Combo Swells

What a weekend!  Great contest!!  Good on ya Nat!!

That one backhand vertical snap was killer….yeah you know which one too.

While the contest down south was in full swing with Middle Peak starting to show we were getting hit with some large surf up here.  I woke up around 7am, suited up and jogged down to the beach.  I didn’t hear much and thought the surf was a bit smaller than the 2-4ft the day before.

As I got my first glance I slowed to a walk and then stopped in awe as the ocean was alive with huge waves breaking in the 15ft-20ft+ range.  The outer reefs which lie about a half mile out were feathering on the sets and way up in Marin you could see a couple bombies and the trail of spray hanging there from way over near Bolinas as if it was suspended and not moving.  I sat there with my 6’5″ watching to see if there was a chance I wasn’t undergunned when another guy walked up for the morning check and said he sure hoped I had a big board….apparently not big enough.  The tide was high and so after watching for 4o minutes and feeling defeated I decided to go back home and either wait for the tide to drop or go to other locales that would be more manageable.

Here is a shot later in the day as the tide dropped.  This was taken on the north side of the beach and was a bit smaller than the swell that was getting in further south. Looks like a big dump and full on stand up pit.  No takers.

So the goods turned out to be just around the corner in a special place designed specifically for the hardy local bunch.

The stories about getting sucked out around the bridge and having to come in over boulders with huge shore pound are a plenty at this spot.  Also a plenty are the stories of localism at this spot that breaks pretty infrequently and has a narrow takeoff zone.  I have a sequence of the guy in the photos sitting deep getting dropped in on as he came around the boil and then pushing the guy who dropped in on him off his board.  They just missed nailing each other…bound to happen with the twelve guys all sitting on one peak.

When you do get in position for a set you have to be careful about which ones you grab for obvious reasons.  The Big boulder in the wave is what you will face taking off too deep or too far outside.

The inside had some nicely shaped walls and the select few would even hold up to be taken apart by the skilled riders like the one in the picture below.

After checking this break, down south on Sunday was a piece of cake.  It is so perfect down there and the biggest hazard is the crowds.  I surfed for five hours+ on Sunday and got my fill…atleast for a day or two.  Not looking forward to the time change next week when my window of opportunity will be drastically reduced.