Glider Rider: The waiting game

Swell: 1.5m
Period: 7 seconds, underlying 5 seconds
Wind: Very light S
Tide: Mid, on the push with HT around Midnight

I've been playing the waiting game recently...

Yes, there's been swell but it's come with baggage - howling onshore winds that blow relentlessly all day and all night.

Each night I wait for it to drop but it lingers...and is still there at first light.

I came close to getting wet on Sunday evening but called it off last minute when the webcam revealed gutless 1-2ft onshore slop.

My compadres bravely went about their business and I watched online from the comfort of my couch for about 45 mins on and off.

My wife remarked "don't go - you never watch it for this long normally, so it must be poor" She had a point...I trusted my instincts and a live web stream always helps if it's 50/50 :)

I later learned that it was dire so I definitely made the right decision.

Groundhog day 4 and here we are again. I'm sat watching and waiting when all of a sudden towards the end of the day I spot clean lines, virtually no wind - just a whisper of a light S breeze and a few people in enjoying the hot weather.

I didn't want to get too excited at this point as it's all been ending in tears lately but it was 7.30pm but the waves kept coming. I tucked into a good plate of scran and polished off a doughnut for luck - I'm in training after all! ;0

Some might think I've gone mad eating all that food pre-surf but what I actually did was force myself to wait for the tide to push in a bit further. Otherwise I'd have gone in earlier and wasted my time...

I hit the water at 9.02pm and there were still a fair few surfers in. The standard looked pretty high and I spotted one grom screaming along the inside and launch into a nice aerial and land it - fins poking out, every which way!

The light didn't last long as heavy rain squalls gathered on the horizon over the Gower peninsula.

I spotted Harv and paddled out into a slightly cooler sea than I'd been expecting. Harv was carving up a few on his speed bump and had a quick chat to blods who was in the vacinity. The waves were clean and punchy 2-3ft with nice bowly sections.

My first wave was a fast left and I 'left' a nice impression on the lip as I planted all my weight + doughnut into the lip. It felt good!

The crowds thinned out completely as the light diminished and I was starting to struggle to spot the sets but stayed in as it seemed to pick up. The waves got pretty hollow and I shoved my head into a few on take off. Good times :)

A girl nearby on a mal wearing what looked like an American footballers helmet?!
was charging and stealing a lot of my waves by sitting further out back! LOL
I kept willing her to fall off but fair play to her - she made every wave!

The tide was pushing fast and I really was surfing in the dark now. My eyesight is poor at the best of times but this was ridiculous.

Time to call it a day. I walked back up the beach past fisherman, quietly standing around their fishing lamps. It had only been an hour but a very productive hour at that!

Tuesday morning: