Luke was leaving as I headed out. In response to the standard query, "How was it?" he replied, "Weird." It wasn't weird so much as just different. The winter storms have piled up sand at the base of the cliff, forming a new beach and changing the way the wave breaks at Cowells.
From the Cowells stairs it's a short paddle to the new beach, which provides entry to Indicators and outer Cowells. I started off there but kept thinking about the inner Cowells wave I'd seen from the stairs. It was occassionally A-framing and as the crowd thinned, there was no one left on it. I paddled inside and found that the wave was shifty and inconsistent, with the small take-off zone a moving target. It was good practice with no worries about traffic, and I got a bunch of short rights, including a couple I didn't think I'd make as the waves broke pretty much on top of me. On one, I closed my eyes as the whitewater crashed down around my head, but pulled the nose up and landed the drop on my belly, so I jumped up and rode. Paddling back, I saw something yellow bobbing in the water. Part of an old boat fender, maybe? Then I looked at my armband and saw it was missing the yellow camera float - and the camera too! I snatched the yellow float from the water and was relieved to see the Pentax still attached. Whew, lucky. Next time, I need a redundant strap holding the camera to my person.
Past kickoff time for the Super Bowl, I noticed the crowd had much diminished farther out. I made the long paddle back towards Indicators wanting to catch a nicer wave as my last of the session. A closeout bomb detonated outside of me and I turned to catch it, a sizzling fast ride past and alongside the new beach.
The drive home along the coast offered the usual stunning scenery, and a sky show too.
Waddell Creek near sunset
Surfline: Textured, crumbly surf on tap this afternoon. Waves are still going shoulder high to several feet overhead. Mix of mid period WNW swell and building, long period NW swell. Buoy 46012: 8.9 ft @ 12.5 sec.
My god, are those poor trees now about to crash onto the beach?
ReplyDeleteHey, I am so with you.....men running around after stupid pointy or egg shaped balls. Aussie Rules grand final day is great here too, no one at the beach.
I don't think the trees are in imminent danger of falling, but probably someday. The coast is eroding, and in fact they are armoring the cliffs at Pleasure Point a several miles east of here.
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