Superstar Punani
12-16-2004, 10:47 PM
The swell was fucking going off and going surfing suddenly took precedence over my blahblah conference discussing blahblah 2005 Marketing Strategies and blahblah new product releases.
I left at lunchtime and hauled ass over to Ocean Beach. I could hear the rumble of the swell even from a couple blocks away. As I pulled into the Sloat Ave. parking lot I shat and creamed my pants simultaneously...
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/OB-Dec16-10.jpg
OOOORRRGGHHHHHH!!!!!
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/normal_OB1.jpg
Solid and Consistent 12 foot A-Frames and freak 15 foot clean up sets roamed the lineup, groomed by offshore winds. I spent a half an hour timing the sets and checking out the current. There were 5 souls out the back taking off left and right and about 20 more trying to make their way outside and getting pummeled in the impact zone and dragged back to shore.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/normal_OB2.jpg
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/OB-Dec16-12.jpg
The death sets broke every 15 minutes, just enough time in between them to scramble a quarter-mile from shore to the line-up.
Pic: The longest 1/4 mile ever.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/normal_OB4.jpg
My 7'6" Rusty gun that I bought a couple months back has been standing in my bedroom corner, teasing me like an 18 year old virgin doing a little pole dance. After weeks of fondling her curves I finally get to break her hymen. I waxed her up and down, grabbed her then lay on top of her as I charged the shorebreak and paddled out the back.
Hol-ee FUCK!!! It was bigger than it looked from shore. Powerful walls of whitewater came at an endless and steady stream. It took me half an hour of duckdives, scrambling between sets, and sprinting before I reached the line up.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/OB-Dec16-13.jpg
There was a strange sense of calm out there. All the other surfers were happy and stoked, hooting at each others rides and generously offering each other waves, a stark contrast from the smaller hassled days when it becomes a shitfight. I love surfing these days with a handful of chargers with silent respect for each other.
Pretty soon the horizon shifted, signaling the arrival of the sets. The nearest guy was 50 yards behind me so I knew it was mine. I gave him the first set, hoping that the next one was bigger. He took off, and as the first set passed and I caught a glimpse of the next set, I suddenly felt a surge of adrenaline from my brain to my fingertips.
My universe had shrunk down to Ocean Beach, and all that mattered was bagging this next wave. It started feathering outside and I'm paddling at full speed towards it. As we neared the inevitable collision course I pulled a U-turn and paddled harder and harder.....
...the next minute or so is like trying to recall a dream....
I stood up as the solid 12 footer jacked up and I'm gliding straight down the face of the wave. The drop felt like it was taking forever. I reached the trough and set up a bottom turn as this wall the size of a 2-floor apartment block walled up and pitched. I hit the throttle and carved up the face of the wave. Flashes of Nobis skiing AK lines in Sick Sense flashed in my mind as I rode up and down the face of this insanely huge fucking set. I kicked out as it unloaded top to bottom on the inside sandbar, found the rip and was whisked out the back without having to dodge the cleanup sets.
I did a shore-check to gauge my position. I'm over a quarter-mile out to see with no idea what the current is doing or whether I'm in position for the next sets. My truck was the size of an ant, the top of the Golden Gate looked like a Lego model, and I was using that and the Twin Peaks antenna to triangulate my position and guesstimate where the last sets broke.
Sue enough, less than ten minutes later the horizon shifted again. I let the first set go, a measly 8 footer. I was gonna let the next 10-footer go to, until I glimpsed the last wave of the set that was already feathering 200 yards out into a cleanup set.....FUCK! I had to go. If I missed this set I will be pummeled. I took off on the left which was a crabon copy of the one before. The 7'6 is fucking fun and drivey, carrying a lot of momentum and so smooth...It feels the equivalent of, say, a 223cm Igneous Fatty.
I finally had it wired. The south-bound current takes you straight back to the sweet spot where the choice sets were breaking. All I had to do was catch a set every ten minutes so as not to drift so far.
The next hour was an ejaculatory orgy of mindblowing, cock-hardening, adrenaline overdose as less than 10 surfers reaped the goods.
The swell continued to build as sets became more common. Pretty soon it became a cat-and-mouse game of dodging the death sets. The sun started to set and we knew our time was limited. For some reason I hadn't even worried or thought about the toothy men in grey suits. The cleanup sets were a visible and more common adversary in these conditions.
The beauty of the sunset was hypnotic and mesmerizing. Nothing could describe the contrast of emotions- stoke and fear, calmness and adrenaline OD, sure enough, the sunset distracted me from what seemed like half the Pacific Ocean rearing its head.
"OOOOUUUUUTTTSIDE!!!!!" The silence was broken by some random surfer's scream.
I saw it but I knew it was too late. There was no fucking way we'd even paddle over these sets or duckdive them. Like a vagrant who was woken up on the train tracks by the lights and horn of an oncoming freight train, I accepted my fate.
The first set exploded top to bottom less than 20 yards from me and the pack. It feels like...well, think that you're on a loaded 45 degree slope. a herd of elephants stampedes over you, followed by several 18 wheelers. That's what it felt like when you're pummeled by about 10 waves in the set. I had a death grip on my board, and my head felt like it was going to implode from the pressure. I opened my eyes but all I could see was an inky blackness. My lungs burned for air, and I could see stars. I surfaced and gasped for air and only got foam, before the next depth charge exploded, and I was sent to the deep, hoping that my leash won't break as I went for a liquid avie ride.
I surfaced close to shore and saw the crew I was surfing with had also been dealt the same hand. We looked at each other, laughed and decided to call it a session.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/OB-Dec16-15.jpg
(Don't mess wit da Hui. Nobody messes wit' Da Hui;))
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/portrait.jpg
I left at lunchtime and hauled ass over to Ocean Beach. I could hear the rumble of the swell even from a couple blocks away. As I pulled into the Sloat Ave. parking lot I shat and creamed my pants simultaneously...
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/OB-Dec16-10.jpg
OOOORRRGGHHHHHH!!!!!
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/normal_OB1.jpg
Solid and Consistent 12 foot A-Frames and freak 15 foot clean up sets roamed the lineup, groomed by offshore winds. I spent a half an hour timing the sets and checking out the current. There were 5 souls out the back taking off left and right and about 20 more trying to make their way outside and getting pummeled in the impact zone and dragged back to shore.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/normal_OB2.jpg
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/OB-Dec16-12.jpg
The death sets broke every 15 minutes, just enough time in between them to scramble a quarter-mile from shore to the line-up.
Pic: The longest 1/4 mile ever.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/normal_OB4.jpg
My 7'6" Rusty gun that I bought a couple months back has been standing in my bedroom corner, teasing me like an 18 year old virgin doing a little pole dance. After weeks of fondling her curves I finally get to break her hymen. I waxed her up and down, grabbed her then lay on top of her as I charged the shorebreak and paddled out the back.
Hol-ee FUCK!!! It was bigger than it looked from shore. Powerful walls of whitewater came at an endless and steady stream. It took me half an hour of duckdives, scrambling between sets, and sprinting before I reached the line up.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/OB-Dec16-13.jpg
There was a strange sense of calm out there. All the other surfers were happy and stoked, hooting at each others rides and generously offering each other waves, a stark contrast from the smaller hassled days when it becomes a shitfight. I love surfing these days with a handful of chargers with silent respect for each other.
Pretty soon the horizon shifted, signaling the arrival of the sets. The nearest guy was 50 yards behind me so I knew it was mine. I gave him the first set, hoping that the next one was bigger. He took off, and as the first set passed and I caught a glimpse of the next set, I suddenly felt a surge of adrenaline from my brain to my fingertips.
My universe had shrunk down to Ocean Beach, and all that mattered was bagging this next wave. It started feathering outside and I'm paddling at full speed towards it. As we neared the inevitable collision course I pulled a U-turn and paddled harder and harder.....
...the next minute or so is like trying to recall a dream....
I stood up as the solid 12 footer jacked up and I'm gliding straight down the face of the wave. The drop felt like it was taking forever. I reached the trough and set up a bottom turn as this wall the size of a 2-floor apartment block walled up and pitched. I hit the throttle and carved up the face of the wave. Flashes of Nobis skiing AK lines in Sick Sense flashed in my mind as I rode up and down the face of this insanely huge fucking set. I kicked out as it unloaded top to bottom on the inside sandbar, found the rip and was whisked out the back without having to dodge the cleanup sets.
I did a shore-check to gauge my position. I'm over a quarter-mile out to see with no idea what the current is doing or whether I'm in position for the next sets. My truck was the size of an ant, the top of the Golden Gate looked like a Lego model, and I was using that and the Twin Peaks antenna to triangulate my position and guesstimate where the last sets broke.
Sue enough, less than ten minutes later the horizon shifted again. I let the first set go, a measly 8 footer. I was gonna let the next 10-footer go to, until I glimpsed the last wave of the set that was already feathering 200 yards out into a cleanup set.....FUCK! I had to go. If I missed this set I will be pummeled. I took off on the left which was a crabon copy of the one before. The 7'6 is fucking fun and drivey, carrying a lot of momentum and so smooth...It feels the equivalent of, say, a 223cm Igneous Fatty.
I finally had it wired. The south-bound current takes you straight back to the sweet spot where the choice sets were breaking. All I had to do was catch a set every ten minutes so as not to drift so far.
The next hour was an ejaculatory orgy of mindblowing, cock-hardening, adrenaline overdose as less than 10 surfers reaped the goods.
The swell continued to build as sets became more common. Pretty soon it became a cat-and-mouse game of dodging the death sets. The sun started to set and we knew our time was limited. For some reason I hadn't even worried or thought about the toothy men in grey suits. The cleanup sets were a visible and more common adversary in these conditions.
The beauty of the sunset was hypnotic and mesmerizing. Nothing could describe the contrast of emotions- stoke and fear, calmness and adrenaline OD, sure enough, the sunset distracted me from what seemed like half the Pacific Ocean rearing its head.
"OOOOUUUUUTTTSIDE!!!!!" The silence was broken by some random surfer's scream.
I saw it but I knew it was too late. There was no fucking way we'd even paddle over these sets or duckdive them. Like a vagrant who was woken up on the train tracks by the lights and horn of an oncoming freight train, I accepted my fate.
The first set exploded top to bottom less than 20 yards from me and the pack. It feels like...well, think that you're on a loaded 45 degree slope. a herd of elephants stampedes over you, followed by several 18 wheelers. That's what it felt like when you're pummeled by about 10 waves in the set. I had a death grip on my board, and my head felt like it was going to implode from the pressure. I opened my eyes but all I could see was an inky blackness. My lungs burned for air, and I could see stars. I surfaced and gasped for air and only got foam, before the next depth charge exploded, and I was sent to the deep, hoping that my leash won't break as I went for a liquid avie ride.
I surfaced close to shore and saw the crew I was surfing with had also been dealt the same hand. We looked at each other, laughed and decided to call it a session.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/OB-Dec16-15.jpg
(Don't mess wit da Hui. Nobody messes wit' Da Hui;))
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergalleries/albums/userpics/portrait.jpg