I left at 454 and got to my parking spot at 532, one of my fastest descents ever. The biggest slowdown was right as I got into La Libertad (town) I spotted something while going about 30mph. It was about five guys pushing a heavy cart. Had I not been feverishly scanning the road in front of me it could have been bad! There was nary a streetlight and these guys were wearing darkish clothing and the cart was an unhelpful woodgrain brown. I waited behind them as they slowly progressed and then they thankfully turned off onto a sidestreet near the pier.
Given the swell reports I went straight to the point. As I pass it on the way to the parking spot I was barely able to make out a big wave coming down the point, so the reports were confirmed.
I made it to the 'river' which was barely a trickle given the lack of rain upstream. I put my leash on but with every step I grew less excited at the session that would lay before me. I was up to midshin in water when I decided to try my luck and see what was happening at the beachbreak. The waves were coming but they were sectioning so hard. The paddle-out looked juicy too, with the biggest surf I'd seen in about six months.
So I turned and walked the ten or so minutes. My first view of it was exactly what I'd feared. The low tide was making anything that came turn inside out and slam shut.
The shipwreck was breaking ok so I decided to try my luck there. I dodged a couple of angry bombs. Within five minutes I caught a pretty good-sized wave. The shipwreck looks like a big lazy wall from the sand but the water angle is a whole 'nother story. If you want to catch them you can luck into one that is foaming over, gather your wits and balance after initial impact and drop down or try your luck at a steeper-than-you-thought drop.
Mine was of the latter variety. I thought I was in a good spot for a not too hairy drop. That's when the wind cackled in my face and blew up the face of the wave. It did its best to hang me up on the lip but I was determined to make this, though I did utter an Oh Shit. I stuck the drop with absolutely nothing as a reward other than a feeling of speed on mostly flat water. I jumped off my board and paddled back out.
Upon perching I was awestruck at the speed at which I was being shuttled west. I got swept into a rip and I caught it about as early as possible. There was nothing breaking out the back, just a bunch of waves pouncing on the too-even sandbar. So I cut off the head of what would eventually be an unbelievable drubbing and went in.
While I realized the sand at the point would cripple my chances at anything I had to try as I knew the beachbreak was crap given the bathymetry present there.
I did the walk along the rocks this time, fended off a sand flea after feeling its sting, then with renewed fervor, committed to paddling out. There was so much sand but with such a low tide it came to an abrupt and sad ending. I probably put my board down for stability too early and out of the corner of my eye I saw it almost clap a dry boulder.
When a big surge of whitewater hit I jumped up and made myself as hydrodynamic as possible (feet straight with a couple of mini-paddles from my free hand) so as not to be dragged back. I would then play the Recodo roulette where the post-surge force would push me back and I splayed my feet, hoping to catch a gentle crevasse to not cut me up and give me a decent foothold.
I wasn't very successful, but I did make it out pretty quickly all things considered.
The classic take-off spot wasn't worth perching, it was ground zero for section-offs so I paddled way wide where I would essentially be surfing this alien intruder of a sandbar. Some did open up somewhat but with it being so shifty good luck guessing correctly!
After too many pullbacks on obvious no-makes I caught one and was immediately blinded by the glare of the sun bouncing off the wave. I pumped half-blind, did a baby top turn and launched off the end section behind the wave into a sailor dive.
It took over an hour for me to catch my next wave. In the interim the spot filled up and the wind switched from offshore to side onshore. I saw a dude go for a nasty looking wave and get pitched headfirst, he told his buddy he hit only sand.
Every ten minutes or so a nasty set would come and clean up the guys sitting up the point, but I and another guy were sheltered thanks to the absence of the sandbar in deeper waters, with one bad exception.
I hereby am proposing a Beatdown Scale™:
A big 'un came and I was a bit behind the epicenter, which meant I couldn't escape via the air pocket that shows up between the wave hitting the surface and the force penetrating to the depth at which one duckdives.
It was easily the hardest I've been hit in six months, definitely a solid 7 on the above scale. I came up and had water up my nose from my adventures underwater, though I was able to maintain a grip on my board.
I'm sad to report that my streak of not having given up a wave due to another surfer on it was broken on this session...
Eventually, I was in a good spot for a smaller wave and did a turn on it after a couple of fun pumps. Another dude caught the one behind it and I was slightly in his way. We both went in WAY down the beach near Rotherham's property.
Given the swell reports I went straight to the point. As I pass it on the way to the parking spot I was barely able to make out a big wave coming down the point, so the reports were confirmed.
I made it to the 'river' which was barely a trickle given the lack of rain upstream. I put my leash on but with every step I grew less excited at the session that would lay before me. I was up to midshin in water when I decided to try my luck and see what was happening at the beachbreak. The waves were coming but they were sectioning so hard. The paddle-out looked juicy too, with the biggest surf I'd seen in about six months.
So I turned and walked the ten or so minutes. My first view of it was exactly what I'd feared. The low tide was making anything that came turn inside out and slam shut.
The shipwreck was breaking ok so I decided to try my luck there. I dodged a couple of angry bombs. Within five minutes I caught a pretty good-sized wave. The shipwreck looks like a big lazy wall from the sand but the water angle is a whole 'nother story. If you want to catch them you can luck into one that is foaming over, gather your wits and balance after initial impact and drop down or try your luck at a steeper-than-you-thought drop.
Mine was of the latter variety. I thought I was in a good spot for a not too hairy drop. That's when the wind cackled in my face and blew up the face of the wave. It did its best to hang me up on the lip but I was determined to make this, though I did utter an Oh Shit. I stuck the drop with absolutely nothing as a reward other than a feeling of speed on mostly flat water. I jumped off my board and paddled back out.
Upon perching I was awestruck at the speed at which I was being shuttled west. I got swept into a rip and I caught it about as early as possible. There was nothing breaking out the back, just a bunch of waves pouncing on the too-even sandbar. So I cut off the head of what would eventually be an unbelievable drubbing and went in.
While I realized the sand at the point would cripple my chances at anything I had to try as I knew the beachbreak was crap given the bathymetry present there.
I did the walk along the rocks this time, fended off a sand flea after feeling its sting, then with renewed fervor, committed to paddling out. There was so much sand but with such a low tide it came to an abrupt and sad ending. I probably put my board down for stability too early and out of the corner of my eye I saw it almost clap a dry boulder.
When a big surge of whitewater hit I jumped up and made myself as hydrodynamic as possible (feet straight with a couple of mini-paddles from my free hand) so as not to be dragged back. I would then play the Recodo roulette where the post-surge force would push me back and I splayed my feet, hoping to catch a gentle crevasse to not cut me up and give me a decent foothold.
I wasn't very successful, but I did make it out pretty quickly all things considered.
The classic take-off spot wasn't worth perching, it was ground zero for section-offs so I paddled way wide where I would essentially be surfing this alien intruder of a sandbar. Some did open up somewhat but with it being so shifty good luck guessing correctly!
After too many pullbacks on obvious no-makes I caught one and was immediately blinded by the glare of the sun bouncing off the wave. I pumped half-blind, did a baby top turn and launched off the end section behind the wave into a sailor dive.
It took over an hour for me to catch my next wave. In the interim the spot filled up and the wind switched from offshore to side onshore. I saw a dude go for a nasty looking wave and get pitched headfirst, he told his buddy he hit only sand.
Every ten minutes or so a nasty set would come and clean up the guys sitting up the point, but I and another guy were sheltered thanks to the absence of the sandbar in deeper waters, with one bad exception.
I hereby am proposing a Beatdown Scale™:
- Water off a duckdiver's back
- Anything in between 1 and 3
- Healthy hit noticeably delaying one's resurfacing
- Anything in between 3 and 5
- Shocking hit rocking the submerged off-balance
- Anything in between 5 and 7
- Immediate slam down and turned upside down
- Immediate slam down with some rotation and can't recover balance once breaching surface
- Immediate slam down and hit so hard submerged is stunned and involuntarily releases board
- Anything worse than 9
A big 'un came and I was a bit behind the epicenter, which meant I couldn't escape via the air pocket that shows up between the wave hitting the surface and the force penetrating to the depth at which one duckdives.
It was easily the hardest I've been hit in six months, definitely a solid 7 on the above scale. I came up and had water up my nose from my adventures underwater, though I was able to maintain a grip on my board.
I'm sad to report that my streak of not having given up a wave due to another surfer on it was broken on this session...
Eventually, I was in a good spot for a smaller wave and did a turn on it after a couple of fun pumps. Another dude caught the one behind it and I was slightly in his way. We both went in WAY down the beach near Rotherham's property.
No comments:
Post a Comment