What a day. Last weekend was moving hell but settled in more or less. Stocked for today as I needed a surf. Swell about 7'@14. Surfed that new 6'6" and was probably a little undergunned. Looked kinda tame from the dunes but holy hell that paddle out SUCKED. Wore 4 sets on the head, just teased within 50 feet of lineup and stacked and ruined repeatedly. Very tentative on waves at first solely because of that paddle. Lot of waves were jacking closeouts at first. But it did clean up. Started getting antsy and saw one a bomb left that was going to hold up with the little double up down the line. I really should not have gone on that and I knew it right as I flung myself it into it. Whole thing lurched as I dropped and I tried to hold it together pigdogging into the barrel but skittered and thrown over the falls, lifted that rail a touch too soon. I have never hit the bottom before on the outside sandbar and I hit it hard that time, slammed right on my ass, then further beaten and dragged. Bummed because it was a good wave and I saw it reel down the line. That one hurt though.
Well, get that out of the way. Tide dropped and it started to clean up a bit. Still brutal paddles back out after each wave; strong reverse rips just holding you in place. After pulling back on a wave I regretted, was determined to not fuck around. Local nodded me into a gem of a right that held up the whole way across. Racy right wall, slotted for 100 yards before getting swatted as it pinched. And then took one of the bigger waves right on the head paddling out. Saw it coming, knew I was fucked and fucked I was. That hurt but not enough to wipe the smile off my face. Returned the favor on next couple sets but a ton of waves for all. 2nd to last wave should have been my last - thought it would be relatively easy paddle back out but took 20+ minutes and several hundreds of yards down the beach before I could finally break the grasp of that current. One other guy was equally pinned inside. Commiserated later over how ruthless that paddle back out was. There were a few different groups of people out but a lot of attrition from that relentless paddle.
I was done at that point. Cramped up all over the place and was 3 hours of a lot of paddling at that point. Other local kept asking if I wanted the next wave and even though it was good, no man, I'm beat, I need to rest! Take your pick. Pretty funny. Right with a little kink in it down the line allowed a relatively decent vertical reentry into the flats where wave petered out and that was good enough for me at that point.
Well, get that out of the way. Tide dropped and it started to clean up a bit. Still brutal paddles back out after each wave; strong reverse rips just holding you in place. After pulling back on a wave I regretted, was determined to not fuck around. Local nodded me into a gem of a right that held up the whole way across. Racy right wall, slotted for 100 yards before getting swatted as it pinched. And then took one of the bigger waves right on the head paddling out. Saw it coming, knew I was fucked and fucked I was. That hurt but not enough to wipe the smile off my face. Returned the favor on next couple sets but a ton of waves for all. 2nd to last wave should have been my last - thought it would be relatively easy paddle back out but took 20+ minutes and several hundreds of yards down the beach before I could finally break the grasp of that current. One other guy was equally pinned inside. Commiserated later over how ruthless that paddle back out was. There were a few different groups of people out but a lot of attrition from that relentless paddle.
I was done at that point. Cramped up all over the place and was 3 hours of a lot of paddling at that point. Other local kept asking if I wanted the next wave and even though it was good, no man, I'm beat, I need to rest! Take your pick. Pretty funny. Right with a little kink in it down the line allowed a relatively decent vertical reentry into the flats where wave petered out and that was good enough for me at that point.