In today’s era of social media, Google Earth, and geotagging, secret surf spots sort of feel like a thing of the past. Stumbling upon an empty, undiscovered perfect wave all to yourself, à la Bruce Brown’s 1966 classic, The Endless Summer? Not likely.
But it turns out, there are still some undiscovered waves out there – if you know where to look, and you study your swell forecasts, and you’re willing to strike when the time is right. Enter Matt Rode, an under-the-radar surf journalist and secret spot aficionado. Rode has dedicated his life to chasing uncrowded, undercover perfect surf spots. And he’s finally sharing some of his secrets…well, sort of.
Maps to Nowhere, an ongoing series on Surfline, features Rode as a pseudo secret spot surf guru, sharing his supernatural knowledge, and the incognito waves he’s discovered over the years with a few lucky surfers from the O’Neill team. The only catch? We, as viewers, have no idea where in the world they are.
The latest edition of the series shows Rode and O’Neill teamriders Brett Barley, Eli Beukes, Cory Lopez, and Torrey Meister at an undisclosed and utterly perfect barreling A-frame.
Matter of fact, Matt inadvertently stumbled upon this spot – hence the title of this episode, “The Accidental Treasure.” Here’s a bit more of the story behind this discovery:
“What are the odds of lightning striking twice? Diehard surf traveler/journalist Matt Rode came to this place three years ago, hunting the rumor of a perfect pointbreak. When he finally arrived, the wave simply wasn’t breaking. But on that same trip, Matt stumbled across a remote beachbreak setup that, for its size, was one of the best he’d ever seen.
“Matt usually has reservations about revisiting a spot he’s already scored, maybe at its best. This time, he broke his own rule and invited a crew of pro surfers along for the ride — Brett Barley, Eli Beukes, Cory Lopez and Torrey Meister. While it wasn’t easy to convince them all to travel halfway across the world to surf a beachbreak, once they did arrive, they discovered something that blew them away. Day after day after day.
“Swell charts, bathymetry models, and buoy data proves helpful to Matt and his crew. But other clues — like the sound of cowbells — really even out the score.”
Check out episode one, “The Lost Atoll,” of Maps to Nowhere here; and stay tuned for episode three, “Timing Is Everything,” due out April 26th.
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