Zombie dawn of the dead

Swell: 1.2m
Wind: Light ssw
Tide: Rising - HT was at 8.25am, 9 metres
Period: 7 seconds, underlying 5 seconds

The title of today's blog says it all. After 2 days of power drinking on a stag weekend down Gower I surfed like a zombie today.

I was too tired to sleep last night - a theory I'm working on but one which may hail me as a genius to the scientific world at large in years to come - watch this space.

Awake at 4am, awake at 5am I decided to get up and check the local wave data...

Rest was looking nice and clean and around 2-3ft:


I stumbled out of the house 'sans tea'(always a mistake) at 5.30am and made my way to the beach. It was a beautiful morning - with plenty of mist over the fields and wildlife central with meadow pipits, tits, fly catchers etc all flying around eagerly catching the first insects of the day.

I'd arranged to meet the h-man for a dawnie but knew that with an England defeat hanging over him, he'd probably had one too many beers last night and opted for a lie in. Correcto mundo!

So I had it to myself, not a soul in sight as I jogged the mile or so to the beach. Birds twittering everywhere and a warm sun beating down on my de-hydrated brow.

I arrived at the beach to find it looking a bit smaller than I would have liked. In my head it would be 3-4ft+ and hollow but in reality it was 2-3ft and a bit lumpy looking as the rip swirled up and down the bay.

The wind though was light cross offshore and as the tide pushed in, things began to take shape.

The first thing I noticed was how warm the sea had become! It's nudging 16 C now so very pleasant on the head and we've got a bit more summer left in the tank me thinks.

I caught a few little rights and was really trying to concentrate on my pop up today and had a few where I felt good.

My 'ickle 5'10" board definitely needs more powerful waves to make things a little easier/forgiving for this old sea dog but it still rides nicely once I'm up!

My backhand was shoddy though, too loose and chaotic and I began to get increasingly annoyed with my surfing and the waves!

I began to reach the stage where you're spending more time chasing ghost waves than actually riding them. Lovely looking bigger set waves seemed to be magically appearing wherever I wasn't and I was beginning to get a bit frustrated.

Another local turned up around 7am and we shared a few waves and some chat before I finally called it a day after going over the falls on a bigger left. LOL

The surf had begun to deliver 3ft peaks with a bit more shape and I was in two minds whether to stay... but work beckoned and I figured I'd be on better form tomorrow after some much needed sleep!

I was mercilessly mobbed by flies on the return leg and the only way to keep them at bay was to swing my aqua-pac around my head whilst I walked - making me even more tired! :(

As I arrived at the car, surprise surprise - h-man stepped out of his pink clio and into his day-glow wetty having decided he'd have a lie in ;0

Looks like surf all week long culminating in a nice weekend so we'll hopefully have some overhead waves to talk about (at last).

Hope you like the new format and layout. Tough luck if you don't!

cheers

Gull