Our inboxes are inundated with a wide variety of images and videos each week at The Inertia, from people all over the world, and everybody has their own style when it comes to sharing those glimpses of their experiences. If there’s one recognizable thing about getting those occasional emails from videographer Pedro Gomes it’s that his check-ins tend to come without spilling the proverbial beans. And he’s good at piquing our interest because of it.
Take this recent session with Gomes and a gaggle of rippers in Japan: Ken Higuchi, Cooga Harada, Jeff Cheney, Kazuo Morikawa, Gen Ichiro, Taichi Hagita, Hiroya Miwa, Kazunori Miwa, and Togari Sohei. It’s just great waves and good surfing in a place called Omaezak.
Of course, the mention of good waves in Japan is intriguing no matter the location right now. It may not be a storied, wave-rich region we highlight often in the surf world but within the next few weeks, it will forever become the first place that gave the sport its Olympic stage. And one thing anybody with a hint of interest in Olympic surfing is anxious to find out is whether or not there will be any waves worthy of such a grand showcase. The main concern seems to be that our Olympic debut may be a blown-out dud.
“That time of the year it literally could go lake-flat for a week,” Kelly Slater said last week. “That could be much more harmful to our sport than helpful. If guys can’t speed up and do aerials and do the good standard of surfing that we have it’s just going to be a non-event really.”
Omaezak is a four-hour drive from this summer’s competition site in Chiba, Tsurigasaki Beach. Needless to say, fingers are crossed the waves look anything like this for the Games.
