Paddling out to meet Bill, face to face

Hurricane Swell... Sheesh. I actually bowed, in thanks, to the ocean last night after Stu and I were back on dry land. Not that we were ever truly in danger, but we did come out completely unscathed, which is pretty cool.

Stuart and I paddled out after work at about 6:45 PM on Friday. It was an endless battle, constant paddling and duck diving, for over 35 minutes (I was wearing my watch) and 1/2 a mile of lateral drift, before we finally managed to poke through to the outside. And by outside, I mean OUTSIDE. We were easily 1/4 mile offshore, well past the outer bar, well well well past the end of the pier. And there were still macking cloudbreak sets breaking on the horizon and fizzling all the way in to the bar we were *trying* to sit on...

One's mentality can change many times over when you're constantly barraged by endless piles of whitewater. And by the time you think you've finally made it, well, you most certainly haven't. That's tough to swallow. I nearly gave up, two particular times, but Stuart was persevering and I wasn't going to let him go at it alone...

There's a very distinct line between the aerated water and constant struggle of the inside, and the solid water and powerful strokes one can achieve once you finally break through to the safety of the outside... The moment you cross that line, you realize that there is actually a chance that you might make it. The bummer about crossing that line is that you are now smack dab in the crosshairs of the true impact zone for the bigger sets. Right where the majority of wave energy is expended... There was no relaxing.

The majority of the time I spent in the water, I focused on inhalation, exhalation, and heart rate control. Staying calm in big surf is paramount.

How big was it? It's impossible to put a number on it. I've windsurfed in over mast high waves (~15 foot faces), and this seemed to be regularly at least that height, with occasionally much bigger sets. My 6'3" squash tail board seemed impossibly small for the speed and height of these waves.

The more time we spent out there, the more used to the rhythms we got. And we got comfortable just looking at that size of wave, watching it stand up, learning when and where to scratch towards to make it through. If it had already broken, we'd paddle to the spot that had broken first, as that had already expended the most energy. If it looked like the shoulder was in reach, we'd paddle like mad to get there before it broke. Confidence built, a balance was reached.

I paddled for a few, but couldn't move nearly fast enough to get into them. Stuart got worked, taking off just a yard too far inside, but he got spit out with minimal harm and made it back out without much issue. Then...

...We're already out in the middle of the ocean. The pier looks like it's made of matchsticks, the water tower is a speck on the horizon. And a wave starts to stand up, impossibly far on the outside. Cloudbreak, when you're already in the clouds... The white water is fizzling towards us, 15 feet high, just to the right, while the wall that didn't break on the outside starts to jack up, tall and steep, to the left. It looks like we can make it, we start scratching, fast, out and to the left. We're gonna make it. We're gonna make it. We're gonna make it.

Stuart, 10 yards to my left, made it.

I didn't.

With one last, *calm*, breath, I watched the lip start to crest, many many many feet above me and 5 yards outside. I pushed the nose under with all my strength, then followed suit with my foot on the tail. I didn't get nearly deep enough, and knew it right away. First, the impact. Then, as I got pulled back over the falls, I bear hugged my board with all the strength my hands, arms, and legs could muster. Yes, I had my ankles locked around each other on the board, hanging on like one would hug a violently swaying tree from 30 feet in the air. There was no way that I was going to lose that board.

Eventually, I was spit out of the mayhem.

I caught a glimpse of Stuart as we both crested a wave at the same time, and gave him a wave. All's good! I had been pushed impossibly far to the inside, Stuart later estimated 50 yards. My sesh was over, there was no way I was making it back to the "outside" again. So I sat in the relative calm of the trough and waited to see what Stu had in him.

I pondered: Had I ditched my board, I probably would have been able to get under that wave, but certainly would have snapped my leash or broken my board in two. By holding on, I also limited the chances of random impact with the board or fins while getting tumbled. Yes, I spent a long time underwater, getting pulled along inside the wave, but it wasn't so long that holding my breath was challenging, and it deposited me well inside of the impact zone, meaning consecutive hold downs were pretty much out of the question. I'm happy with my decision, and will probably do the same thing if a similar situation presents itself in the future.

Stuart eventually paddled for another macker, and I watched the lip envelop him, and then saw him get pulled back over the falls. He came up with big eyes and a big smile, got back on his board, and got immediately worked by the next pile of whitewater. Again, big eyes and a big smile as he regrouped and made his way to the trough.

The shore break was HUGE, so getting out was a bit of a waiting game, and then a sprint to the beach. But, we both made it, unscathed, and joined the masses of people watching the ocean from the stronghold of dry beach. With zero waves ridden, but massive experience gained, and renewed joy of the beauty that life can bring, I gave a humble bow of thanks to the ocean, for she had shown her power to me with the authority, yet gentle grace, reserved for the uncontrollable forces of nature.

Swell's starting to show...

The surf is starting to build... Drew snagged a picture of me this morning (Thanks Drew!!):

A rare left, most everything else was peeling right

Stuart, Drew and I went out again this evening. It was fun but chunky. It definitely seems like there's some water pushing in and it doesn't all quite know where to go. Careful of rip currents over the next few days, folks! It's probably best not to even put your big toe in the water, if you aren't comfortable swimming in heavy seas...

Looks like tomorrow morning will still be in the fun range. By the afternoon it'll probably be starting to get out of hand. And Saturday looks to be off the charts... We'll see what happens... There might be some breeze, too, so we'll see if it's sailable...

The Mosquito Fleet

My jaw just hit the floor. I try not to get too excited about forecasts... but we've got the potential for some seriously epic conditions... The latest update has Saturday blowing straight west at 5 to 10, with a southeast groundswell at 10 to 12 feet at 14 seconds. This is certainly subject to change- Heck, it could be blowing 130mph out of the Northeast if the system just tracks a tiny bit west of it's current path... But sheesh! That is going to end up being absolutely huge, clean, heavy surf. Methinks the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" will be collecting quite a few freshly broken surfboards this weekend...

Honestly, 12 feet at 14 seconds will probably be just plain old too big for the beach. The sandbars can only handle so much. Might be interesting to see what the tow kids get into, way out on that outer bar...

Sunday looks like the day for the rest of us, with light North winds and a fading swell. Well, fading to 6 feet at 12 seconds, which is still insanely huge for this beach.

As I mentioned yesterday, I think I'm going to bust out the Mosquito Fleet. At 7'3" and just a touch over 20" wide, the thing glides effortlessly. I usually surf my 6'2" up to a few feet overhead at 9 or 10 seconds, but when it's 12, 13, 14 seconds, the waves are just moving so much faster that they're very hard to catch on a shortboard. The Mosquito Fleet was my first board, and I'm super happy that I kept it around, especially when I see forecasts like this one!

Her hiding place, right where a TV would sit in a normal household...

Buzz buzz

Long, trim, parallel rails, and very little rocker=fast fast fast!

The responsible party and dims. I will never get rid of this board.

Redman is a local shaping legend, and I feel lucky to have one of his boards.

The "Mosquito Fleet" board is named after a Civil War conflict that took place on Hatteras Island in 1861. The Mosquito Fleet was a Confederate offensive fleet who left Roanoke on ships in the middle of the night to retake Chicamacomico from the Federals. Long story short, the Federals saw them coming and retreated to the more solid fort at Hatteras Inlet, and the Confederates had trouble with the shallows of the Pamlico Sound and most of the offensive couldn't get to land anyway, so no-one really got hurt and the Chicamacomico Fort was abandoned by both sides for the better strongholds of Hatteras Inlet (Federals) and Roanoke Island (Confederates).

I like the story of the Mosquito Fleet, because the Roanoke guys manned up and decided to take an offensive against rumors of an outpost of 2000 Federals. Translating this to surf culture, it relates to going against all odds and charging, whether you think you'll make the wave or not.

Whether I'll charge 12 feet at 14 seconds remains to be seen :) It's entirely possible that it'll be way bigger than that anyway, since Bill is now a category 4 Hurricane with 135 mph winds gusting to over 160... And some of the buoys have already recorded seas over 20 feet...

Definitely gonna keep the gas tank full for this one... "Retreat!!!"

Just in time...

... to pick up my slack, the Beach Telegraph introduces:

Windsurfer International, an ezine, totally free, totally dedicated to spreading the stoke of windsurfing! Check it out, you won't be disappointed!


Also: Maybe you've surfed over to Dana Miller's little slice of the web already, but if you haven't, you should go check it out! It's just so dang Dana, it's ridiculous! Rumor has it, Dana may be sliding back over to the East Coast for a little while this Fall... I can't wait to see him back at the beach, and hopefully get a sesh or 30 with the man!


On a more local note- We're all anticipating the year's first real burst of Tropical action! Hurricane Bill looks poised to send us some solid swell... At the moment the forecast track has the storm running directly up the Eastern seaboard, shooting the gap between Bermuda and Hatteras Island sometime Saturday night or Sunday. All of the forecasts are keeping it out to sea a little ways, so hopefully it'll stay offshore and we'll just get some waves out of the deal...

I'm thinking of slapping the fins back in my 7'3" Mosquito Fleet... Its been a few years since she's seen salt water...