Newport Boys Make it to Tavarua in 2003!
Surfing Cloudbreak

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This was our first day at Cloudbreak.
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Our Boatman, Mike, called it 3 foot. We called it head-high perfection.

From Tavarua, the sound of huge waves crashing on a reef off in the distance, resembles the sound of a Thunder Cloud going off. It's heavy and intimidating when it gets big. That's how this place got it's name - CLOUDBREAK! When it gets really big, each set wave has enough energy to, not only kill you to death, but also to light up Las Vegas for a week.
 
Cloudbreak happens because of a fairly large reef sitting out in the middle of the ocean. It's just a few miles off shore from Tavarua, but with some good binoculars, you can see it from the lookout tower on the South side of the island. On a big day, you don't need binos. And the boat ride out there gets eerily quiet as everyone starts looking for their balls. By the time the boat pulls up to its mooring, some will find they have none. But there's no shame in discretion here.

Don't let the gray weather fool you. Some days were cloudy, some were sunny. Some days were calm, some were windy. We had a little of everything, but every day was about 75 degrees and the water never dropped below 80.

Sure, it's a little on the small side.
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But how many ways can you spell perfection?!

Anyone will tell you that the reef at Restaurants is much more dangerous than the one at Cloudbreak. But it's still hard and very unforgiving. In the 7 days were surfed it, Cloudbreak got only one of us. True, when it was double over-head it broke one of Lyle's boards, but all things considered . . . we were very fortunate.

We heard rumors that a recent swell wiped out the judges stand out on the reef at Cloudbreak. When you see the photo in the Tavarua office of a guy looking up from the trough, at what must be a 40 footer, you think to yourself . . . yeah, it's possible. But they were just rumors. The stand is still there and the reef is fully exposed at low tide. Regardless of size or tide though, a bad day at Cloudbreak is like the best day in Newport.