thedrip said...
Keep them coming.
Do rock climbs fit into this thread?
How about a story?
Late season Bluff, thus low tides. Only my second surf there so I don't really know about the keyhole step up. On my way in (on a low tide) the keyhole is sucking dry and the step up barely has any water with the incoming waves so there is a nice little surge banging against the ledge. I sit in the surge going up and down, back and forward sussing out what to do. I don't have any faith that I can scramble onto the ledge without getting sucked off and smashed by the next wave. So I slowly edge may way into the keyhole where it is pretty much a seven to eight foot short dump (vertical height people not wave height). So I play in that for a while, feel the rhythm and decide that is the go. Wait for a set, come in on the back of a wave, let the water drain out and walk up the key and climb the rocks before the next wave.
So that's what I do.
Except, after having the key drain COMPLETELY of water and walking rapidly up it on the sand and commencing my short rock scramble, my leggie gets caught in some rocks near the bottom. Oh poo. I get down as fast as I can free the leggie and then look up to see the wave breaking just out of the keyhole and whitewater surging up it. In an attempt to save myself and my board I try to jump up and over and onto the foam. It grabs me like a child in a rotties mouth and crushes me into the rocks. My back gets brutalised and then I flop down onto the sand as it recedes. I am dazed and the next one is coming. there is no board preservation this time and I wedge the board against the rocks as hard as I can and then use it to brace myself. It works, taking the edge of the waves power and this time I just get tumbled onto the rocks a little.
Set over, I drag my broken carcass onto the ledge and then lie there for five minutes or so seeing if any ribs are broken. Panadiene Forte - which I carry up north just in case the Tombstone lands on me - are the only thing that help me sleep through the back pain the next two nights.
A friend who watched the whole thing from only metres away paddled safely up to the next little bay and came in no worries.
Many years later, the bluff still makes me nervous at the end of the session.
you got a green thumb from me for that great story but i nearly red thumbed you for using the word Poo
