CrapSurfer

 

Holy mary mother of god its only an hour till low tide and the waves are massive, it was time to leap into action, I figured because high tide was mid afternoon the only option for mid tide surf was about 10:30 11 am, and allthough I figured it would be fairly low its still better than nothing.

 

Heres how the events unfolded.

11am heading for the new beach at shoreham tides nearly 2 hrs past low,

Wave status: big and white.

Wet Suit: Dry and full of promise.

11:10 in the water swimming out past the breakers jesus its like a big bloody washing machine out here.

11:15 On the beach having been picked up and spun around sideways on by some big bastard spin cycle, not a hope of riding it I couldnt even get over it it just sucked me up and spat me back on the beach.

Wave status: Still bloody big and heavy.

Wet Suit: Wet and a bit nervy.

About 11:30 Far enough out not to hit the wall mates also out there looking a bit nervous, here it comes paddle like a bastard, and im on it.

The first thing that came to mind was fast fast fast, this is big and fast and wicked and awsome and bollocks its about to fall on my head.

Jesus christ man, these are by far the biggest waves Iv'e ever been out in, I reckon about 12ft face and heavy also constant they just kept coming, and the problem was the calmish bit by the wall which is usually quite nice was now like a washing machine and thats where I kept ending up.

About 12ish: My mate looks decidedly unhappy as well as being a fair way out on his own he,s nearer to the rocks every time I look.

So .. I paddle out to him he seems to be struggling to get anywhere apart from out, I help him paddle across the waves and tide and he looks a bit nervy and im a mixture of nervous and exited so wait till he's on the beach till I start trying to catch any thing else.

I think I caught and rode 2 more big waves semi succesfully but on the third I dropped in too late and it felt like id dropped 12 ft into a washing machine, came up coughing and spluttering and managed to get up on my board and ride every bit of foam I could back to the beach.

By the time I was back on the Beach there where only three guys / girls still out there and they were tearing it up, there must have been thirty or more when I arrived.

Sad and desperate as it sounds I was well chuffed id been out there.

I wasn't tearing it up but I was trying, and I was loving every minute of it! You gotta bear im mind I only started this in July! 

1:15ish The board was now on the beach and me and my mate where just dickin about in the breakers getting spun all over the shop. 

It was then time to get out,because I thought if im this knackered trying to drag myself out of waste deep water I should probably stop dicking about in crashing surf.

Wave Status: Huge and nearly hitting the wall.

Wet suit: Wet, tired and grinning like id cheated death and loved it!

It all sounds I suppose very melodramatic but it was truly awsome. in that couple of hours I learnt;

 you cant go in a straight line dropping in late on a big wave unless you like face plants.

Staying on your board when working against the current is a huge help, the more of you thats in the water the more you'll be pulled about.

finally to test my limits but to know them when you get there, that was actually the first time that I thought that sheer tiredness could have got me into big trouble. I was just lucky to be in shallow water by then.

Stay safe out there guys and girls I was nearly as mesmorised watching you out there as I was being out there!