The Importance of Being Honest (with your self)

Only a few weeks ago after the storms abated, the waves and wind started to play ball and some nice looking head high sets appeared at my local break.

Having viewed the set for probably half a millisecond I suited up, waxed my board and ran down to the low tide waters edge. When I got there I’d underestimated the swell height (mostly as I didn't watch it for long enough), I reassessed and thought, “why not it hasn’t been this good in ages”.

This was probably a mistake, I’d only really just recovered from  a shoulder injury and though I felt strong and fit I still hadn’t really got my paddling power back. I persevered, after misjudging the rip and time to paddle put I found myself taking wave after wave on the head struggling to duck dive under the sets and found myself moving further into the impact zone, enough was enough that was 10-15mins of paddling and going nowhere fast. I gave up to head to the beach to rethink my decision.

I felt like a kook. I knew I had it in me to surf these waves so after a couple of minutes feeling dejected and assessing the surf I moved down to a stronger rip and timed my paddle to perfection, boom I was out where I needed to be.

It was a difficult surf, the waves were head high to sometimes double, this I hadn’t really appreciated till I was out back, hence the reason I struggled to paddle out the first time. I caught a couple of nice waves, nothing amazing just setting my feet in the wax and getting used to the drop, some of the guys out there were ripping and getting barreled.

After my third wave, (I’d taken the first wave of the set) I found myself in no man’s land so to speak and in the impact zone. I took a wave on the head unprepared and got a 2 wave hold down! Not a pleasant feeling, not sure whether to get washed in or paddle back out, I chose the later and I’m glad I did.

After another challenging paddle I got the wave of my session, even managed a little cover up. I continued to get a few more waves and a couple more hold downs until the swell size picked up a little more and I was left wondering how I would get in without being annihilated, quite a prospected, ideally get a smaller one and ride it all the way in, this was a risky move.

To catch the smaller ones required being further in, which as luck would have it was where the bigger ones were unloading, and I didn’t fancy getting one of those as I was totally under-equipped for that. So I waited a little while paddled round a bit a finally caught a small one which closed out pretty quick and would have left me in no mans land, not the ideal situation, thinking fast I got prone and belly rode the white water in, phew! I was re-leaved that session was over.

I left the surf full of nervous energy, I wouldn’t say I hadn’t enjoyed my surf, though neither had I loved it. I’m not alone in my story, I’m sure every surfer has been through similar and it’s not the first time for me, I’ve had similar sessions before.

As humans we learn by our endeavors, we challenge ourselves, with this our mental and physical capacity can grow and we need to keep challenging ourselves as we become familiar and comfortable in situations. I’ve never been a fan of charging big waves but I can see the progression for the courageous and dedicated individuals like Andrew Cotton and Fergal Smith who take on places like Nazare and Alieens, paddle or tow. Balls of steal I say.

So what’s the moral of my story? Well I guess, push your comfort zone every now and then, you might surprise your self. With this sport of surfing the elements are out of our control and sometimes you just need to go with it.

They say only a fool learns from their own mistakes and a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. I say sometimes you need to be a little foolish, how else can you appreciate wisdom. And of course being a little foolish is fun.