Last Monday’s surf was so good that Paul and I decided that given the beautiful weather we would do it again today.
So at 11.00 we hopped in the boat and began to head up to the Alkimos, noticing as we went that the swell was significantly larger than last time… Last time we went on a 1.5 metre swell and the waves were easily head high at this northern suburbs ‘swell magnet’. (Here is a pic my brother took of Scarborough today)
Today with a 4 metre swell we were aware that it could be bigger (Duh…) but how much bigger?…
‘A lot’ is the simple answer!
We baled on the Alkimos after viewing it from a distance. Its a serious wave in a small swell and today it was probably a bit out of our league. We headed out to a nearby wave – there were plenty to choose from as every piece of reef along the coast was breaking. We navigated between breaking waves and big swells to find a safe place to anchor the boat.
We paddled about 200m in to find the waves. Big, chunky, lumpy waves…
I got one and got pitched. Oh well… Paul got one and after 20 minutes was still paddling back out… or maybe he wasn’t… I couldn’t see him… What to do?
If he’s drowned in there then me going back won’t fix anything – it’ll be too late. Might as well stay and get more waves… Then again that could be tricky to explain to Trish… I decided against catching any more waves myself. If he was having trouble getting back out then (based on last week’s effort) we could both be stuck inside with the boat sitting out the back and no way to get to it.
So I decided to take the boat and go and try pick him up on the other side of the reef.
Of course what happens?… I circle around the reef and get to the inside just in time to see him finally make it out the back. I was quite glad he hadn’t drowned. (Would have been hell to pull him off the reef.) Turns out he had been giving vent to his seasickness and throwing up while caught inside.
Ten minutes later he caught a wave, came in and we headed for home.
Its a BIG ocean. We are so small alongside it.
Today was a reminder.