Talk about hairy. It was even bigger today than the day before! Double overhead plus (12-15 feet), and thick, and heavy. Not super steep, but monstrous. Luckily, you can paddle to the south where the waves die off a little, and then paddle back around to the big ones.
I was in total awe of these waves. They were monstrous, and perfect. The winds were offshore, which for the non-surfers means they were ideal in helping the waves have that perfect form. It was thrilling just to be sitting out there and watching the guys make these huge waves (some were on longboards and even stand-up paddleboards! What skills!).The size just kept growing, and growing throughout the morning… and the people in the lineup were getting fewer and fewer. We were definitely the only girls out there all morning, and some of the only people to even paddle out there that day! Part of me couldn’t believe we were out there today, and at one point after the waves just kept bigger and bigger, I said to Sheena, we’ve got to get out of here! It was getting way too intense out there.
I caught a few really good waves during this amazing session, including a massive right which is probably the biggest wave I’ve ever caught. I’m not sure how big it was, but it was somewhere between 12-15 feet. It is such a crazy feeling to be “chased” by such a massive avalanche of white water… and ultimately I was mowed over by it that time, and a couple other times that morning. Always with the big waves you think it’s going to be so much worse than it really is, and once you wipe out, you think to yourself, “oh, that’s really not that bad… I handle this.” It’s actually kind of cool to feel first-hand the crazy power the ocean can generate.
I also had one amazing right that was a little smaller, about 10 feet, that lasted forever and ever. I kept surfing it until I was actually at the surf spot to the south of Wilderness and had to paddle all the way back. I think I’ll dedicate that one to my fellow Team O regular-footer Thanh-Ha Liebman J
Again, a situation where, if I were Sheena, I would have never paddled out when I was at her level of surfing… but she did anyway and held her own. I can’t believe it! She had a few waves she pulled out of though that I was so, so happy she didn’t take… because they would have been ENORMOUS and steep and crazy…for anyone, let alone someone who has really only surfed for a couple years.
The rest of today was mellow, a few quick repairs needed on my “Beach Bomb,” the car I own here which is a total beater (but still very awesome)… grocery shopping, vegging out, and a quick evening surf sesh in downtown Aguadilla. About 4 foot waves, a big local crowd that wasn’t quite as friendly as the ones you find at the spots outside of the city, like Wilderness… I wasn’t super stoked on it, but it was still nice to be in the water at evening time… and it was beautiful with the city lights starting to turn on and illuminating the urban backdrop.
More in the next few days... :)
Thanks for reading!
*I don't really have pics for this blog, but there was a photographer from mysurfingphoto.com out today. I will check the site in the next several days to see if he posts any shots of me, and of course share them if I do find them. But I did find a couple pics of Wilderness on the internet to give you an idea. Today was a little bit bigger than the first picture, but not quite as massive as the second picture :)
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