I'm like a bubble waiting to burst!
It's been too long since these breathless moments found their way into my blog. It was only yesterday that I sat on top of a dune watching surfers charge world-class A-frames... on my swim in (i'll explain in a minute), I was in front of a wave in which this dude was getting barrelled forever, and I could totally hear the music of september sessions playing in the background. These waves were perfect - absolutely perfect. Big, powerful, smooth, hollow waves, solid DOH, glassy and still like a pond outside the break, and I was floating over the one bar along the whole beach that looked like this. It was magic - and I was watching it all unfold from the land.
I paddled out earlier, and saw a couple of things that got me thinking... one was a half-broken board floating in, and another was a surfer swimming in without a board. The latter made me more concerned... worrying about what the swim in would be like without a board, considering the fierce currents at play and the distance between the land and the outside breaking wave. Nonetheless, it was still pretty far out of my mind. Once I was outside with the rest of the pack, I watched these unreal waves unfold, and picked a spot. A nice wave showed up for me, and I charged it - I kicked in easily, and as I began to take the bottom turn, the wave began to pitch, and I wasn't far enough down the line, so I figured that I would get closed out... the wave was too high and I wasn't going to make it over the top, so I decided to fall back into the wall, and swim through... successful enough. However, when I came up, the tension from my board had ceased. I was SOL, and WOB (without board). So I was faced with the disappointment of having to swim in, while facing the fear of drowning in the process - tortured between the missed opportunity, survival, and the concern over my Hana Papa board... oh what if I lost it! What if I get tired swimming in the currents and drown? I almost had that wave!?
It wasn't a tough swim after all, and my board was there waiting for me. The little string that attaches the board to my leash broke (not the first time this has happened to me) and so I was forced to resign my stick and call it a day, and instead of surfing into the sunset, I enjoyed it watching others ride these world class waves... right here at OB.
It's been too long since these breathless moments found their way into my blog. It was only yesterday that I sat on top of a dune watching surfers charge world-class A-frames... on my swim in (i'll explain in a minute), I was in front of a wave in which this dude was getting barrelled forever, and I could totally hear the music of september sessions playing in the background. These waves were perfect - absolutely perfect. Big, powerful, smooth, hollow waves, solid DOH, glassy and still like a pond outside the break, and I was floating over the one bar along the whole beach that looked like this. It was magic - and I was watching it all unfold from the land.
I paddled out earlier, and saw a couple of things that got me thinking... one was a half-broken board floating in, and another was a surfer swimming in without a board. The latter made me more concerned... worrying about what the swim in would be like without a board, considering the fierce currents at play and the distance between the land and the outside breaking wave. Nonetheless, it was still pretty far out of my mind. Once I was outside with the rest of the pack, I watched these unreal waves unfold, and picked a spot. A nice wave showed up for me, and I charged it - I kicked in easily, and as I began to take the bottom turn, the wave began to pitch, and I wasn't far enough down the line, so I figured that I would get closed out... the wave was too high and I wasn't going to make it over the top, so I decided to fall back into the wall, and swim through... successful enough. However, when I came up, the tension from my board had ceased. I was SOL, and WOB (without board). So I was faced with the disappointment of having to swim in, while facing the fear of drowning in the process - tortured between the missed opportunity, survival, and the concern over my Hana Papa board... oh what if I lost it! What if I get tired swimming in the currents and drown? I almost had that wave!?
It wasn't a tough swim after all, and my board was there waiting for me. The little string that attaches the board to my leash broke (not the first time this has happened to me) and so I was forced to resign my stick and call it a day, and instead of surfing into the sunset, I enjoyed it watching others ride these world class waves... right here at OB.
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