Giving Thanks in the Park

Excellent session in the Park this morning, with some great tube rides for the patient.

 

A pretty good pod drifted in between 8 & 8:30: initially Rick Ciaccio (#9), Erick Yeisley (EY_\), Brent Crawford (Crawdaddy) and me, shortly to be joined by Hugh Berenger, Mark Ghattas (Sailfish) and Chuck Herpick (Kahuna).  

About a dozen sticks were clumped at the Main Peak, but there was a nice right sweeping from just south of the Rock, and only one surfer in the water down there.  As Rick & I walked up the beach, that surfer dropped in a tight, fast one, about 2 feet overhead.  We smiled.

 

Although there were some long lulls, when the sets came in - shoulder-high, head-high, even some plusses - there were some big, wide, long barrels.  The waves were really pitching: the lips were throwing farther than the waves were tall.  At one point, EY_\ kept talking about driving a VW through one!

 

I sat outside, just south of the Rock, picking off one or two waves out of each flurry, then enjoying basking in the winter sun on a glassy morning with a slight offshore.  During one interlude, a couple dolphin split off a passing pod and swam inside of us, one right between Rick & Crawdaddy, just a few feet away.  Tough not to be thankful!

 

However, a tough day for Sailfish: first a speeding ticket on the way down and then, about an hour into the session, he messed up his right shoulder...hope it's nothing too serious!

 

We spread out from immediately south of the Rock - where I was picking off those sweeping rights - down to LG1, and pretty much had the entire area to ourselves for 90 minutes.  Then, the entire remaining stick population - maybe six or eight - floated our way, apparently deciding that  we were having way too much fun.  No problem - the main peak was left open so we just migrated North and took care of that for another hour.  

Glass lasted until well after 10:00, then the wind gradually turned onshore and it started to get sloppy...just as the sticks decided to repopulate the main peak.

 

Some great rides had by all!  For me, the first taste of a good winter swell: dredging, pitching and hollow.