Friday came and went with nothing much to report other than sunny skies. Saturday however delivered some small but chilly surf.
I met up with 'The Bry' around 8am and we hit Freshwater West. The buoy was only measuring 2.5 feet @ 6 seconds but there was something rideable.
Two desperados were in middle bay fighting a filling tide and the beach looked small. The north end however had some white water on the cliffs and a handful of surfers were in catching a few.
I got changed and got in amongst it whilst 'the bry spent' 20 mins powdering his nose back in his camper! God knows what he gets up to in there but it was the slowest change I've yet to experience.
The waves had a bit of power and were 2-3ft and pretty clean but lacking any real shape. Longboarders fell off this way and that, and one guy caught every single wave in the classic 'proposal stance' - with one knee down and one up but he seemed to enjoy it!
Just for the record, I shouted "No" whenever he passed by me as we hardly knew each other ;)
'The Bry' aka the 'Duke of Druke' eventually paddled his 9ft beast out and into a few. I'm not sure if he was soul arching or just leaning into the wave face until he fell off but either way it looked soulful - for a split second! ;)
I paddled down towards the cliffs a little and managed to snag one really nice set wave, a long right which held up all the way in and made it worthwhile.
We caught a few more and the surf gradually began to lose size, shape and everything else as that WNW wind increased in ferocity. It was bloody cold actually!
I was out there in what is mainly a 2mm suit in water 2 degrees cooler than I'm used to in Porthcawl and came in with a few goosebumps.
Sunday was a write off with more swell but howling winds. Saturday dawned and I was up with the larks. As the house slept I made a few calls to see who I could raise from the dead.
The bouys were 3ft @ 7secs and the wind was light N. Two to three would do me!
Scotty answered the call and we met up around 6.30am above middle bay. Blue skies and sunshine and small clean lines were rolling in as the tide began to push.
I could see my beloved point break firing and tried to convince my old longboard compadre to accompany me but he was having none of it!
Scotty kindly offered me his hand shaped 9'0 so long as I waxed it! I don't know about you but cold mornings and rock hard sex wax don't make for an enjoyable pre surf warm up.
I might as well have been rubbing frozen lard onto it. After a frustrating 10 mins I began to make some progress and finally got some wax lines to stick.
During that time I watched 2ft glass turn into 2-3ft and 2-3ft turn into 3ft and get a bit hollower and faster. Things were definitely looking up so I jettisoned the plank and grabbed my short board instead.
At least Scotty now has a freshly waxed board for next time :)
Early doors and no-one out:
I paddled out onto a nice left breaking over reef on the other side of the point whilst scotty opted for the now sandy, middle bay. The rocks have all been covered over?!
The lefts were shaping up nicely but I have an issue going left on my current board so after 4 or 5 waves was beginning to wish I'd paddled over for the rights.
As the tide was pushing in fast I figured it would go flat - I was wrong! It got better but by this time I'd moved over and joined 5 others who were sharing a few peaks opposite the larva hut end of the bay.
I caught a few nice ones towards the end as the wave held up and saw scotty take a few hell-man drops on his longboard before getting annihilated! All good fun.
5 paddled out onto the left I thought would fill in with the tide and proceeded to get some really nice should high walls. Doh! And the y kept coming as more and more lefts bowled up.
Into the 8am hour now and the hoards began to arrive as van after van awoke and waxed up and word gradually spread that Fresh was the place to be. People from all over descended on it and apparently the afternoon session was absolutely rammed.
Lines stacked to the horizon. You can see a handful out, paddling for the set:
The period picked up to 15 secs but so did the wind but good waves were had by most despite the afternoon chop. I for one was stoked that I got up early, paddled out into a peaceful empty line-up and scored 3-4ft glass all to ourselves, for a little while at least :)
We bumped into a sleepy 'Bry' on the way out who reported a fun 4-6ft session later on, on his longboard.
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