BurbleChaz

Yesterday started out grey and miserable, with drizzle and nastiness. Naturally, we grabbed boards and headed to the beach. By the time we got in the water, the sun was out, it was up to about 20 degrees and the surf was gentle and clean. We both had a blast. Later on, Other People started discovering the type of injuries one gets from Too Much Fun - sore shoulders, tired hands and The World's Biggest Bruise Ever. So, when today started out cold, drizzly and horrible, only one board got packed. The Other Surfer was right - it stayed grey and nasty, and the onshore breeze meant less well-defined surf. On the plus side, the long lens was with us. Permit me to bore you with large images of my incompetence:

Paddle paddle paddle....(and yes, that splother is caused by my fins)

It's not a sodding sail - put it back in the water

Wheeeeeee.....

After a perfect catch and textbook bottom turn, storming across the face of the wave. Smug much?

I'd just got ahead of this one....

...then it caught me again.Squeaky clean sinuses.

A smaller wave. Shallow enough that the sand is in suspension. You can guess from the angles what happened next.

The Excellent Photographer did an awesome job here. I was out in the surf having a hoot while she was wrapped up warm on the beach for over an hour. Artfully concealed from the camera are the other fifteen surfers at the same break, along with the major surfing competition 100 meters away. Every time a good set came through, six or seven people would paddle like hell all hoping to catch the break. Today the sets were reasonably predictable, in threes and fours. The poor saps who've been working hardest and waiting longest (often including me) go for this one. The next wave clears out most of the rest. Then, if the third one is the biggest, and the Offshore Dude(*) is too far offshore, you get a chance at a big one. When it happens, it is more awesome than a nuclear-powered weasel. Which is very awesome indeed.

(*) Every break has an Offshore Dude - the guy (always a guy) who sits 30 metres further out than everyone else waiting, and waiting for The Big One. He's probably there now.