Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Big Wednesday

The surf is going to be huge this week. I took off tomorrow Wednesday and Thursday to see if I can find a point break to ride one of these monster waves. I'm sure Sunset will be a zoo early on, along with every other point break that is rideable. The home break is clearly out of the question since it is a beach break and I'm not Kelly Slater or Andy Irons.

Santa Barbara here I come! (at least for one day)

So, I actually went out on Big Wednesday. Woke up at 4 am in order to hit San O right when the gate opened. Nothing but whitewater! There were some people out at Old Man's getting rights that were well overhead. However, in order to get to the promised land, you had to scratch and crawl your way past whitewater. I took a 30 minute nap cause waking up at 4 am isn't really my normal routine. When I awoke, I looked out and it was the same. A handful of people on the outside picking off rights and kicking out before they hit the inside section.

A few of the older guys just sat and watched. There was a bit of a wind, but the whitewater was the worst part. I decided to suit up and paddle out.

What a workout! That's all I got out of it and a ding while I came back in. After an hour of trying to get past the warzone, I was swept right in front of the power plants and still had 100 yards to get to the outside. I wasn't the only who got swept south. There were a bunch of us down that way. I decided enough was enough and went in, at which point, I got a ding on the bottom deck. Couldn't be helped cause as I just started to stand, a wave reformed, picked me up and tossed me onto shore. Just like a kick in the ass by Mother Nature to tell me that I don't belong out there.

I drove up the coast and every beach was just huge. People were all stopped to view Mother Nature's wrath or gift.

For 2nd Session, I went to Sunset with Barry. People were gawking at the south end of the Gladstone's lot. PCH was just one long line of cars. I went out... again. Surprisingly, I got out pretty easily, over by the steps. Barry took off to get closer to the point. I felt a few waves pass underneath me. I could feel the power of that wave and when I looked down the face, it was a sheer wall. There were 15 ft bombs coming through the point. It was more mild in front of the steps.... only 10-12 footers. I am feeling comfortable sitting out there, bobbing with a bunch of folks when a clean up set comes barreling through. People just start scrambling towards the horizon. As I get to the wave, I feel like I can make it, and then it just crashed right on top of me. Sunset has these nice, crumbly waves, great for beginners. I didn't think anything bad would happen, but I was dead wrong. I was pushed under and had the board ripped away from my hands. I keep calm, let the wave push me around a bit before I decide to start looking for air. Only thing was the wave kept me under a lot longer and when I was swimming towards the surface, it was nowhere to be found. I was at the end of my breath and that's when I surfaced. I grabbed my board, inhaling the sweet breath and started toward the horizon. Well, when you get tossed in by a clean up set, you get pushed into the crash zone. Another wave came and knocked me down, not as big, but it was enough. I went in after surfacing. I just watched Barry catch a few waves, as usual. I was done for the day.

I can say that I went out on Big Wednesday, but zero wave count. It was something that I had to do, even if I got my ass pounded by Mother Nature.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Clerks II - July 21, 2006