papersurfer

Or should that be the one that got away?

First – here’s the view from the back door of my truck at sunset on my birthday. Please imagine me, a few friends, a rather large glass of Maciera (it says brandy on the bottle but it sure ain’t! More like turps with colouring) the gentle lap of the waves against the shore… swooshhh swooossshh swooo. Whatever. Anyways – it sure was purdy!

Okay. So one of the best techniques to induce maximum heart rate acceleration is to paddle into the sea during a building swell. You think you’ve made it out back where the waves just move you rhythmically up and down, you’re safe to stop and catch some breath before looking out for a possible ride – then the horizon starts to twist a bit. This is due to a line of swell approaching that will undoubtedly break at the next bar out. Too far out. If you’re lucky you’ll spot it in time and paddle beyond the new impact zone – if you cut it close you get to punch a duck-dive through the face just below the breaking lip of the wave. If luck isn’t quite with you then a rather large quantity of fast falling water will shove you to the bottom of the sea and keep you there in a cold boiling mess of water and bubbles, sand and confusion.
I like to opt for either of the first two if possible.
Today was such a day – a sloppy foot of wind chop punctuated with ever growing sets. For a while the wind backed off, making things more predictable and a few exciting drops were made. A couple opened up nicely for a moment and I got some speed and made some turns.
The wave of the day however, was just out of my reach – an overhead left that arrived just before I got to turn and take it. There’s always one that gets away…
Eventually the oxygen left my limbs (technical term – ‘noodle arms’) and I crawled onto the beach.

So – I’m back home in the mountains again now – time to get back to some real life – work and stuff. Maybe that’s the wrong way round…

I surfed today. Woohoo.

This part of the Portuguese coast is called the ‘Costa de Prata’ or the silver coast. This is because when the sky is overcast the sea looks like it’s made from liquid silver – but when I paddled out into the middle of Baleal bay this morning the sky was so dark from the looming storm clouds it looked like a seething mass of molten black glass.

Unfortunately the incoming swell didn’t match the ferocity of the sky, but the only surfable peak was empty and the 5 mile stretch of beach was all mine.

I caught a few playful lefts, a couple even held me for a turn or two, with plenty of time between sets to drift back out to the peak. The rain started for a while bombing oversized drops into the black water – but soon gave up as the sun started to push the storm aside.

I spotted a small battallion of German surf students doing formation crouching and jogging on the beach – obviously warming up to invade my privacy and decided that maybe it was time to go and have breakfast…

I surfed today. I might surf twice.

Just in case anyone missed the link to my fathers post during yesterdays ‘Papersurfer powercut’ (and to stop him sulking) he has written a cross blog.

I’m not entirely sure what that is but I seem to have been able to get into wordpress today for the first time in a while.

I shall post something a little later, maybe something about surfing – just a thought…