Chippa in India

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UTILISING the premise of testing out a load of kit out for FCS as a ruse, Chippa Wilson embarked on an Indian surfari. A trip which ended up being a lot more about a cultural safari than the surf. If you're not familiar with Chippa he's half human and half helicopter from Cabarita Beach, 15 minutes south of Snapper Rocks. After seeing this series drop we pinned him down via the virtual lance of instant communication to find out how a young ripper from the Goldy got to grips with the subcontinent's hectic heartland, India. How did you end up being chosen to head down there? I'm not sure about that question. I was lucky to be chosen I guess! Had you been to India before? That was the first time for me, I hadn't even thought about going there before this trip. © 2013 FCS

There are some pretty heavy preconceptions about the subcontinent not having great surf, was that your experience? We didn't get any waves that whole trip, the waves I caught were sets that I waited 10 mins for. But that doesn't even matter to me, the experience I got travelling throughout India was all I needed in the end. Truly amazing! So it was a mission to find the waves? It was a mission, we were taking 13 hours train rides to find some sort of swell. You don't even realise how far you've travelled and then you're taking so much in you forget about the mission you're on. How were you received by the local surfing community? Did you have some local knowledge to dial you in? I had no clue about were to go in India. The local surfers were so kind and inviting to us -- they drove us around, feed us and housed us! Without them we couldn't have completed this so thank you guys! © 2013 FCS

What do you bring away from the trip. India can do funny things to people's heads. Were you tempted to give it all up and buy a beach bar and party till you're old and wrinkly? Nar that doesn't sound fun to me right now, being stuck on a beach all hungover everyday would suck! I just left that place with a really nice feeling! And finally, would you head there again to score the surf? Any advice for any one planning a road trip? Yeah I would really love to go there and get some fun waves, I know they get them. My advice is to bring surfboard tie downs, you'll always need them. Cheers! ...Interestingly the word 'surf' was originally derived from the Indian word 'suffe' meaning coastline. After being picked up by Portuguese sailors in the 17 Century, 'suffe' eventually became 'surf'. © 2013 FCS

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