04/27/04 Report: "Fishies, Whales and Smaller Freight Trains"
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Clean
break
Lookin'
good!
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I
arrived at the north end at about 11:00 and was pleased to see only
a fraction of the crowds of the day before. The air temp was even
warmer, somewhere around 75. The south swell that had been forecast
to arrive on Tuesday must have come a day early, because there it
was; nice, punchy groundswell
unloading on the inner bars, very hollow, spitting and very clean,
head-high on the sets. You could actually see the backs of the waves
that were rolling into Kelly's Cove. The wind teetered around due
north, mostly just a few degrees east but occasionally less favorable,
but it was so light, less than 5 knots, that it made little difference.
I paddled out near Lincoln and slowly drifted into the zone just south
of the Chalet, waiting for my chance, watching good rides get ridden
up and down the beach. I waited for a while, getting impatient. Then
I noticed something very large swimming northward about 100 yards
offshore of me. A grey whale and I think her baby, though I could
not be sure there were two. It, or they, swam slowly northward, blowing
water vapor through its blowhole. It was the first time I had seen
a whale at OB. After that things started to happen for me. I dialed
in a number of fast, square waves, both directions. I was less than
thrilled about having the fishie, but my thruster has been buckled
since January. It worked out as long as I stayed high and trimmed.
Finally the one I had been waiting for came right to me. A nice peaky
right that hit the bar just right. I knew I was going to get tubed
before I even took off. I dropped in at an angle, slid slightly forward
on the board, rose up the face a little bit and crouched down under
the lip and then popped out just as quickly. A modest little cover-up
but I was stoked. |
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