Getting Heavy.
After a run of fun but slightly mediocre surfs, last weekend yielded something that I had been craving for quite some time. Fast, racy, heavy shore break. Praa Sands style!
I love surfing here in these conditions, it was the beach where I grew up, as such I have put enough time in over the years so that I have got it more or less wired. Because it was the place where I predominantly surfed during my formative years, it no doubt shaped my style and approach towards surfing. I have surfed it a lot throughout my surfing life, taking a fair few knocks in the sand along the way, broken some lovely boards too, but I do love these waves. And I am truly in my element when the tide gets high and things get a bit heavy!
This past Saturday as soon as I saw what was happening, that shift from the outside banks to the ones just below the high tide line, I knew that I was in for a treat. And I realised that because I am no stranger to these conditions, instinct kicked in and I was picking off the ones that I knew wouldn't close out. The walled up beasts that offer the fast, albeit short race to the finish, providing plenty of scope for speed and big make-or-break moves, all in ankle to knee deep water, this is definitely not for the faint of heart. As soon as you take off on one of these you are committed, pulling out would undoubtedly put you straight over the falls and on a trajectory with the sand, and straightening out would be equally disastrous.
It was fun. My only regret was that I was on my favourite and newish Donald Takayama. For as I have mentioned, I have snapped a number of boards in these conditions over the years, I didn't want this one to meet the same fate, plus it really isn't the ideal board for such conditions. So I held back a little, whereas I would have taken more risks had a been on a board that I wasn't so fond of, I surfed it with a degree of caution. Although many of the other guys didn't not, so at least I was able to witness to some big moves.
Note to self; take two boards next time it's on and go all out!
I love surfing here in these conditions, it was the beach where I grew up, as such I have put enough time in over the years so that I have got it more or less wired. Because it was the place where I predominantly surfed during my formative years, it no doubt shaped my style and approach towards surfing. I have surfed it a lot throughout my surfing life, taking a fair few knocks in the sand along the way, broken some lovely boards too, but I do love these waves. And I am truly in my element when the tide gets high and things get a bit heavy!
This past Saturday as soon as I saw what was happening, that shift from the outside banks to the ones just below the high tide line, I knew that I was in for a treat. And I realised that because I am no stranger to these conditions, instinct kicked in and I was picking off the ones that I knew wouldn't close out. The walled up beasts that offer the fast, albeit short race to the finish, providing plenty of scope for speed and big make-or-break moves, all in ankle to knee deep water, this is definitely not for the faint of heart. As soon as you take off on one of these you are committed, pulling out would undoubtedly put you straight over the falls and on a trajectory with the sand, and straightening out would be equally disastrous.
It was fun. My only regret was that I was on my favourite and newish Donald Takayama. For as I have mentioned, I have snapped a number of boards in these conditions over the years, I didn't want this one to meet the same fate, plus it really isn't the ideal board for such conditions. So I held back a little, whereas I would have taken more risks had a been on a board that I wasn't so fond of, I surfed it with a degree of caution. Although many of the other guys didn't not, so at least I was able to witness to some big moves.
Note to self; take two boards next time it's on and go all out!
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