Around The World In 80 Waves

In my haste to get to this beach I had driven past the break without realising so, but how I managed to miss the Self Realization Fellowship Hermitage & Meditation Gardens which identifies where to pull in is beyond me. After driving past Cardiff-by-the-sea I eventually doubled back because this is another classic right hand point break I had to surf.

Bill had earlier told me this break is known locally as Swarm-ies because it gets so busy, and there is a big crowd in the water when I arrive because the surf has really picked up since yesterday. I dont have a great deal of daylight left after putting the fins back into my repaired board so don’t rig up the GoPro camera, but can tell you the surf was head high and bigger on some of the sets. A lot of the waves are dumping quite heavily and I have to work hard to get out back.

There could be many reasons for it (e.g. surfing a smaller board again, superbowl hangover, the grey sky, not enough wax on my board, etc) but I am feeling really uncomfortable in the water here. I also catch a fleeting glimpse of a fin breaking the surface in the half light and I wasn’t entirely sure it was curved, so spend a few nervy minutes trying to decide if I should paddle in. However sure enough the dolphins appear again right next to me and I havent got my camera with me. Doh!

It is getting quite dark and I haven’t really caught anything, and am only pleased when the rogue huge set of waves rolls through the break absolutely wiping everybody out apart from myself who has stratched just fast enough to the horizon to get over it. Most surfer will tell you there is a massive dose of Schadenfreude whenever this happens and you look back at the carnage and all the boards tombstone-ing behind you, and I am chuckling to myself even if I havent caught anything yet.

About to give up having blanked, I spot a huge wave coming in and go for it. I nail my take off and have a twenty second ride carving the wave, which is walled up and peeling beautifully, all the way in to the beach. Outstanding! I haven’t got as many rides as I would have liked but wanted to end on a high there so walked up the steps going up the cliffs and took this shot of the break from the top.

The only other highlight would be taking a shower to wash off the salt water after my surf session at the same time as Amy, a beautiful surfer girl who lives down the road in Del Mar, and wishes me well on my trip. Grrrrr!