Solid Surf Ramble...

I was surfing at Patrick's Point/Agate Beach a couple Sundays ago and I experienced the worst beating/hold down of my surfing career. It's funny how crazy it is to paddle out in such big and powerful surf. The waves were in the 15-18 foot range and were solidly breaking. Patrick's Point is a point break and can handle big and powerful surf, while Agate Beach is a beach break. Both spots can handle a solid swell without turning into a washing machine, but they both get challenging when the swell gets above the 10-12 foot range. I was surfing with my best friend Adam, who recently moved out this way from the Outer Banks, NC.

We checked Patrick's Point as a last resort, all of the other spots we checked were maxed out and simply too churned up to facilitate good, clean waves. We decided to check the point as a final chance at surfing on a day in which the ocean was going crazy. There was a storm up off of the Alaska coast which was sending powerful swells our way. The Humboldt coastline sticks out like a sore thumb off the California coast, so we get the brunt of most swells. It can be 12-15 feet here, but 4-6 feet at points south during the same swell. The fact that most spots require a bit of a hike to get to, the water is way too cold (45-52 degrees year around), and old Whitey is constantly patrolling help to thin the crowds out a bit.

Every other spot was way too rough and we wanted to surf, so we decided that we could paddle out at Patrick's Point. Waves look deceptively rolling, glassy, and inviting from far away and on top of a cliff; so we decided to paddle out. We were both riding fun shaped short boards, so the overhead shorebreak was easy to duck-dive through. Once we made it out to the actual mackers we discovered that it was actually freaking-huge.

Maybe you don't surf, but you can at least appreciate that mental anguish that comes from paddling out in way overhead surf, in cold water and realizing that you are supremely out of your element. I grew up surfing the warm and small waves of the East Coast, so I'm still getting used to the powerful, large surf of the Northern California coast. I've surfed big swells since I moved here, but they are mostly point waves. Point waves break in a predictable fashion in mostly uniform lines, beach breaks are anything but predictable. At a beach break, you'll be sitting there...watching the swells come in and suddenly you'll realize that you are right in the impact zone (I call it the 'bone-yard'), so you immediately begin a sprint-paddle to a safe area outside of where the wave is going to break.

Now, let me let you in on a little secret...Surfers choose boards depending on the waves they want to surf. A longboard works great in small, rolling waves; short boards work great in head high surf; but in serious surf, most surfers will bring out their 'guns' for surf which requires serious paddle speed and solid 'cajones' to ride. Adam and I are poor, so we have limited boards to choose from. I was riding a short board and Adam was riding a semi-longboard. The point being that we were riding the wrong boards for the conditions and fully relying on our swimming ability and guts to ride the large waves which were rolling our way.

The first wave I caught was solid. There is something about paddling into very overhead surf. The energy that is present in the ocean on big swells is something everyone should experience. Just think about everything that goes into that wave...Storms which are thousands of miles away generate untold amounts of energy which is translated into open ocean swells, the last bit of that energy goes into the wave, and I'm all about catching that last bit of energy as it unloads onto a random sandbar on a bit of isolated stretch of Northern California coastline...

In two hours of battling the ocean swells and currents I caught three waves and took a couple of solid beating during which I was held under for minutes and resigned myself to the noble death which comes from following dreams which few dream. I grew as a person and as a surfer. During one particularly heavy hold-down I thought thoughts which come only to those which put their ass on the line and accept what may come. I attained a level of thought during those minutes held down, under the roaring surf, under the slate grey sky, under the murky blue water, far away from where I am comfortable, which I couldn't find all throughout college...I felt alive, I felt the need to be alive, the desire to live and pursue life...

I am alive. I will pursue life. I will follow my dreams. I will overcome. People always talk about limitation and things preventing them from taking that next step. I was underwater in 45 degree water, in 15 foot surf, undergunned and just trying to breath...and I realized that I can do anything. If I can survive this...Can't I survive the 9-5? Can't I survive taxes and budgets and deadlines?....