It was 6:30 in the morning and I was waiting for my friends to come over to pick me up and go surfing. My hasty breakfast consisted of a banana and a glass of water, consumed as I rifled through the house finding my cold weather gear.
It was the first really cold front of the year and all indications were that there was going to be a swell this morning. Going on hope my friends and I loaded up the boards and headed over to the beach.
Pulling up to the beach, I noticed we were the first car to park in the designated area. As we stepped out of the car, I knew just by the NW wind and the cloud bank to the east that a swell was waiting for us.
Without our boards we took a short hike across the street and through a wooded maze of seagrape trees. The anticipation was at its MAX and before I could see the ocean I heard the sound of a wave clapping as is broke across the inside sandbar.
Through the opening to the beach, the three of us shot through to see a perfect north swell in the chest to head high range breaking on the midbreak about 100 yards out. Like kids running downstairs on Christmas Morning, we ran back to the truck were our boards awaited us. It's a wonderful feeling which always seems to be constant in these circumstances.
The ocean was like glass not a drop out of place. A few bait fish scattered about, as the sun poked just above the horizon and just below the eastern cloud bank. On our paddled out we saw a set coming in north of us and it was making its march down the shore. Like magic the set waves focused their sites on us. We dug our strokes deeper and with more power, to squeeze as much forward speed out of our longboards as possible. It's an eerie feeling when a set rolls in and you are located near the impact zone while you paddle out. Somehow during any given time during the workweek while I sit in front of the computer or while I'm dealing with clients and deadlines, I would kill to feel that eerie feeling.
Just making it over the first set wave, my gut sensed that the second wave was usually bigger than the first. Looking to see were my friend were situated, I decided to take the second wave. As I sat up and turned my board around, the wave approached and I began paddling. Only after a few strokes I felt the power of the wave push me forward and I stood up caught my first wave of a classic morning.