Hard Day!!

Arranged to meet Gavin at Gwithian 9.30 this morning - I got there early. There were lines - big lines. I counted 5 surfers in and I only saw one get a wave - briefly. Gwithian won't hold much more than 8' of swell before closing out - I thought it looked head and a half.. And it was closing out!

We had a re-think and decided to get in half way down the beach - the wave drops off in size the closer to Hayle that you get so we picked up Shane and marched out across the towans. It was still big but there were shoulders - we passed a couple of shortboarders coming back they reckoned they had been in for an hour and a half and had only scored one wave - nice!Undeterred we paddled out.

Gavin and I had been trying out the 10'6 c4 over the last week or so - today we both brought our JL11's - good move. NOT. Shane was on his short board.

I fluked through a lull and managed to get out early - It was glassy, light offshore breeze and BIG. I paddled along the lineup and spotted a likely candidate - turned and slipped into a very nice right - fast as hell - too fast for me to cut back but a great ride using plenty of paddle and all in front of Shane - didn't care at that moment if I didn't get another for the session.

Obviously a result like that comes with a price - mine was high - I'm guessing that the wave I caught was either the first or just before the first of the set - it felt like 20 minutes before I made my way back outside - it was probably only 10. I thought don't be greedy - dont get caught inside again.

Back at the line up with Shane and Gavin it looked as if the swell had jumped up a bit - Gavin was way ouside Shane was lurking around on the inside. Brave I thought. I paddled somewhere between them and turned for another the drop on this one was the first indication that I might be in trouble - it was huge - I managed to land the board and bottom turn on another right - just as I was making myself comfy the entire wave walled up, over head high for as far as I could see down the line - I thought I had got away with it by trying to jump through the curl - the wave knew different and I was planted well and truly with the biggest hold down that I can remember. A real lung buster, didn't think that we ever got those over here. Once again time went into reverse as I was nailed on the inside - how does that happen? I stopped fighting it this time and waited for a lull and made my way back to the guys.

Shane hollered at me something along the lines of 'Dad 2 - offspring nil' - excellent that doesn't happen very often - but I knew it wouldn't be long before he dialled in.

I had a few more non-set waves and paddled over to a rippy section that seemed to hold a shoulder a bit longer due to the extra depth - Gavin was picking them off and Shane seemed to be getting his eye in as well - There was so much water moving through that it was hard to stay in the same area as each other - one wave and you could be over a hundred yards away. Paddling back out after another I was met with Gavin holding the end of his leash. With the swell as it was and the frequent bail outs we all knew it was session over. Shane from the inside had seen Gav take off on what was the wave of the day Shane is prone to understatement but his description was something like 'Loads of paddle - great style' - Gavin was enjoying himself that much he had not seen the beast behind that was about to eat him - result one broken leash.

We all got out within about 10 minutes of each other and during the long walk back to the cars Shane and I reflected on the session - Biggest waves that I had surfed to date on the SUP - can't speak for Gavin but Shane said that the grin on his face on 'that wave' suggested that he had enjoyed himself. I think that Shane was a bit impressed as well - of course he wouldn't say as much, but he did say that he thinks that the SUP thing 'suits my style' . RESULT.

Back at the cars we arranged to to pick up a spare leash and finish the session properly at the Rivermouth - Should be nice and mellow there - right - wrong we spent an hour paddling around behind the heaviest, dumpiest, low tide shore break - manically hard work and only scoring a few short waves. Didn't see many regular surfers catching too much either.

So that was that - another notch on our SUP ladder of experience and if the saying 'If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger' holds true today was very worthwhile day that made us strong!