A
Sunday Surf.
My first
session in two weeks - I was pretty excited. The upside of fatherhood and work
keeping you out of the water is that you are so much more appreciative when you
do get a chance to surf.
Sliding
the wooden fish into the car, I notice that despite several years of heavy use,
she still looks as new, definitely a testament to durability of timber boards.
As I drive down the road I am hoping the grey skies and drizzly rain would keep most of the crowd in bed. Even so, when I pull into an empty carpark at japs, I'm a bit apprehensive, no one out, it must be pretty average.
As I drive down the road I am hoping the grey skies and drizzly rain would keep most of the crowd in bed. Even so, when I pull into an empty carpark at japs, I'm a bit apprehensive, no one out, it must be pretty average.
I jump
out of the car, hands in my pockets and hoodie on and I jog up the path to the
lookout. I'm greeted by the sight of a neat little A frame peak with a good
50-100m rolling left hander. Its small, but super clean with a nice shape.
Racing
back to carpark I'm greeted by a couple of young guys suiting up, they've done
the local check and Japs is the pick.
My wettie
is stiff and scratchy, showing its age, but I'm grateful for any
insulation against the cold Southern Ocean a stark contrast to balmy waters of the east coast. The paddle out through a fast
running rip is a breeze and in two minutes I'm taking off on my first wave, I'm
too deep and too late and the lip hits me in the back of the head, a nice wake
up call. The next few waves are good, taking off early and racing down the line
I've got heaps of time and speed to draw out a couple of big arcing cut backs.
As I'm paddling back out after my fifth wave I see three guys walking down the
steps. Within fifteen minutes there are another ten guys in the water.
Its great
to see a couple of old friends and a few of the guys are interested in my
board. The sets start to build as the tide comes up a little. I score a little
barrel going right and follow it up a with a good overhead left with a good
wall and power to link a few good turns together. This earns a few more
enquiries into the board as its really performing well in these slower than
normal waves. I'm happy to sit wide and chase the peaky ones as half a dozen guys
jostle for the sets. After a few more I score a great little right that peels
almost to the sand. Time to go in.
The cobwebs have been blasted out
and I'm blissfully happy with wet sandy hair driving home. There really is no
better way to start the day!