Before the slop

Date: October 1, 2003
Time: 0800--1045
Spot(s): Gas Chambers
Conditions: Mostly light winds with a smallish crowd
Swell: West swell on the rise Surf: 2-4'+ Haw'n

Words: Ever had one of those days. Didn't surf on the weekend. Surf was up (opening swell of the season). Calendar clear. What would you do? I played hookey (took leave) and went surfing!

Was targeting shortboarding Rocky Point, but it was surprisingly small there. However, Gas Chambers was showing, albeit a bit funky. I was out there!

Pleasantly surprised to find Jason out there, scoring some of the long rights. I don't go out there very often, but I think that it was typical Chambers (especially early season), with backwash and back-offs all over the place. Still, the surf was better than I expected--it looked like it was somewhat on the rise, and the wind was expected to turn onshore but was still holding off.

I had a fun time on my shortboard. This was the biggest surf I rode with the stick and realized I could make most of the critical drops. Pushing my personal limits, even though with small baby steps, was refreshing.

My last wave was my biggest. Ended up slightly behind the peak and had to do these weak, half-turns on the bottom to skirt around the well-overhead section. Made it around and continued riding all the way to the beach.

Just as I got in, the surfed seemed to get bigger, but the winds started kicking side-onshore. Went to work happy, knowing that I got it during the perfect window of opportunity. Got the swell before it turned to slop.

Aloha from Paradise,

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