Don't Believe the Hype

Or do believe it. Whatever. "The hype" refers to the news about the swell. Oh, certain breaks were going off. I never managed to be at any of them. At least I got a little taste of the swell on Thursday afternoon. Since that time, I've been shut out. Yesterday was a wash, for me at least. I ran into one of the members of our crew after I got out yesterday. Even though the conditions were pretty bad when I was in, I told her I could see they were improving and urged her to get in. Apparently I was right. She was in the water for over two hours. I'm glad somebody got a piece of this swell.

Soul Brother #1 and I got on the bikes today. As usual, we headed out to the home break. Wow! I'm always impressed by massive waves closing out on the shore, especially when I'm not in the water. People were getting some rides today, but those were the more experienced surfers. One of them got out and said something about me getting in. I told him the truth: although I've improved, I'm still not comfortable in those types of conditions on a big board. As I work my way onto the 7'0" (which was bought for the bigger waves), I will begin to venture out in the big, neck-breakers our home break is so good at producing during a SW swell. I talked to a shortboarder I'd seen the other day when I was in the water. Apparently, he got the longest ride of his life yesterday at the home break. Now that's impressive, especially since a SW often produces waves whose shape doesn't hold up. But I could tell he was completely stoked. And as if that weren't enough, he said he then drove down to Trestles and surfed there in the afternoon. Now that's how you put the swell to good use! Then I ran into a couple of women who recently started surfing regularly at the home break. They'd gone to RPB this morning at the crack of dawn. Even at that hour, it was a zoo. People were almost shoulder to shoulder. What's worse, the place shut down for about 40 minutes. It went flat. At low tide? WTF? I'm glad I wasn't able to give much attention to the swell. If I had, I'd be pissed off. In fact, I'm ready for it to leave so the lineups will thin out again.