Thanks, Ike ... It's a surfin' Sunday!

Yesterday afternoon I went to check the waves because I had a surf lesson to give to two boys. Something told me I should take a look, because the pulses from Ike should have arrived by then. Sure enough, as I drove past The Well, I saw a guy take a free fall drop down the face of a good-sized wave, head high it was, and I nearly drove right off the road. I ran up the stairs at Crossovers, and there they were. long lines rolling in from the south at high tide, the water rushing up all around the legs of the stairway. It was too blisteringly hot and sunny to go out, I had already had enough sun for the day, which seemed like a waste. Arrggh, I wanted to go back out, but the lesson was in 90 minutes. I raced home to let the boy's mom know the surf might be too big for them, but I could hear Sammy in the background, "Nooooo!" He wanted to charge out there. There would be no stopping him. So, I figured I could go out after the surf lesson, but the wind had already torn it up from the start. The boys had fun despite that SE wind, and Sammy begged me to bodysurf with him afterwards. So, today, when I heard the 6am buoys were six feet at SIXTEEN seconds, well, I was out of my mind. I tore out of the house before dawn and went to Crossovers. Whaaa? It looked all wimpy and lumpy, mostly closing out. The pier was only breaking on the inside, and looked about two, maybe three feet. But, this was outgoing tide. The picture shows what a difference incoming tide and offshore winds can make. Bob called, and I gave him the reports. Andy called, and I gave him all I knew. We all decided to go to Matanzas, because Bob said it was really good there yesterday. We had fun, despite it being a bit deep. I was the first one out, but the tide was too low, and I paddled more in one hour than I have all week. The current was pulling me north a mile a minute. When it switched, I walked up the beach as far south as I could until I saw Bob get a sweet left. I paddled out and saw him get a beautiful right that just peeled off, groomed clean by a light SW wind. Only one other guy was out, a Kelly Slater lookalike on a longboard. The waves were crazy inconsistent, which was frustrating, but when they came it was like a dream. About six more guys paddled out. The best wave of the day came to me at the very end, when most everyone had given up to ride the inside. I saw it coming, and paddled like crazy for the horizon. It was a big, clean wall, just like this picture, maybe bigger, and I was in perfect position. I swung around, pushed into it, and just flew all over it, making up for the mushy ones that had us scratching our heads all morning. How in the heck can "six feet at sixteen seconds" translate to what we were seeing? It should have been HUGE. That's what I love about surfing. You can just never figure it out completely. As soon as you think you can predict it through weather charts and experience, the waves surprise you. Today they did not totally live up to our expectations, but sometimes, there they are ... shining like diamonds, and when you least expect it. I will not complain. I had an entire weekend of beautiful waves. The timing of this could not have been any better.