The Internet’s Best Guesses For The Location Of Mick’s Magic Right

Since the emergence of the clip of Mick surfing an incredible sand bottomed right online yesterday, the internet has been awash with guesses as to the location of the wave. In the clip the spot’s whereabouts was shrouded in secrecy, with only a few tiny clues for intrepid internet wave hunters, including the claim by Ripcurl that Mick is only the fourth ever person to surf it.

Here we’ll go through some of the best guesses we’ve seen spring up on the web and assess their likelihood. And before you get your knickers in a twist and say we’re blowing it up, you’ll see very quickly that IF (and it is a big if) it is any of these locations, there aren’t many people who will have the time, money or inclination to hop on a flight to get to them any time soon:

Mick mentioned a local taking a shit on the sand, which is a custom in this part of the world

Pakistan

This one, found by reddit user ‘ghos5880’, looks like just the sort of long, multiple point set up suggested in the article on the Ripcurl website, which includes a bit about Mick electing to go and surf further up the point, where the waves are bigger (as they seem to be in this screen grab).

Although the particular point highlighted in this satellite image looks a bit too rocky to be Mick’s, Pakistan as a whole could well still be a strong contender for a few reasons.

Firstly as shrewdly pointed out by reddit user ‘d_barbz’, Mick mentioned a local taking a shit on the sand, which is a custom in this part of the world (although that doesn’t narrow it down too much).

Additionally, Mick says when he found out about the location of the wave, he responded that he didn’t think there were any waves there, a statement which fits Pakistan pretty perfectly.

The final and most compelling piece of evidence which convinced us that that Pakistan could be the one, is this old archived surfline article from the region, which features an image of a very similar looking wave to the one Mick found.

Mozambique

Many people online have commented how much the wave looks like that right hander featured in Strange Rumblings and VFABM, which is in Mozambique, leading them to scour the surrounding coastline for a similar set up.

In doing so Reddit user ‘Tube-Goblin’ happened on this little gem. Although it looks like an incredible set up, there are a few things that point to it not being Mick’s wave; firstly it looks to be breaking on a sand bar disconnected from the land, which means it might be hard to access by land vehicle, making it also unlikely that a local would be having a toilet break where Mick was doing the run around.

Secondly, unless Mick’s comment about him being surprised the destination country had waves was a red herring, it certainly doesn’t fit with Mozambique. Finally Mozambique has been firmly on the radar of South Africans, and international surf explorers for a while now, and so it seems unlikely that a wave as good as the one in the clip would not have been found and surfed by a lot more than three other people (again presuming this is not just a red herring).

Somalia 

The waves visual similarity to Mozambique got others searching similar coastlines, in more remote nations, that fit the ‘I didn’t even know there were waves there’ statement a little better.

We don’t think Ripcurl would have risked their golden boy getting kidnapped by pirates just to get the shot

Although the entirety of Somalia’s coast pretty much looks like one long right hand point, this spot, highlighted by reddit user ‘mindkcuf’, stood out. A factor working against this theory is how ridiculously dangerous the country is and we don’t think Ripcurl would have risked their golden boy getting kidnapped by pirates just to get the shot.

Conversely it’s more than likely a wave in Somalia would only have been found and surfed by very few people, as the country’s extremely turbulent history has definitely kept explorers and travellers at bay.

Mauritania 

One of the most popular guesses now circulating online is Mauritania, due to the waves remarkable resemblance to one found there in the clip below, by fellow Reef team rider Kepa Acero.

One problem with this theory however is that the sun appears to rise out of the sea in Mick’s clip, and Maurtania only has a west facing coastline. Also, people have reported that Kepa’s visit took place on a massive swell, so the size needed to take the wave from the ankle snappers you see below, to the solid overhead drainers you see in Micks seems almost implausible.

In addition to these, others internet guesses include the Caribbean, Oman, Yemen, Angola and many more. The long and short of it is, the internet, in all its infinite wisdom still seems a long way off from finding the answer.

However, if this little collective digital search mission has taught us anything it’s that there are still probably dozens of world class waves out there still to be surfed, and doesn’t that just fill ya with joy?