It's been an amazing new year so far.
I lost the count of the epic days we had in this stretch of time. Mostly surfing, but not only.
Can't go back in time and retrieve out of my poor memory all the magic sessions I had, so I'll take yesterday as an example.
In the early morning I drove to Hookipa (one minute from where I live), and took this photo. I uploaded it on Facebook with the caption:
I wanted to save my energies for the afternoon after work kona sailing session, but these waves are too good not to go surf... excuse the rainbow.
Immediately after that, the squall you can see to the left pushed some stronger kona wind into the bay and made it looks less idillic.
"Oh shit, now I posted it on facebook... which means it's true! :)
Now I HAVE to go surf!"
Nah, it was too windy, so I went to check Paia Bay. I didn't like it and went back to Hookipa. In the meantime, Bart got out at Lanes on his standup. Here he is on a choppy and menacing one.
But he was on a standup, so I had no wind excuses...
It wasn't consistently big, but there were some sets of considerable size. Just to give you an idea, there was a total of two people at Lanes and four at the point.
One of those days in which I normally would sit and watch. Instead, with one hour before work, I jumped in the water and paddled out to share a few with Bart. Hadn't he been there, I would have not paddled out.
Here's a wave at the point.
I caught six waves. I'd say one fairly big one, one medium one and 4 relatively small ones (make that head high).
When kicking out of one of the last ones, I carefully paddled back out wide, to make sure to be in the middle of the channel. The strategy worked.
In fact, one time I was paddling out and I saw a huge set approaching.
I was halfway out right in the middle of the channel, in a relatively safe position.
I paddled over the first wave without any problem.
The second one got extremely steep but didn't break.
The third one was the biggest and it broke. Again, I was in the middle of the channel so it only broke in the very top and duck diving it was fairly easy, but I just couldn't believe that I was in the water while there were sets that closed out the channel.
"What the hell am I doing here?!?!"
I was pushing my limits, I guess... and since everything went smooth, I was pretty euphoric after that session.
Couple of more shots.
As predicted, the afternoon saw some kona wind sailing.
The pros went out at Lanes. Jimmie was there and this is one I stole from his gallery.
I had the pleasure to meet Ross Williams in a surfing lineup and the guy charges.
I sailed Kanaha instead and had a lot of fun (specially in those moments in which the wind was lighter and the waves cleaner).
The picture below has been taken from this gallery and shows that at times there was some size down there too. I believe that is Darryl.
After a big squall that kicked everybody out of the water, it was just me and him for an hour or so, before a few more showed up.
As forecasted, this morning the wind is onshore and I'm enjoying a morning rest (and post). I'm at the point that I look forward for shitty conditions so that I can take a rest... LOL
But shitty on the north shore can mean epic somewhere else, so It's highly possible that the rest is only going to last for half a day...
I'm 49 and I've never been stronger, healthier and more experienced in and out of the water. If needed, that explains the title.
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