Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Check out the current issue of Stranger for an insight into the lengths some people will go to to satisfy their cravings, but in the meantime satisfy yours with some tales of surf and snow temptation…  

 
“After graduating I escaped the bleak British winter and followed the sun around the globe. It was in Costa Rica (Tamarindo to be precise) that the pleasures of warm water became so apparent. I’d come straight from the chills of Cornish seas sessions in deepest darkest November on a paddle board where I could barely bring myself to put my fingertips in the icy cold water.

Then in Australia I bought my first ever surfboard. The end of an era of splashing around on begged or borrowed boards. A 6’4 second hand McCoy, some warm water wax and my bikini…and I was off.

Now I'm home and I’ve got my first ‘proper job’…and I find my thoughts drifting back to warm seas, hot sand and life in a bikini. This is the job that I spent three years at uni for, the career path that leads me to stability, my own home, and the means to stay in Cornwall. But I can't stop thinking about that deliciously warm sea. Don’t get me wrong, I love Cornwall. I love my life here. But almost every day I’m tempted to just book a flight and answer the lure of that water. It happens mostly in meetings, or when I’m struggling out of my wetsuit, so cold I’m convinced my insides have turned to sorbet.

I don’t think that temptation will ever fade. The desire to dive in the warm sea, hot bubbles tickling my skin like nature’s own all over body massage. And no, having a bath just isn’t the same."
Rachel Bromley
Stranger reader and warm water addict

Alexander Todorenko fotonewzealand.co.nz

"The promise of warmer waters, easy paddle outs and peeling lines of clean surf lead me to dream up ideas of where I could go over the Easter holidays. After a red wine infused evening to dilute the boredom of watching my flat mates play Pro-Evo, I decided to calculate my funds and hit the Internet. A few minutes later and I had booked a flight to New Zealand, leaving my overdraft used and abused.

After two achingly long flights and a sloppy squid curry at what felt like breakfast time I finally arrived. A couple of nights sleeping on the floor of my cousins house, pouring over maps, searching for swell and ways of transport and I had decided my first destination. I was not disappointed. My time in Raglan was spent slathered in factor 30 sunscreen, catching beautiful, glassy waves with pot bellied Maori longboarders, gliding effortlessly down peaky left handers.                               

The beaches and water are perfectly clean, with the added bonus of being uncrowded. I was sad to say goodbye but hopefully I will return someday soon. Now I’m back at my desk, with the temptation for another trip building up inside me, waiting for the next great escape.”
Kezia Clark
Stranger reader and surf seeker
 

Photo by John Eldridge

“Stranger 2006 Tignes….been on a coach for 14hrs (Cornwall crew 24hrs)…dreary rain outside…group of 45 or so people all supa keen to hit the snow….heavy rain turns to heavy snow…everyone excited about expected deep powder levels…coach gets stuck in snow…team Stranger advises on snow chain usage….finally get to village…everyone trying to drag their equipment off the coach first so they can hit the fresh snow….advised lifts are closed due to avalanche risk…everyone super bummed out….more waiting….someone suggested hiking up the slope off the back of the car park to build a kicker…..INSPIRED IDEA….everyone piles up the first part of the mountain….the session goes off….frustration vented…SUDDENLY someone shouts AVALANCHE…everyone looks up to see a massive cloud of powder rolling down the mountain….new friend get engulfed in the powder cloud…people scramble for cover….you can hear the heartbeats and see the helplessness….everyone braces….the cloud passes….no all encompassing wave of snow follows…disbelief….visibility returns…shouts go out to those at the top…those at the bottom…responses ring out across the mountain….everyone is ok….everyone realises what could have been….everyone heads straight off the mountain and straight to the pub to create embellished stores of ‘the time I escaped an avalanche’….temptation proved lucky this time.”
James Purnell
Stranger reader and avalanche survivor 

 
“Whilst sitting below the Meribel Shaker speed bumps competition a long 12 years ago, dressed unwillingly in something resembling a cheerleader’s outfit, I was putting a brave face on things with the help of one or two morning beers from the ice bar. There was a break in events and the judges began to call out for a voluntary naked skier to come down the competition course. Spectators began to throw money in a bucket for this new entertainment.

I didn’t know which charity it was for but through my beery blur I suddenly found myself tempted to volunteer, standing to take up the challenge before I had even properly considered it. I fell over twice on the way down to the button drag lift which was evidence to me of beers and false courage. On the lift the judges drew me to everyone’s attention over the Tannoy, addressing me as nude girl‚ “this had better be a good charity”‚ I thought.

In fact “bloody hell”‚ is more what I thought when looking down on the course from above. Funny how things look so much steeper when looking down rather than up them. A quick strip, and off I went to warnings from the race starter to try nothing heroic. If only! I had to t-tray down the whole course, painfully slowly, in just shades, boots and a board. There was even a jump I had to negotiate. Mortification, nerves, sideline photographers and a running commentary from below combined to erase thoughts of afternoon shifts at work clean out of my head. Drunken temptation had got the better of me and I was paying the price. What felt like several years later I finally made it to the bottom where friends ran forward proffering clothes.

The charity turned out to be cold cash just for me, but the good intention had been there. I’ve made up for it since.”
Petra Greenhalgh,
Stranger reader and naked snowboarder