another grey day. fugly morning winds but forecasted to get even fuglier so me and my friend met up for a look. lately the forecasts have been so inaccurate, usually under calling the size but at least a few feet. this morning was supposed to be 6-7 ft. but buoy was calling 9-11@13. been watching one of my favorite sand bars form up this fall and seeing potential but it's been so big lately that there hasn't really been any conditions to actually surf it. it looked pretty mean this morning but the channel was holding and occasionally there was a right that appeared decent if you ignored the knee to duffy sized wind chops running up the face. the young buck had tagged along to check it with us but he noped out after seeing one set.
to be honest i wanted nothing to do with it either but i allowed my friend to shame me into giving it a go. it was either the 6-3 Patterson or the 7-10 padillac and I opted for the 6-3 because it didn't quite look like paddy territory. the shore pound sucked and it took a while to get out but once we made it to the channel it wasn't too hard to stay out of harms way. at least until it came to actually catching a wave. it reminded me a lot of a big junky day at Haliewa. the rip wanted to pull you deep and some of the insiders looked tempting but if you tried to cheat over and snag one you could end up in a bad spot once the sets rolled through. unlike Haliewa there was no inside lagoon to retreat to if you got caught out of position but instead a flooded rocky shorepound and a narrow strip of sand at the base of the hundred foot cliff.
I shoulder hopped a couple to warm up. steep and powerful drops with no shortage of lumps to navigate in my quest for the safety of the channel. my buddy went deep and got a couple of those mid sized ones. i couldn't tell if they were any good or not. we never really ended up near each other again until the end of the session. i ventured further out and deeper and got kind of a fun one. still, not exactly a turn wave but just a big steep drop with some lumps to navigate as it rolled down the bar. the inside was a shitshow with a huge rip pulling towards the channel and some partially exposed rocks looming just inside the final closeout section. I played it pretty cautious most of the session and never really had a bad wipeout although I did end up on the inside bar after failing to make a section and some of the double ups that landed on my head were a little scary. my friend had a sniff at a late one as he was scrambling for the shoulder and ended up getting sucked over and pressed into the bottom as he told it later.
finally a decent one found me in position and I got a good entry and one really solid feeling turn. that fired me up and I wanted another one but the ocean had other plans such as large, wide sets that nearly closed out the channel. my friend was deeper than I, taking the worst of it and I could hear him crying out Mommy! in between duckdives. it wasn't that bad, we were laughing about it once the sets passed but we both agreed it was time to take one in as the winds had also picked up and it was starting to resemble something other than an actual surf spot out there. my wave in was forgettable but the mission through the shorepound was not. probably the wildest part of the session was navigating the ceaseless inside dumpers while trying to avoid the boulders and the rip that wanted to suck you back out to sea. we both made it through the shorepound gauntlet unscathed thankfully. i'm not sure if I would call it a good surf session exactly but it sure felt great to be back on land.
to be honest i wanted nothing to do with it either but i allowed my friend to shame me into giving it a go. it was either the 6-3 Patterson or the 7-10 padillac and I opted for the 6-3 because it didn't quite look like paddy territory. the shore pound sucked and it took a while to get out but once we made it to the channel it wasn't too hard to stay out of harms way. at least until it came to actually catching a wave. it reminded me a lot of a big junky day at Haliewa. the rip wanted to pull you deep and some of the insiders looked tempting but if you tried to cheat over and snag one you could end up in a bad spot once the sets rolled through. unlike Haliewa there was no inside lagoon to retreat to if you got caught out of position but instead a flooded rocky shorepound and a narrow strip of sand at the base of the hundred foot cliff.
I shoulder hopped a couple to warm up. steep and powerful drops with no shortage of lumps to navigate in my quest for the safety of the channel. my buddy went deep and got a couple of those mid sized ones. i couldn't tell if they were any good or not. we never really ended up near each other again until the end of the session. i ventured further out and deeper and got kind of a fun one. still, not exactly a turn wave but just a big steep drop with some lumps to navigate as it rolled down the bar. the inside was a shitshow with a huge rip pulling towards the channel and some partially exposed rocks looming just inside the final closeout section. I played it pretty cautious most of the session and never really had a bad wipeout although I did end up on the inside bar after failing to make a section and some of the double ups that landed on my head were a little scary. my friend had a sniff at a late one as he was scrambling for the shoulder and ended up getting sucked over and pressed into the bottom as he told it later.
finally a decent one found me in position and I got a good entry and one really solid feeling turn. that fired me up and I wanted another one but the ocean had other plans such as large, wide sets that nearly closed out the channel. my friend was deeper than I, taking the worst of it and I could hear him crying out Mommy! in between duckdives. it wasn't that bad, we were laughing about it once the sets passed but we both agreed it was time to take one in as the winds had also picked up and it was starting to resemble something other than an actual surf spot out there. my wave in was forgettable but the mission through the shorepound was not. probably the wildest part of the session was navigating the ceaseless inside dumpers while trying to avoid the boulders and the rip that wanted to suck you back out to sea. we both made it through the shorepound gauntlet unscathed thankfully. i'm not sure if I would call it a good surf session exactly but it sure felt great to be back on land.
