Bluebird Surf

I was checking out the latest swell to hit Europe and found some crazy shots courtesy of Reuters and SurfersVillage. One of the heaviest waves and craziest angles I’ve ever seen coming out of the Emerald Isle.

This swell was literally off the charts producing crazy swell from Ireland to Spain. Splitting boats in thirds as you can see from this shot.

When the Ocean’s fury wasn’t splitting boats in thirds or taking out lighthouses and small coastal villages, it would just push giant tankers up on the beach.

It’s incredible to think that human beings are out there riding the biggest ocean swells that mother nature can serve up. Not just surviving either. The human spirit is amazing.

I was going through my inbox today and happened upon this picture sent to me way back when, which got me dreaming of endless walls and crystalline barrels. The dreaming took me to the closest thing to the Bukit’s Dreamland itself, BaliWaves.com. It was a much appreciated diversion and after finding this picture and seeing the stoke on Dante’s face I realized its time to plan a surf trip.  The original picture you could see the stoke…In this one its all about body language.

With the way the wind was blowing on Saturday afternoon, it didn’t look hopeful that I would get a session in. I held out till around 5:30pm and finally with about an hour of light left it looked as though the wind had backed off enough, so I ran out for a quickie.

It was kind of funky and spent most of my time dodging closeouts. It felt great though because as I said, I just had to get wet. There was only one other guy out way down the beach that I saw every now and then in between sets.

The next morning I got up early, but with the time change it didn’t feel like it. I thought there would already be a bunch of guys on it, but the tide was high and there was a lot of water moving. I almost went back to get my bigger board, but glad I didn’t cause the little 6’1″ 18 1/4 2 1/4 is a bit slower and keeps me in the pocket rather than speeding ahead and missing sections. The only tricky part is not getting pitched into the flats on the bigger ones.

It was beautiful and sunny, but still lots of warble in the swell. I surfed for about two hours, caught five good waves and called it a day. My last ride involved a little lip action and then cover up to slashing carve….so I was stoked with that.

I went back to check it in the evening and was surprised to see the swell had cleaned up a bit with the low tide. I wanted so badly to get back out there, but had to suck it up. I did manage to slip away for ten minutes with my oldest boy to catch the sunset and a few nice rides.

It was one of the nicest days of the year and everyone was out walking on the beach, playing frisbee, taking pictures, having picnics…it felt great to be wearing shorts and its technically still winter.

The surfers were putting on a good show as the waves were fairly hollow on the good ones and rippable.

A couple stopped to watch as this guy was racing for the lip and then threw up a spout of spray that was backlight as if someone had lit off a flash in the water. The guy with his wife turned to me and said ‘Did you get that?’. Everyone was just soaking up the summer like weather and good vibes.

As my son and I rushed back to the house to eat and get ready for the week we reflected on what a beautiful finish to a great weekend it was. I’m going to practice creative visualization more often.

Woke up Friday morning to a beautiful crisp day and decided to do a surf check. As I stood on the dunes with the sun on my back, I watched the half a dozen smart surfers that were on it early pull into one shack after another. Not that big, but hollow and even spitting on a few. I sat and watched for about ten minutes before I sucked it up and went off to work.

This morning I woke up hoping for a repeat, but as soon as I stepped out the front door I could tell the wind was a bit off. I decided to take my camera instead of my board.

It was a little bit funky to say the least. The wind a bit sideshore offshore, with a bit of fog and clouds peeking through. The early bird runners were out and about, but only a couple people on the beach and one lone surfer paddling out. I watched him for a bit and he was catching some nice little shoulders here and there.

As I stood on the beach, the winds started to pick up a bit and it got increasingly foggy, but you could tell it was just over OB. Marin looked beautiful and sunny which is giving me hope for later this afternoon.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only guy watching the lone ripper having a ball out there in the onshore funk. Before long he had company, but I still wasn’t persuaded.

I was checking out this new surf forecasting site called Spitcast and it is calling for better conditions around noon today. It’s a husband and wife team out of Santa Cruz that run the site and I like the simplicity of it. You should have a look as its always good to have lots of information to help you out when you just gotta get wet. I kept telling myself that the wind would die and the sun would come out and as I write this from the living room it looks like the fog has burned off for the most part…..sun has come out and so now we just need that wind to chill or go offshore.

Creative Visualization!!

Check out this latest video interview piece with Thomas Campbell; skater, surfer, film maker, photographer, artist.

http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/452319916