Tavarua 2013

Tavi treated us very well this year, with sunny glorious weather and waves in the head-high to double overhead range. The trip brought together a great mix of Aussies and Yanks with evening talks presented by both. Topics included surfing related shoulder and knee injuries, the future of medicine in the US, Surf Addiction, World Ocean Council, Resuscitation, STI’s, and several more outstanding talks. Talks were well received by all, with simultaneous translation available for both OZ and Seppos alike.

Ethan Wilson, Cloudbreak

One of the most notable features this year was the increased number of SMA families on the trip. Our early trips consisted of single surfing medicos from around the world. We’ve matured as a group: now we are family friendly. Ages on trip covered the full spectrum: a few months old (not yet surfing, but in training) to 65 (still charging). The mix also included Tavi newbies through those who’ve been over twenty times.

All of this goes to show that we have history with Tavi. 2014 will be the 27th year that the SMA has gone to Tavarua! It is where we started as a group and remains the mainstay trip each year. The Fijians working on the island, and their families in Nabila and Momi, are much beloved friends. As a result, our trip is very special for them as well as the SMA.

The village clinic trips this year followed a pattern of care that has long roots for us in Nabila and Momi. Prior to going to Tavi, arrangements were made in the US and Fiji to have medications purchased and donated through the much appreciated volunteer efforts of the SMA pharmacist extraordinaire, Lori Reisner of UCSF. Those meds were then organized and taken to the village clinics where we filled their shelves and discussed the drugs with the village care providers. We try each year to stick to the same medicines so as to have consistency and familiarity. In addition, eyeglasses were fit, clinics held to check derm, hypertension, and diabetic patients in particular.

During the village trip, we went to the school and, thanks to Victor Stewart’s devotion and energy, donated a large number of new camping tents to the kids. It will allow them to take overnight field trips. The school was very excited to receive the gift.

Then there is the surf… yeah this is a surf trip. The surf ripped. Cloudbreaks was outstanding. It was the case this year that you could surf as big as you had the huevos for. One day (just one day fortunately), none of us surfed and it was the tow-in masters John and Dylan chance to rage. Crowd problems were minimized by doing dawn and dusk runs, allowing for as great wave counts. We achieved that ideal mix of great barrels and no major injuries. In summary: a great trip, look forward to 2014!

The fishing ain’t bad either.

If you’d like to join us in Tavarua in 2014 for the longest standing surfing medical conference in the world, (June 28-July 5 2014) click here.

“Roughing” it, Tavarua style

Written by:

Ethan Wilson, MD