As I paddled out of the marina I literally bumped in to a Southern Right whale and her calf coming round the corner. It was an epic encounter that set the tone for the rest of the session: beautiful and scary. I paddled away from her at top speed before she got too protective.
So now, I got myself lined up with the tall jagged piece of metal that shows you where to take off and waited. First ride was ridiculous. I thought I was going to get crunched, no barrel, but made the take off and set the rail beautifully. The SUP got me through all the sections I can never make on a surf board, in fact, if you've figured out where this is...you know that dry rock that always ends the wave? I went over the top of that and got so excited i hit the lip hard only to discover that there is another huge dry rock on the inside
I've never been that far on that wave and my heart dropped through my arse as I scratched to recover from the turn and make it around the beast without losing a fin, a board or some skin. I eventually kicked out somewhere in front of the hotel bar somewhere between scared and stoked with a crowd of FIFA journos looking at me like I was a complete mullet.
Needless to say the rest of the session was ridden a lot more conservatively with no boundaries explored. I felt like I'd woes'd out, having survived the 1st unscathed, but decided retreat was the better part of valour, besides, bobbyfeet was hiding in bed and there was no-one to rescue my dumb-ass if I came short.
No pics because I forgot to charge the camera. dumb-ass.
Aloha.
Z
