Sweet Off the Wall Left

Did the early run to the Beach Park once again.

Started off at Pipe, but it just wasn't happening, so I paddled over to Off-the-Wall. Surf was actually nice and punchy there with mostly closeouts.

I snagged some sweet rides there with many pull-in tubelets (taking donuts) and one seriously long in and out barrel. Also caught this very funky double-up. After riding down the first wall, I dropped two or three feet down the second step only to find the water dredging out over the rocks in about a foot of water. Holy s#!t! I promptly punched through and out, but not without a decent adrenaline rush.

As people started hitting the Pipeline lineup, I territorially went back there like a dog protecting his turf. The surf wasn't quite working, but the waves were a bit more open. The most prominent thing was the backwash, which was kicking hard--so hard in fact that it even crested and was ridable.

The session for me took a 180-turn as I failed to adjust to the conditions. Missed waves, free-fell off the backwash, got munched on the closeouts, brushed the reefy bottom--I did it all.

The best one was this long ride that I actually succeeded in riding. Small coverup followed by a cutback on the inside. A sizeable backwash wave headed my way, so I decided to make the most of it. Boosted up and did a forward flip, tucking my board slightly to the side. Unfortunately, the wash kicked me up way higher than I expected. I opened up my tuck, and braced for impact as I overrotated. Landed flat on the front of my body, biting my lip really hard and slapping my cajones sharply. Auwe!

Took some serious tumbles, but that's the way it is. Need to take some poundings sometimes to keep you honest.

Aloha from Paradise,