DIRECTED & EDITED BY SEBASTIEN BOULARD, THE PRIDE TEAM WENT BACK TO AFRICA FOR ANOTHER OUTRAGEOUS ADVENTURE. USING LOST TAPES FROM AUGUST 1994 – SO THEY SAY – THE RESULT WAS ONE THE BEST PRIDE BODYBOARDS TEAM TRIP MOVIE SO FAR, STARRING BODYBOARDING SUPERSTARS PER-LUIGI COSTA, ROBERTO TITAN & ISABEL VON SOUTH, ALONG WITH THEIR NEW FRIEND STEPHANOS (FOR STEPH KOKORELIS PERSPECTIVE CLICK HERE). HOLY AFRICA 2 IS AN ULTIMATE MUST-WATCH FILM.

The movie in question discovers Namibia’s most perfect, endless stretch of sand: The Donkey (Skeleton Bay). After the debut of Holy Africa, a team journey in South Africa chasing the Emerald, the Pride A-team and the rest of the crew, have delivered another amazing production, a high quality movie and great story on a very unusual scenery for the common bodyboarder.

The spot, which was once known as Donkey’s Bay, offers, most likely, the longest lefts on the globe breaking on a sandy bottom. The Donkey is one of the most incredible waves in the world and when it’s working, simply doesn’t stop providing barrels, wave after wave. A true wave machine right in the heart of Africa.

“I think any wave rider has the dream to come to Skeleton at least once! There were a few destinations on the table for our Pride trip, we were meant to go to Namibia the year before but the lack of swell cancelled the whole deal. So when the swell we were waiting for popped up on the charts during our window, we made the call and tried our luck to Namibia!”, starts by saying PLC, adding that “The place is the definition of raw elements, wild and hostile, the drive to the beach is quite scary and unfortunately we had to deal with the thickest fog I’ve ever seen. I paddled out not knowing if there were waves or not, at least how big they were. This was, obviously, a nightmare for the camera men not being able to shoot anything for hours. It was an intense experience to say the least. Many hours spent trying and many kilometers walked on the sand.”

“The wave isn’t a dream, it’s hard work but in the end a good wave is all you need to make the experience worth it” – Pierre

Isabela Sousa, 5x world champ, agrees with Pierre’s statement. “Skeleton Bay is amazing. I think it was one of the most spectacular experiences I’ve had with bodyboarding. The image of the line up generates a sensation I wish for any bodyboarder. But the wave is not as easy to surf as it seems.”

“Skeleton Bay has to be one of my favorite waves in the world. I think this trip with Pride was may be my 5th time being there and I never get tired of going back. What a wave!” – Tristan

Although, the wave himself is a very peculiar one – very fast and hollow presenting long walls. This means the riders had to invest more in tube travel time and less exploring the air space. High-performance rides were in order, of course. Monsieur Costes explains: “The Pride team is pretty known for being very technical and I think it was refreshing to see us with a different approach focusing on riding barrels. Tristan told me it was better to never stall and keep racing and I stuck to that.” (laughs)

“It’s hard to describe the feeling of riding that wave, it’s incomparable, it’s so long and fast and hollow, I just wish I had another shot at it because by the time I was feeling good riding it, the swell was gone” – Pierre

You see, to get out of the tubes you need an excellent trimming technique because the wave runs a lot and most of the time it’s difficult to generate a lot of speed. Being the first time there, Isabela stayed ecstatic: “I think what surprised me the most is how the wave forms on the shore. It’s a desert area and as far as the eye can see there’s barrels breaking. I think it’s an experience that every rider has to have: walking on the sand and seeing a true spectacle of nature.”

Tristan, the rider who rode The Donkey the most, sets the rhythm for future adventurers: “I always explain the wave as a real rollercoaster. You are trying to battle the foam ball, bumps and all the power of this wave as it runs down the shallow sandbar. The wave can also be very fast, so you have be very careful with playing with your speed too much. I guess the land strip is around which you walk back up to the top of the wave is around 2km long. So after each wave you are greeted with a long walk of staring at perfect barrels.”

“You ride waves for over a minute at a time. You have to learn to adjust your breathing accordingly which is a battle at first” – Tristan

With that in mind the South African, holder of two World Tour trophies now, adds a few more tips for the lads: “The rule is: if you think you should slow down, then speed up. (laughs) Many guys see the wave slowing down so they break their speed a bit only to be greeted by a really fast section down the line at some point. You cannot control your speed too much, one or two little check turns is enough. From there on out you trying to go as fast as possible. I love riding a double stringer board there with mesh just because the speed you get on those stiff boards are second to none.”

Where to next?

Isabela, the Brazilian Queen, reckons the trips with the team are always unexpected. “I would really like to go somewhere with lots of triangle waves. But the truth is that any trip with the team is a fantastic adventure: either because of the level and partnership or just because of the challenge of shooting the film.”

PLC, on the other side, keeps an open minded, agrees there will a movie third part, but underlines “to be honest, we go with the flow, there was no actual plan of the Holy Africa series, we are just pragmatic, expect the unexpected with the Pride team!” (laughs)

“All I know is there are some real talents, passionate and creative minds behind the brand, supporting bodyboarding is their one goal and making projects like those ones” – Pierre