5.3.13 Searching for my South Swell Savior in Wisconsin Street

I looked through all of Oceanside's breaks again on this day. Avalanches was about a foot smaller and decent, but still had the ravenous pack from the day before. I'd been hurt the previous day and wasn't about to place my heart in its hands, for it to crush.

I doubled back towards Wisconsin Street just in time to witness a head-high two-wave set detonating. I waited five minutes and saw nothing else of that caliber, but there were some clean small ones. These tended to section off pretty quickly, but I figured I could have some fun.

I discovered that just south of the ramp at Wisconsin, there is a small stair set that allows you to bypass the slipper boulders. I watched a shoulder-high or so five-wave set break, and I was excited. I hit the water just as the last wave of the set broke. I made it out with dry hair.

Within two minutes of perching, I caught a quick left that I hit and fell. Little did I know this wave would be the highlight of my session...

I caught a left about ten minutes later and that closed out on me. Another left came, and I was in such a hurry that I put most of my weight on my front foot. My board bogged just a bit, probably traversing some aerated foamy water and once I realized I was going to fly over the nose, propelled myself so as to minimize the chances of getting hit. I turned my body mid-air and smacked the water pretty hard.

It immediately felt as though I'd had the wind knocked out of me, but I was fine after one painful breath.

I caught a right on which I thought I had plenty of time. I laid into a drawn-out bottom turn, but a little over halfway through the lip surprised me and hit me under my arm pit knocking me silly.

The longshore current picked up and I bobbed north. It was as though I'd entered the surf-equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle. They were gone. I pondered my existence for the next twenty minutes until I decided I'd had enough. I caught one in on my belly and bailed.

This session was the last of this swell, as the winds turned funky later that evening; something the surf forecasters accurately predicted (though they probably got that info from third-party sources).