I couldn't wait any longer so I got up at 4:30am to catch the 6:30am ferry out of Horseshoe bay with plans to stand up paddle surf Port Renfew. Up to now i have just been flatwater paddling on Howe Sound, the Squamish River and Alice Lake. Now it was time to try the Southpoint Kalama in the surf. I drove down to Duncan and cut across the island via logging roads to Port Renfew. When i got there the waves were a decent size, the swell had been dropping from a big system that just went through. A guy on the beach of course said, "shoulda been here yesterday, swell was huge." For what my plans were today the waves were perfect. It was high tide and most of the waves were dumping onshore but some of the bigger ones were breaking outside. It was a shifty peak so it took me a while to get my timing and get comfortable standing up in the surf. I finally picked one off, pretty big smile on my face and once I caught my first one I started getting a lot more. Incredible feeling getting into waves standing up rockin an 11'6" board. I had to bail out before the wave slammed onto the shore but I was able to ride a few down the line. I was the only one out and I surfed until fatigue had me falling off the board for no reason. I was out for 3 hours and came in superstoked. It was pretty hard getting in as the shorebreak threw me and my telephone pole all over the place. I somehow ended up with leaves, dirt, gravel and various debris on the inside of my suit. I was happy to get out of the water before my board became a scud missile. Since then I have not stopped thinking about getting back in the water again for another surf. My next trip will be to Tofino in the next couple of weekends for more SUPing. I got a lot of funny looks, people wondering what the heck I was doing but it was really cool doing something no one else was doing. Sorry no pictures or proof but it was a solo mission today and you will just have to trust me. Laird would have been proud........no not really.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
STAND PADDLE SURFING PORT RENFREW
I couldn't wait any longer so I got up at 4:30am to catch the 6:30am ferry out of Horseshoe bay with plans to stand up paddle surf Port Renfew. Up to now i have just been flatwater paddling on Howe Sound, the Squamish River and Alice Lake. Now it was time to try the Southpoint Kalama in the surf. I drove down to Duncan and cut across the island via logging roads to Port Renfew. When i got there the waves were a decent size, the swell had been dropping from a big system that just went through. A guy on the beach of course said, "shoulda been here yesterday, swell was huge." For what my plans were today the waves were perfect. It was high tide and most of the waves were dumping onshore but some of the bigger ones were breaking outside. It was a shifty peak so it took me a while to get my timing and get comfortable standing up in the surf. I finally picked one off, pretty big smile on my face and once I caught my first one I started getting a lot more. Incredible feeling getting into waves standing up rockin an 11'6" board. I had to bail out before the wave slammed onto the shore but I was able to ride a few down the line. I was the only one out and I surfed until fatigue had me falling off the board for no reason. I was out for 3 hours and came in superstoked. It was pretty hard getting in as the shorebreak threw me and my telephone pole all over the place. I somehow ended up with leaves, dirt, gravel and various debris on the inside of my suit. I was happy to get out of the water before my board became a scud missile. Since then I have not stopped thinking about getting back in the water again for another surf. My next trip will be to Tofino in the next couple of weekends for more SUPing. I got a lot of funny looks, people wondering what the heck I was doing but it was really cool doing something no one else was doing. Sorry no pictures or proof but it was a solo mission today and you will just have to trust me. Laird would have been proud........no not really.
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