in the works.
I was initially planning on being in South Africa for ten days however after my very first night in South Africa I woke up to endless media regarding the new variant–Omicron. Flights were being canceled and South Africa was basically locked out from the rest of the world. Thankfully, we were in an Airush team house so we embraced our future and prepared for the unknown amount of time we would spend together in Muizenberg.
As the dust settled it became clear that the European team members could return home. However, that was not the case for myself, Rami and his friend Iñaki who came along for the trip.
Now it was only Rami, Iñaki and I in this big house. We made the most of our trip filming non-stop content and riding every day for a few weeks. The evenings were spent coming up with creative escape plans. For Rami and Iñaki to return home to Argentina they needed to spend 14 days elsewhere; as did I to avoid an expensive hotel quarantine. Although finding other locations that would accept us was a whole new challenge. We narrowed it down to three locations. Kenya, Zanzibar and Mexico. The first two seemed far more exotic but the responsible side of us decided on Mexico seeing as it was closest to all of our final destinations. So off we went after our extended stay in South Africa.
We landed in Cancun and set route for Isla Blanca as the forecast looked epic! We stayed at Anthar Racca’s Family Resort & Kite School and rode with our Airush teammates Anthar and Einar. We shot freestyle content in arguably the most amazing flatwater locations I have ever experienced. On one of our final days, Anthar and his father organized a boat trip out to a more remote kite spot. It was hands down the brightest blue and turquoise water I had ever seen in my life.
The night sky in Isla Blanca was incredible.
The endless different shades of blue water were so inviting that a few sprays were in order.
Once the week of wind came to an end we said goodbye to the team in Isla Blanca and cruised northwest to meet up with the crew from Airush Yucatan. We rode a super cool flatwater spot they guided us to and got to meet the whole group.
After all this hectic travel, it was time to slow down for a minute and we settled in Tulum for a couple days; exploring the cenotes and enjoying the white sand beaches.
Finally, it was time for me to continue onward to my final destination of La Ventana to spend Christmas with my brother and Dad. Rami and Iñaki stayed on the east coast of Mexico till after Christmas as that is when our two weeks outside South Africa was complete.
In the end I had a successful return home to Canada with my family and Rami and Iñaki made it back to Argentina to enjoy New Years with family and friends.
The trip was nothing short of a disaster, however I learned that if you go through it with a good group of friends the most hectic trip can also be the most fun and exciting. If there’s anyone that can solve a travel crisis and make it into an amazing trip it’s Ramiro Gallart; so Iñaki and I left the majority of the problem solving to him and simply followed along!
