into the storm

So somethings brewing. The Atlantic is stirring up again. Sunday should be intersting. Hopefully Monday too but i'm not optimistic about monday. Various sources say various things. The most optomisitic is the nearshore model calling it 10-12 feet.

10-12 feet. I remember the last time it was supposed to be that big. I rolled up to dickies at like 630am, on some cloudy november morning, listening to island in the sun from weezer (i dont even like that band...), and i remember hearing it first, then as I walked over the little sand dune, i remembering seeing these massive closeouts, overhead and a half, double overhead, whatever you want to call it. huge, top to bottom barrels, and the first thing i thought was "this looks like pipe". the one dude out there who surfed it was looking terrified, barely ducking thru these bombs as the detonated on the sandbar, throwing massive explosions of whitewater a good 15 feet in the air, easily. ive never seen footage, photos, or any beachbreak that rivaled that day. i surfed green hill instead, thinking it was just a hectic closeout.

back to this sunday. its supposed to snowing like a madman too. so its gonna be huge and snowy. sounds like that day last march, i think, or the march before, the semester i lived by myself. that day was nuts...

i remeber getting up that morning, i think it was a sunday too. and checking the charts and seeing it was supposed to be huge. 12 foot. actually quite similar to the forecast we got going for this coming sunday. and then looking ouside and seeing how there was a legit blizzard. the TV was buzzing with warning, watches, advisories, and weathermen in snowy conditions saying not to go outside unless its an absolute emergency. the news, the weather channel, the school, everyone was saying it was THE blizzard of 2005. wind was about 45 mph with snowdrifts up to 4 feet, and ic ouldnt see more than 50 feet ou my window. as far as i knew, my nieghbors had evaporated into white.

funny tho, not for one second did i ever seirously consider not surfing it. that not how it works. i dont get ot choose when i surf. i surf when the waves say i do, and that might very well be in the middle of a blizzard. and if it is, then so be it. ill surf in the middle of a blizzard if the waves say i must.

anyway, the wind switch was supposed to be around noon. i saw it coming on the weather.com radar. i could see this straight line where the snow just stopped, and as soon as that line reaches us, the snow just turned off. the weather channel said the wind was offshore, and when i went outisde in the gray, it was.

i headed inside, with the heat blasting, and pulled on my stuff. all of it. hood, gloves, booties, the whole nine yards, just standing there in my million degree apartment watching the TV, with a red scrolling message underneath a babbling weatherman, saying not to go outside unless it was an emergency, and bring plenty of water and batteries, and tell everyone wehre your going and so on and so forth and yadda yadda....i swtiched on the TV, hit the lights, and went outside to go surfing.

i managed to drive the entire way there, blasting music, probably soilwork, tho its funny i dont remember what song. i usually know exactly what song was played for memorable swells. not this one tho. one lane was half plowed down rt one, just wide enough for one car. slow was already blowing across the pavement covering it up faster than road crews could control it. 45 minutes later, i pulled into a parking lot, hoping the unplowed lot wasnt too deep that i'd get stuck. a couple was in the car next to me, and as i stepped out, i remember them both staring at me. probably thought it was the time they were going to see me.

i remember walking thru a waist deep snowdrift. wind was whpping offshore, must have been about 40 mph solid. it was lightly snowing, but the wind and blowing snow made it difficult to even see the waves. i just remembering seeing these ghostly shapes bending, warping, and finally breaking in the distance, and the outline of two surfers already out.

the paddel out was more like being blown out. i never thought a spot could hold up in wind like that. i dont know how dickies did it, everything else in the world would have blown out long ago. but instead, i surfed a perfect peak. solid overhead barrel, huge and heavy, and i surfed the "main" peak, something i had never done before., one hell of a day for a break in.

session was alright. wasn't very makable. for some reaosn i just wasnt compelled to stay, so after maybe an hour of getting barrel, worked, and stoked, i walked out. i remember seeing these ghosts of waves, perfectly hollow and hideously heavy, just hgrinding and exploding onto these sandbars. it was so mystifing, watching these derdgers explode thru the snow. all i could see was vague outlines, but it was enough.

i ende dup going to green hill once the iwnd died down a bit for the best barrel session ever at the spot.


anyway. back to this sunday. suppose it might be like that again. i just keep thinking of those two sessions. just...pivitol points in my surfing, ya know? stuff id like to remember for the rest of my life.