Surfing is a magnificent obsession
So... I just went down to check my boat, and as long as I was
there I decided to fire up the motor to charge the batteries and since it needed
to run anyway I went for a
ride and because it was such a nice day I took
a cruise down island and when I got there and saw that it was a perfect
three foot swell with an offshore wind, well I just had to go surfing.
Blue skies, sweet little waves and not a soul in sight. Wish you'd been with me, but who'd of guessed that it would even be
breakin, much less firing?
I arrived at Paz Island* about 1100, dead low tide. The wind
was NW, offshore, and strong. But there wasn't much wind anyway because the
break was a lee shore.
I could tell immediately that the surf was good. I watched a half dozen
perfect little rights just peel along the point and realized that I was actually
gonna get some surf. That was a wondrous sweet realization.
I decided to go have a look at the Pass just in case. On the way down there I
ran into a heavy WSW swell barrelling into the mouth of the
Sound. The swell was right on my nose, short and steep, maybe 4 foot @ 6 seconds. Nasty. Wet.
The Pass was totally bizarre. That westerly
swell was swinging way deep into the bay, bypassing our normal Lefts and
Rights spot completely. The west side of the Pass was breaking way deep inside
and the east side looked insane. I think Barjoes had a lot of white water too,
and the Fish Club looked gnarly as well.
The swell was hitting Woody's Left almost perpendicular to the shoreline and
hardly breaking at all. The outside Pass Rights weren't breaking either,
but the north end of the Pass, on the east side looked almost closed out on the
sets. I've never seen it break there before.
It was low tide and the tidal current must of still been Northerly through
the pass. The wind was NW, and pretty strong, so I didn't think Barthelomews
was an option. Sand Bar? Leper Colony?
I was hot to surf, so I turned around and ran back to Paz
Island. I was surfing South Swell down those bitchin little
swells all the way back. I dropped the hook and suited up. At first I was
bummed, because the waves looked smaller than I'd thought, but then the sets
started coming and I sort of focused on the quality, rather than the size. It
was pretty consistently hip to chest high the whole afternoon.
You know how Paz Point has that big bowl in the middle? Well it was really
prominent, and it made the wave very interesting to ride. That bowl section was
fast and long yesterday. You couldn't make the wave unless you were high and
fast when you hit it. My last ride there was the closest I've ever come to
landing a totally sick floater.
I surfed until I couldn't paddle anymore, then headed home thrashed but
filled with the stoke. Like I said, pity you weren't with me. You would
have known what the hell to do with that bizarro west swell...
Your Brah reporting,
- Grouchy
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* So where is Paz Island?" I'm not gonna tell you, so don't bother
asking. Besides, all the clues are there, get out your map!