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Surfing Haiti

In Haiti, the curtain is always half-raised, so that you never know if the show is about to begin or has just ended, but you had better be on the right side of the curtain.

BY John Seaton Callahan |

9 Haiti-7_cropped

9 Haiti-7_cropped
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Picture 27 of 27

With only ten or so active surfers in the entire country, Haiti has many unridden lineups like this one near Jacmel. The only problem is the terrible roads, which make travel difficult even with a 4X4. Photo: John Seaton Callahan.

The following is an excerpt from the surfEXPLORE book, Surfing Tropical Beats, by Sam Bleakley.

In Haiti, the curtain is always half-raised, so that you never know if the show is about to begin or has just ended, but you had better be on the right side of the curtain. The rah-rah drumbeat and tom-tom roll is always there, in the background, rattling the soul. You have to turn this over in your mind. It’s not like waking up to the smell of coffee and croissants in a boutique hotel between shock white cotton sheets in a classy part of town. You cannot afford to be weak in spirit here, or mean of heart. This place, again, was born not just in revolt, but in revulsion at the idea that one person can enslave another, and in return for this realization, the Haitian spirits said: we will never double-cross you as long as you keep the faith of this strange double-cross world of the black saints and the sinner ladies.