01/07/02

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Monday, January 7, 2001 Waist High

Had the feeling there was a swell today - a buoy was at 9' - but the forecast was for high wind and from the NW. Checked out several weather stations and found wind generally at 20 knots. At 8:15 AM the tension was too much - headed down the driveway working on a hunch. There's only so much you can do sometimes to interpret the available information; at a certain point you've gotta make a decision. A classic management situation.

Drove directly to a favorite break - you could see the lines out there - probably head high+ - but before committing checked out one more place. Big A-men: there were a half dozen guys out there and the lines were coming from the horizon. Further thoughts of recon vanished and I drove directly there. You ever see surf that looks so good you start changing on the way to where you plan to park? You know, winter jacket around the shoulder seat belt and over the head. Badda_bing. Shirt buttons - no el problemo. Finding the end of the shoe laces to untie them is a trick but I only looked away from the road for a few minutes then counter steered back into my lane. No traffic on the road . . eh? Slid into an available spot, left the music on and got the gear on.

Tide was too low for the swell size so it was closing. Saw guys way out there beyond the break ignoring the 5' stuff so caught a few to warm up. Immediately saw why they were out there when the horizon turned black. Paddled out a long way and avoided the crunch. All of a sudden I knew why it was a good idea to hang out "outside". Been quite a while since I surfed here.

Wind dropped to almost nothing and we were into a semi glass situation for a while with sets at "way up there". Told Fred I was calling the size at waist high if you were in the upper third of the wave.

Lot of familiar faces out there today: Jay early; and late in the session I saw Bobby, Fred and Josh sitting at the point and told the guy next to me "Forget it. Those 3 guys are like a vacuum cleaner for waves. Hope for a 5 wave set."

Some spectacular moments today. I rode a wave in and on the back way out Fred was coming in. His wave went vertical and he was about 1/3 into the section. Somehow he made the section high in the face. Long ways with vertical water. Backsiding the inside break. Josh pulled a similar move later. Some nice nose rides. Mike was surfing well but it was the mistake that I remember. He did a 360 and somehow ended up with 1 foot down on the board, other foot out waist high in the air and arms at a terminal angle. I saw it from the back side of the wave just before the drop and crush! "Well, if you're not making mistakes you're not learning" he said. OK!

After nearly 2 hours I finally got the hang of it and nailed one big close out by sprinting outside when the horizon looked ugly. Took off almost straight down with a prayer of a bottom turn. Took off because I didn't think I could get over it. The wall stayed up and a grateful surfer got a cool ride. Told anyone who was listening that when near the top of that one I could see FoxWoods off in the distance. Right. Lots of deep takeoffs on set waves, long walls, long rides, fast inside sections. 4 1/2 hours. Supersession. Neck tired from looking up.

One unusual thing happened out there. I was praising God for the remarkable surf when a large wave approached. No one else was nearby so I had it all to myself. As it got close there was no sound: no voices, no wind, no wave sound, no any sounds. Like the internal hearing circuit was suddenly switched off. No fear - just "wow - this is different." Like watching myself surf in a movie without a sound track except it was happening live. I took 2 strokes and then dropped into the left. At the bottom of the drop the sound returned and I sped across the tight start to more open wave. It was like God was letting me know that He made the wave, that I was in His hands every minute and that He can control even the sound out there. Had never considered this before.

Went to a hamburger place for late afternoon liquid and food. Have a bill in my car that I got at a drug store: looks very realistic and the denomination is $1,000,000 !!! For some strange reason (it had been that kind of a day) I handed it to her to pay for the food. She took it and looked at it ("Another large bill and I'm about out of change in the drawer") then she stared at it, got really excited and said "IS THIS REAL?" Before I could tell her "large bills are OK for change" she left my food on the cold drive up window sill (just out of reach) and said "I'M GOING TO SHOW THIS TO MY MANAGER! WOW! LOOK AT THIS." She was so excited I started laughing for a few minutes. Cracking up. Sometimes the spur of the moment, unplanned and unexplainable things we do turn out well. I'm all surfed out and laughed out tonight.

� 2002 RW Farnum