sat-sun-mon

so the last few days have been interesting. first, sunday night. swell fills in to max size around 2, which is when i got in the water at judith. the wind was so-so, coming from the WSW-W. not really the best. good enough for the north sides of judith, so i paddeled out in the fog with a few other guys.
at first the fog was so intense i couldnt really see shore. i could see only the few people close enough in the water, and whatever waves were nearby. judith's fog horn kept me oriented, and the occasional dots of a parked cars headlights. that was it tho. at first, the waves were lame. head high on the sets, but the period was super short. seven seconds, i believe, which is nothing more than semi-organized wind chop. i got only a few decent waves. i saw this fun peak to my right, which bowled up over a few shallow rocks, but couldnt seem to find it. i nabbed a few decent ones tho, so it wasnt a total bust, and threw a forward or two. after about a half hour the period started to go up, to 8 or 9 seconds. this threw an extra two or three feet on the wave, and gave it some length and organization. got a nice long right whcih i was planning on taking in, but ended up paddeling back out to a peak further down the point. it was a bust tho, so after paddeling about 300 meters to the main peak, i took one in. the view from the top showed what the extra two seconds did: long lines were filling in, at solid overhead. the fog had cleared.
the next morning i drove around a bit. nothing looked too appealing. wind was out of the WNW, and light. i saw some spray off the spot in the distance, so i drove over and checked it out. it was ok. weather was perfect, which made for good early morning backlit waves. i didnt surf it. the sets were too inconsistant. but this one bomb set came through. i saw it coming, this stacked set, and was so pumped. first was solid, second wave was bigger, and the third was one of the biggest ive seen at the spot. probably 8 foot, maybe 10. usually the place it consistant around 6, so i was pupmed to see something bigger. it was so good tho. the lip crumbled, then backed off, and then threw so hard and far and heavy. the left looked PERFECT.
ended up surfing dropping east beach. chest high on the sets. relaxing session. one surfer out, one skimboarder on the beach, and perfect weather. i made one nice right, and got another long right tube to a closeout. fun times.
tuesday was good late, after the swell filled in. short period, but TB was fun anyway. real peaky. i got some decent waves at first, but better ones when the tide dropped. two weak barrels, but according to andrew they looked solid. wave of the day: walled up bowling right. dropped in, set a line, and hit the lip. got launched pretty high given the conditions, and threw a decent roll. moved up the beach to the sea wall and found a super heavy peak breaking in a rip current. fun times there. the rip made the paddle out cake. eventually got too dark so i took a crappy one into shore.

so

about a week or so ago, i had this session at pt judith. it was late, i spent most of the day looking at waves wondering if i was worth the paddle out. i hit jamestown first for photos. it was ok but nothing special excpet for the bomb set that came through right as i was leaving. i got some super sick photos of the set. some of the best i have of any wave, period. but there was such an obscene amount of wildlife in the water i decided against surfing it. a HUGE flock of birds, including the ones that divebomb into the water, flew/sat right on the takeoff zone. and then this huge seal pops up right next to the rock in the take off. so i decided not to deal with the wildlife and go elsewhere. judith was the call late in the day tho. i paddeled out after alot of indecisiveness. turned out to be a great decision. first it was just ok. chest high, maybe head of the bomb sets. i got some waves, did some forward spins on a couple of lefts. only about 20 guys out, which isnt bad for judith. then later, there were only 5 guys left, and the sun started setting, which is really nice to watch from the water. but on the other horizon, the full moon was rising. so it was sunset on one side of the sky, and the water would be all yellow/gold/blue when looking that way. and then moorise of the other horizon, so there were stars and the silver glare from the moon on the water. looking one way and then other gave me the feeling of being on the edge of two worlds. pretty neat. then the ISS flew by. it moves real slow, but its incredibly bright. about 10 minutes later, it was really getting past sunset, but the moon was bright enough that we could surf anyway. at this point it was down to me and two other guys. so we were just trading waves, dropping into one and then paddeling out as quickly as possible to cram as many waves in before the light disappeared. i found my own peak, which was super fun. i took this one left, and the first thing i see is this surf pull into a complete barrel. i was so pumped. judith never does that, i've only gotten one ok tube in the last three years. i was super pumped, and just decided right there i was not leaving until i got a barrel myself. i paddeled over, subetly as not to be invasive, to the surfers peak. i got one wave; too far on the shoulder. another set came through, and i took off deeper. i saw it wall up and stalled as hard as i could, thinking "no, i missed the tube"...but then it pitched right over my head and i was nice and depe beind the curtain. it was really something else. ive had bigger, heavier, and deeper tubes, but the best thing ever was looking out of the barrel, with my field of vision framed by the pitching lip of the wave, and watching the moonlight light up the inside of the barrel. i managed to squeeze out of it, super pumped, and threw a rollo on the end closeout. barrel + roll at judith, of all places.
after that, i was just so content. i dont really know why. ive had bigger, heavier, and more critical barrels than that. i guess it was just the lighting, the time, the place, and whole setting, and how i knew i was going to get barreled long before it happened. the rest of the session went well too. i threw the most pefect rollo ever a few waves later, and took one in after everyone left. being out in the ocean at night by oneself is un-nerving
so ive had bigger and more critical surf sessions, but this one was still one of the best. just being out there, with God, the ocean, the sky, and a few other people, is enough. i couldnt give enough thanks for those few hours.