Indian summer

Apologies I've been off recently with work, so haven't been near the coast but I hear it's been pretty good.

Friday saw a late swell developing and for those patient enough to wait - 4-5ft and clean waves were delivered on a plate just before sunset.

I returned home late on Friday night, shattered but keen for a dip the following day.

On paper it looked spectacular with a good swell, big wave period and straight offshore - easterly winds blowing all day long.

I was too tired to do my normal dawn patrol so took a leisurely walk down around 9am with sponger Will.

We arrived to find the large tide had already receded a long way back but there were still some super hollow rights reeling off all along the beach.

We paddled out and waited...a set eventually pushed through and Will was off, getting barrelled twice on the same wave.

To say he was happy would be an understatement ;)

My turn next...I'd opted to surf my old 6'6 single fin thinking we'd be dealing with 6ft waves and I'd be glad of the extra paddle power and length required for making the drops on bigger waves.

As it happened I didn't need it but at least the extra weight helped keep the board down in the strong winds.

I paddled hard, headlong into a howling easterly and took off blind with the salt stinging my eyes. I scored a little head dip in the lip as I made the drop; bottom turned and saw before me - a lovely long, hollow wall begging to be pulled up and into.

I stalled slightly and prepared to pull up under the feathering lip and into the barrel but ended up slipping off over the nose of the board into a face plant! :(

Close but no cigar.

Will paddled back out and caught another nice one and I had a longish right and then the unthinkable happened...the waves completely died!

We were left with 2ft and hollow but the wind grew in ferocity and it just became a battle which I didn't have the energy for. After an hour we'd both given up and gone in.

The early birds had caught the worm today - reporting 4-6ft barrels @ first light but there we go - I've had my share over the years and I've finally missed one!

I've learnt an invaluable lesson though - sometimes it pays to listen to your body. My body was saying 'NO' all the way down to the beach on Saturday but I ignored it and went for a fatigue driven surf anyway which proved to be futile.

High pressure is with us for the rest of the week so no surf but at least the sun is shining and we've had a few warm 'Indian Summer' type days. Temps will be cooling though.

I'm off to Ireland surfing on Saturday for a week and it looks promising once this high moves on so fingers crossed.

I'll be on borrowed boards which should prove interesting. Now all I need is a decent weather chart.