Todays Surf Story
For most of you this will be Hebrew, so just ignore. For those that have some time, here is today's yarns.
After leaving Wellington at 6:30 am (its one of the few things that will get me out of bed with a grin) and picking up my mate Hayden, we drove over to Tora, which is middle of the nowhere on the east coast of NZ.
Well the waves were very very intense, made more so by the fact that we met my mate Dan who took us to a secret spot 20 mins up the coast that no one to our knowledge has surfed before. So me and Hayden paddled out, were totally blown away by how big and heavy it was (you could park a bus in those barrels). After sitting on the shoulder for about half an hour we started getting keen for a wave. I paddled for the first wave, an absolutely gargantuan wave, made the drop, bottom turn and starting flying down the wave. Very quickly I worked out that I wasn't going fast enough and so tried to punch through the side of the wave, and failed miserably. I got pretty punished, came up, saw Hayden catch a monster and then quickly jump off the wave, before that wave landed on my head, and the next three waves after that. By this stage I have a tiny amount of oxygen left, and after coughing up a bunch of sea water, manage to haul my lil carcass out of the way of the breaking waves by paddling across. Try to picture yourself at the bottom of those suckers... not cool. I was wondering whether it was my time to meet my maker at one point.
I had the most heavy surf in a very long time today. The story goes like this;
After leaving Wellington at 6:30 am (its one of the few things that will get me out of bed with a grin) and picking up my mate Hayden, we drove over to Tora, which is middle of the nowhere on the east coast of NZ. After an uneventful drive, we turned up to discover the waves were amazing but huge. So big no one was out at the main break in Tora but we found a guy out at another break around the corner, which looked a lot smaller.
That was until we saw him catch one, which was when we realised that today was going to be a day when legends were made and stories exaggerated... But the pictures dont lie, so have a look at the size of the waves we were surfing today:
Well the waves were very very intense, made more so by the fact that we met my mate Dan who took us to a secret spot 20 mins up the coast that no one to our knowledge has surfed before. So me and Hayden paddled out, were totally blown away by how big and heavy it was (you could park a bus in those barrels). After sitting on the shoulder for about half an hour we started getting keen for a wave. I paddled for the first wave, an absolutely gargantuan wave, made the drop, bottom turn and starting flying down the wave. Very quickly I worked out that I wasn't going fast enough and so tried to punch through the side of the wave, and failed miserably. I got pretty punished, came up, saw Hayden catch a monster and then quickly jump off the wave, before that wave landed on my head, and the next three waves after that. By this stage I have a tiny amount of oxygen left, and after coughing up a bunch of sea water, manage to haul my lil carcass out of the way of the breaking waves by paddling across. Try to picture yourself at the bottom of those suckers... not cool. I was wondering whether it was my time to meet my maker at one point. Hayden found this all quite amusing once he worked out I was ok. So after a while we try to paddle in and discover a rip like a river is flowing against us. By this point im throwing up the prayers, pleading with God, and convincing my muscles to keep on going.
And finally (about five hours later than planned) we get home... I missed an appointment, but all in all it was a great day. It has being good to reflect on some of the things that matter in life, and to really push myself to do something out of my comfort zone. I lost a bit of confidence after getting so dusted today on some big waves, but reckon the next surf will see me back on the bike. Here's a goodie on some smaller waves from trip a month ago to Taranaki with Dad.
The only thing I can tie this to biblicaly is that I disagree that there will be "no more sea" in heaven. I think it is a purely metaphorical picture, Heaven must contain a sweet right hand reef break or else I will be having some stern words with Jesus and the crew.
And the one thing that has being a bit of a mission following Jesus is that for many years surfing had to cease. I am really enjoying getting back into it this year, and will fight for time to get away and have some waves as it is a very spiritual exercise for me. Though to be very honest I still feel pretty guilty about getting away to do this from time to time, and that is something I need to get over. Im going to try not to care what people think and just run with it.
Needless we say, we got in, and straight away are super stoked, we tried to climb our own little Everest today... but in all honesty Everest probably won : )
So we walked through the swarms of bees to my mate Dan (who works as a beekeeper out at Tora)
Those black dots around Hayden are bees... many many bees
And then we drove through the small river to get out...
And finally (about five hours later than planned) we get home... I missed an appointment, but all in all it was a great day. It has being good to reflect on some of the things that matter in life, and to really push myself to do something out of my comfort zone. I lost a bit of confidence after getting so dusted today on some big waves, but reckon the next surf will see me back on the bike. Here's a goodie on some smaller waves from trip a month ago to Taranaki with Dad. The only thing I can tie this to biblicaly is that I disagree that there will be "no more sea" in heaven. I think it is a purely metaphorical picture, Heaven must contain a sweet right hand reef break or else I will be having some stern words with Jesus and the crew.And the one thing that has being a bit of a mission following Jesus is that for many years surfing had to cease. I am really enjoying getting back into it this year, and will fight for time to get away and have some waves as it is a very spiritual exercise for me. Though to be very honest I still feel pretty guilty about getting away to do this from time to time, and that is something I need to get over. Im going to try not to care what people think and just run with it.
Thus endith story.
Fav Tune Today: "Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News. Dont ask... just dont ask
Fav Tune Today: "Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News. Dont ask... just dont ask
Labels: surf
This entry was posted by Sam, on
Friday, May 18, 2007.
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20 May 2007 at 12:12:00 am NZST
"a day when legends were made and stories exaggerated..."
lol!!!! When I saw Sam today he started showing some of these photos on his laptop. Someone looks at one of the big waves with a surfer looking very small in comparison and says, "gosh.. is that you?". "No", replies Sam, "The waves were bigger when we were out there!"
20 May 2007 at 11:03:00 am NZST
Touche Andrew... touche