Today was a day off... but... I had an appointment with a dental surgeon in Nanaimo... so most of the day would be squandered on driving. Knowing that I'm not going to have another opportunity to surf until after I get back from Edmonton, I got up super early to go for a surf. I was in my wetsuit and out the door before first light... by the time I got to Cox Bay, however, there was already someone in the water... a shortboarder in the corner.
I paddled out at LBL, and caught a closeout right off the bat. Keeping in mind the advice to be more selective about which waves I go for, I let a lot of them go by... which was good... because more of them than not were closeouts. For the first half hour or so, I made two big drops that quickly closed out... and decided that maybe today wasn't really the best day for a surf that has to last me two weeks. Whenever there are big drops, there aren't chilled out peeling waves... which are what I'm all about. I considered calling it quits and going home and getting organized to go to Nanaimo... maybe get there early and do some Christmas shopping... but this was going to be my last surf until at least the 28th... so I stayed. Good thing I stayed! I ended up catching three super awesome long rides that were totally overhead! The buoy report said 6 feet... but it was definitely bigger than that... the reason why I know it was totally overhead was because all the waves I saw other people catch were also way overhead... and they did not look like extraordinarily short people. When I was about to leave (had to get back by 9AM to shower so that I'd have plenty of time to get to Nanaimo), I decided that I would paddle out just one more time... and catch just one more good one. I paddled back out, and as soon as I got to the outside, this perfect looking wave started coming my way... I went for it... and it *was* perfect... an overhead peeling right... and I was in the perfect spot for it... it was all very... perfect. I really wanted another... but realizing that that one was a gift from the conductor, I left, grateful for that perfect ride on the perfect wave.
And then it was to Nanaimo... the dental surgeon's office, where I ran into someone with whom I surfed on Saturday, who had also driven all the way from Tofino! We could have carpooled!
After the appointment, I went and shopped (I hate shopping!)... and got a huge pile of groceries for $37 that would probably have cost me $80 in Tofino. It took me almost three and a half hours to get back from Nanaimo. The huge storm that's blowing right now was a blizzard all the way till Kerr Creek... it was probably the most demanding drive I've ever done. Dark, stormy, white-out conditions... and that narrow highway shared with buses and semi trailers.
But what fun! Where else can you surf big waves in the morning and then drive through a blizzard in the evening?
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