Kickin’ it off

Well Memorial Day weekend often kicks off the start of summer vacation for most and well it wasn’t a half bad start surf wise.  In fact, I think most of us were pleasantly surprised by the little pockets of good surf leading up to and capping off the weekend.

Thursday morning I caught one of the best waves I’ve had this spring.  It was one of those days where it wasn’t quite doing it’s thing on the outside and so the waves would break on the outside but then roll all the way in and reform on the inner sand bar, sometimes making for some funky but well shaped dredgers.

I got a nice left hander that missed breaking on the outside and then started to wall up right in between the inner and outer bars where I was sitting.  I got in early and made a long drawn out and bumpy bottom turn to backhand lip bash and then to my surprise the wave stood up and wove it’s way all the way down the beach about a good city block.  After my fifth turn I kicked out before the wave closed out on the inside and rode the next bit of white water in with a smile from ear to ear.  Sometimes all you really need is one wave to make the whole session.

In general, the period was so short that a seemingly easy paddle turned into a 10-15 minute battle if you wanted to make it all the way outside.  This poor guy above never did make it and had to try again from further up the beach.  Some sections were like defensive lines just not going to let you through.

When you finally did get outside there were some pretty fun ones to be had.  Lefts and rights and enough energy to allow you to throw it around a bit.

This time of year, it’s generally onshore and lousy and so when it does clean up for those little windows, it often takes people a while to figure it out and you can get waves all to yourself.  Word spreads quickly and conditions change even quicker, so you have to be swift.

With Spring in the air, nice weather, and some fun waves it was a great way to welcome summer and be thankful to all those that made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could enjoy all that we do.