PASCALE Honore is just like any
other surfer, keen to drop everything when the waves are up to find the
perfect ride - except she's a paraplegic.
In order to ride the waves of the state's rugged West Coast,
Pascale and her surfing partner Tyron Swan, 23, have come up with a
unique solution involving a roll of duct tape and a whole lot of
courage.
Before
she hits the water the 50-year-old Elliston mother slips herself into a
backpack - "just a Kmart special", she says - with leg holes cut into
the bottom. She's then lifted on to Ty's back before another helper is
called in to wind the silver tape around the pair's shoulders, waists
and legs. Then they go surfing.
Pascale was left paralysed after a car accident resulted in a T4 spinal cord injury 18 years ago.
Pascal Honore rides a wave near
Elliston, on the Eyre Peninsula, duct-taped to the back of local surfer
Tyron Swan. Picture: Hayden Richards
"We'd had a day out in Port Lincoln," Pascale says. "I'd had a
couple too many drinks, no seatbelt - I used to have an EH Holden, but
I'd just got a new car with power steering.
"I was talking with
my friend and suddenly realised I was on the wrong side of the road and
over-corrected. She had her seatbelt on and just ended up with a big
bruise. I think I was ejected from the driver's-side window and fell on
some rocks. She was calling for me, and I was yelling out, `I can't move
my legs. I can't get up'."
Flown from Elliston to the Royal
Adelaide Hospital, Pascale has a clear memory of the first words she
heard upon emerging from her sedation.
"I just remember waking up
with the guy's head above me and he said, 'You've had a car accident
and you'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life'. He was the
surgeon, but I didn't know that at the time. I just remember thinking,
`What are you on about?' "
Pascal Honore became paraplegic after
a car accident but has recently experienced surfing for the first time
by being taped to the back of local Elliston surfer Tyron Swan. Picture:
Calum Robertson
After five-and-a-half months of rehabilitation, Pascale had
accepted the fact that she would never walk again, but was also
determined that it wasn't going to define her life.
"People would
say to me, `picture yourself walking again'. One day I just told
myself, `well maybe I could walk one day, but in the meantime what am I
supposed to do?' That's when I decided to just get on with it. You
either look at what you've got or you look at what you haven't got."
Born
in Paris, Pascale hit the hippy trail after the death of her father
when she was 20. Travelling through Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and
Indonesia, she eventually found herself picking grapes in the Southern
Vales.
"I was working in the vineyards when a friend said, `do
you want to come to Streaky Bay?' Her car broke down in Elliston, and we
had to stay here for a week. That's when I fell in love with the
place."
Pascal Honore became paraplegic after
a car accident but has recently experienced surfing for the first time
by being taped to the back of local Elliston surfer Tyron Swan.
Picture: Calum Robertson Calum
A sleepy one-pub hamlet halfway between Port Lincoln and Streaky Bay, Elliston has one thing in abundance - waves.
Pascale
says she loved watching her boys - Tom and Morgan - surf the waves that
break on the reefs outside of town, but couldn't help but feel
frustrated that she couldn't ride them herself. That's when Ty, a
professional diver and good friend of her sons, came up with a plan.
"We
were just sitting around one night having a few beers when I thought,
`yeah, I reckon I could surf with Pascale on my back'," Ty says.
Eventually that seed of an idea took root, and the pair began to seriously look at the logistics of surfing together.
Pascal Honore rides a wave near
Elliston, on the Eyre Peninsula, duct-taped to the back of local surfer
Tyron Swan. Picture: Hayden Richards
"Everyone said we were crazy," Ty says. "Even the loosest people I know said we were crazy.
"People
had all kinds of suggestions, like maybe I should practise with a 45kg
backpack on. The only problem is that a 45kg backpack isn't buoyant like
a person is, so if I wiped out I was going straight to the bottom."
After
practising in flat water behind a mate's jet ski one day last December,
Ty and Pascale decided it was time to try a wave. Towing out to the
famous Blackfella's reef break, the surfers in the water couldn't quite
believe what they were witnessing.
"I knew a couple of guys out there and I told them, 'we're gonna catch a wave'. They were like, `you're gonna what!"' Ty says.
Pascal Honore became paraplegic after
a car accident but has recently experienced surfing for the first time
by being taped to the back of local Elliston surfer Tyron Swan.
Picture: Calum Robertson
The first wave they caught was a successful ride, and Pascale says she'll never forget the feeling.
"I
just remember looking up and seeing the colours in the wave, hearing
that sound ... it was all over too soon," she says. Since that first day
the pair has surfed on a number of occasions, slowly refining their
unique double act.
Their next adventure involves a trip up the
West Australian coast, where pro surfer Ry Craike has promised to tow
them into a big wave off Kalbarri.
"We've bought an old Toyota Coaster bus with a wheelchair lift on the back," Pascale says.
Pascal Honore became paraplegic after
a car accident but has recently experienced surfing for the first time
by being taped to the back of local Elliston surfer Tyron Swan.
Picture: Calum Robertson
"It's pretty old, but it'll be all right."
Having
stitched up a new board thanks to Fanatic Surfboards, the pair is
looking for just one more thing to make the dream a reality.
"We'd really love a duct-tape sponsor," Ty laughs.
"We go through a whole heap of it."
Pascal Honore became paraplegic after
a car accident but has recently experienced surfing for the first time
by being taped to the back of local Elliston surfer Tyron Swan.
Picture: Calum Robertson
nathan.davies@news.com.au
www.facebook/ducttapesurfing
Pascal Honore became paraplegic after
a car accident but has recently experienced surfing for the first time
by being taped to the back of local Elliston surfer Tyron Swan.
Picture: Calum Robertson
