Storms have been charging across the Atlantic for weeks giving us relentless swell, the waves have been pumping !!
It’s still dark. My fingers are numb as I scratch ice off the window. I get in the car, start the engine and press play on my Irish Trad music play list.
Heading South, the road is empty.
The sun is rising in the East and the sky is bright orange with pink streaks, it looks rad. I know there will definitely be waves where I’m going but I don’t know how big it will be. It’s always the same when you surf this spot, you can’t call it until you get there, my guess is it will be quite small so I’ve packed my catch surf 7ft foamie.
45 minutes later I pull into the car park. The air is crisp, super cold, probably 1 or 2 degrees, I’m glad I put my wetsuit on before leaving home.
My feet crunch through frozen puddles as I make my way down the dirt track. There’s no one around, just me and the orange foamie, lovely. The track turns into sand and as I drop down into the dunes I get a glimpse of the ocean as a set of perfect lines makes its way into the bay, it’s on!!
At the edge of the dunes I pause and watch another set unload out the back. It’s empty and offshore, perfect chest high lefts are breaking on the middle peak and reeling into the channel.
Reaching the waters edge I wait for a lull and jump in, it feels so sweet, icy and fresh.
Making my way out back another set appears on the horizon. As it gets closer, I can see how perfect the waves are. The first one hits the bank and then peels towards me without a drop of water out of place.
I put my head down and paddle at full speed towards the peak, the second wave breaks, it’s so sweet and slightly bigger, please be a third wave. I’m nearly at the take off spot, putting my head down, I paddle as fast I can, my arms are burning. There is a third wave, it’s even bigger and I’m in position. I turn, jump to my feet and drop down the face, looking up I can see the sky through the lip as I bottom turn. I swoop back up the face of the wave, a gannet hunting for fish dive bombs and hits the water in front of me, this is so cool. The lip starts to throw, I try to stall and pull in but I’m going too fast so I stay high, set my line and ride the curl, the orange foamie is flying, the wave peels perfectly all the way to the channel.
Paddling back out I stop, sit on my board and look around taking everything in, it’s so cool, at one with mother nature.
I have the line up to myself for about half an hour and then gradually one by one I’m joined by other surfers, within an hour it’s packed and getting harder to get waves. A set appears on the horizon, I start paddling towards it and can feel someone just behind me. The first wave peeks in front of us, I look back and shout “go dude,” the guy’s face lights up as he turns. The next wave is sick, I turn, jump to my feet and drop down the face, coming off the bottom I look down the line, all I can see is a groomed wall of dark blue water waiting for me.
Whooping, I ride the wave all the way to the inside and manage to connect onto the little speed bowl all the way to the beach.
Driving back up the A30, heaters on full blast, listening to Fleetwood Mac, I knew there was only one way to make this epic morning even better so I pulled into Hayle and headed for Philps bakery.
“Large pasty please,” I said the magical words and there it was right in front of me…
Perfect waves, Stevie Nicks and a pasty, what could be better…!!
