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My friends and I took a trip to France years ago. JT and Steven had been there before and were leading the trip. They decided that we should visit a beach they knew. The beach was located in a calanque, a finger of water surrounded by cliffs. To get to the beach, we had to climb up and down through several other calanques, each progressively harder. By the time we got to our destination calanque, we had been climbing for a number of hours. My legs felt like jelly and I'd skinned up one of my shins. Just before we were ready to sit down and enjoy and I was about to bask in my uncharacteristically athletic accomplishment, an elderly lady wearing bedroom slippers walked by us. I was stunned! I said, "What the H*LL!" JT and Steven explained that she must have taken the boat. "There's A BOAT?!"

My friend, Dan dove into the water and was immediately stung by a jellyfish. I decided that it was best to just sit, relax and enjoy the admittedly gorgeous view. We watched climbers on the other side of the calanque scale the walls using ropes and other gear.

When it was time to leave, I wanted to take the boat back but we had brought no money with us. The only way back was to climb out. Up the cliff was, of course, even harder than down. At the point at which the photo was taken, I am standing on a tree growing out of the side of the cliff. I can't step back down because I can't see where I am stepping. There are no footholds that I can find in front of me. My arms are stretched up over my head and I'm clutching a small outcrop of rock. At this point, all of my fellow travelers, who by the way are all male and as a consequence it is safe to say have more upper body strength than me, are yelling at me to pull myself up. There was no way that I could do that. If you could see behind the sunglasses, you would see that I am crying. I was telling them to go on without me and send for help when they got back to town. In the meantime, I would just stand on the tree. My friend, Dan (I lurves ya, Dan!) decided that now was the time to take my picture because, he said, "I knew you would be alright and then you would want a picture because you would be proud of your accomplishment." I can't say I'm actually proud. More grateful that JT guided my feet to his shoulders and stood up while Steven hauled me up by the arms, thereby saving my life. I promise...I will not do that again!

TIAGO PIRES (PRT) SEIGNOSSE, France (Thursday, September 24, 2009) -The Quiksilver Pro France, Event No. 7 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, got back in motion today at the event's main venue of Les Bourdaines in consistent-but-testing five-foot (1.5 metre) waves...Battling against the elements with strong currents coming into the equation, Round 2 competitors put on a show of strategic game plans and athletic skills, holding their line-up positions and taking off on fast-breaking five-to-six foot wave faces to grab their Round 3 tickets...With most top seeds getting the job done in various ways, from solid scores to tight heat results, surprise came with the eliminations of highly-touted competitors Jeremy Flores (FRA), and defending champion Adrian Buchan (AUS), losing to Aritz Aranburu (EUK), and ASP Dream Tour veteran Greg Emslie (ZAF), respectively, creating the biggest upsets of the day. The event has a waiting period from September 23rd to October 4 2009. The Quiksilver Pro France is a mobile event and depending on conditIons can be held at either Hossegor, Seignosse, Capbreton or Saint Jean de Luz and is designed to take advantage of the best waves on any given day the Atlantic Ocean has to offer in the South West region of France. Photo: joliphotos.com