big bombs. shifty. high tide refracting off the headland and making it all warbly.
got a few really good ones, a few not so good ones.
got pitched on about a 10 foot face, hood filled with ice water and felt like I would pass out. stunned as I finally came up for a gasping breath.
another wall of white water. try to duck dive to no avail. the white lifting me and pressing me down down down towards the bottom.
cold. stunned.
paddle exhausted towards the bay and back to position.
all in all a good session but I won't make a habit of going far from home. more hours driving than surfing.
still it was just a friend and I on a mackin point, the bows of the trees laden with fresh snow, the water a deep turquoise, and the sun shining it's mid-winter warmth on our faces.
it was really really good this morning. overhead sets with long walls. where was everyone? thanks for not showing up. I got to ride some mackers with just three other guys. we watched an amazing sunrise, then I had an icy walk back to the car and snowy bike ride in to work. doesn't really get any better eh.
frosty mornings now. temperatures still hover around freezing in the morning and then rise with the warming sun. but soon that will change. snow and ice will come as it does at the end of each year. I never fear the weather on the commute. more so the drivers who fear the weather on their morning drives and second guess themselves with timid brakes and gas pedals and jerky steering. still sometimes when I look out the window and it's icy and minus ten I get a little tinge of regret about suiting up for the morning commute.
faaack. we're getting hammered by a fucking snowstorm. I busted my ass preparing everything for a DP this morning. woke up after restless sleep - [I dreamed that B was gut shot in a war and refused to get treatment] - I checked the weather and the roads were sketchy as fuck and the offshores gusting to 50 knots! back to bed. then I got up again had coffee and checked the work email and by boss is mad. then I shoveled for about a half hour, showered and rode my bike in. the ride was OK 'cause it was snowy and not icy. I had to get on a main road towards the centre of town and got fucking sprayed with dirty salty diarrhea like snow all over my jeans -why I didn't wear my rain pants is beyond me. I get to work and realize that both sets of car keys are in me jacket which means B and her visiting parents are stuck at home which in turn means that it's unlikely that I'll be able to go for an evening surf as they'll need the car. foiled again. skunked. office working is for people whose passion in life is not dependent on the weather."
Today I woke up early and fought with the layer of ice enveloping my car. Then I scraped and picked at the knee high wall of frozen snow and ice blocking my driveway. After a sketchy ass drive I arrived at the first lookout point. The parking lot was completely iced over and I was worried about driving the blue flame in. I parked on the edge and slid down to take a look at the bay. It was big and disorganized still, even though the wind was practically dead. The bay had big sets closing out the a-frame and the point. Further down I could see sets hitting the other headland, some wrapping and pitching like some far off wave in the south pacific. But it was too big and shifty to make the solo walk and paddle. Water dropped down to 0 C. (32 F.) and the air temps are down to about -9C. Way outside you could see huge sets feathering on an outer reef. The swell is supposed to be straight out of the south but it almost seemed like it had some east in it.
The next point looked a little better but for a pre-work session it looked questionably rideable. The waves were breaking inside but off the headland. Again it was super shifty and it seems like the angle was wrong or the swell just needs more time to get organized. Skunked! I couldn’t believe it. After a second looksy I sucked it up and started the drive back home. The roads were just as bad as before except now there was the morning traffic rush. The worst part about getting skunked on a weekday morning is having to drive back into the city with rush hour traffic –especially the morning after an ice storm.
Now I sit here readying myself for a full days work. I’ll try and not think what the other point, that misto one that works like a machine on this type of swell, and how it’s probably overhead and barreling. I’ll try and pretend like the waves are terrible all day and I’m not missing anything. But you know how it is, I’ll sit here the whole time brooding about how I got skunked cause I couldn’t wait a little longer, or drive a little farther.
Today is three years since I started Ku Yah. Thanks for reading along all this time.
I surfed the log yesterday and had a blast in the waist to chest high mush. probably caught 30 or 40 waves at the point -lots of long nose rides and easy trimmin. this afternoon we're expecting a winter storm with blowing snow and heavy winds. at sun rise it was dead calm with ominous low gray skies so I decided to go for a short paddle in the harbour before the wind came up.
I suited up at home and headed down to the old Africville site under the McKay Bridge -just a two minute drive down the hill from our house. I unstrapped the behemoth as quickly as I could but not before my fingers started to freeze. I put on the mitts and headed for the boat launch, board under one arm and paddle in the other. I got in only getting my booties wet and paddled North towards the Bedford Basin and the cargo docks. a group of brown ducks scurried along the shoreline as I approached. wisps of smoke from the three candy cane stacks from the coal plant along the Dartmouth side were a tell tale sign of the southwest wind just starting to gather strength.
paddling in the Harbour is surreal. there are huge cargo ships coming in and out all day long and it feels a bit strange to be there among such massive industry. although I appreciate the exercise from the morning's paddle I'm not so sure the 10 degrees F. is ideal. the stand up paddle board has a neoprene deck pad for traction. the back part of the pad was covered in two centimeters of slush. I noticed when I got to the halfway point and stepped back to do a pivot turn. I almost slid off into the icy harbour. the old 7mm boots are a little leaky now and within just twenty minutes my feet were starting to freeze. as I paddled back the wind started coming up a little stronger creating some chop on the waters surface. I made it back to the launch and was back at home within ten minutes. all in all a good experience for a Sunday morning but it will be much better in the spring when the temperature is above freezing and the discomfort level is lower.
The bike commute over the past few months has been mostly uneventful. Don’t get me wrong though, the burning morning skies are still breathtaking. Feeling the change of seasons on a daily basis helps to keep me connected to planet earth as I spend most of my waking time in an office.
Today the ride was a bit brutal due to minus 10 C. air temps. I could feel the moisture from my labored breathing settling on my beard and moustache and quickly solidifying into ice. My fingertips hurt like someone was sticking needles into them. Aside from that I had to be careful for black ice –easily identifiable this morning as the road is stained bone white by salting. But at just three miles my ride is short and easy and I was soon warm again.
I love riding my bike and sometimes I forget because it’s a daily occurrence. As I’ve said before, I have these bones and tendons and muscle and I aim to use ‘em.
I snagged this photo from flickr to show what the first day of the year looked like around here. the storm started new year's eve around 8 PM and ended about the same time new year's day. I shoveled multiple times and enjoyed the peace and quiet of a snowy day with B and Peta.
We’re being battered again today by a late winter storm. The clear blue bird skies that covered me on the bike ride home yesterday, and that glittered with the first stars of night, changed into something ominous overnight. We awoke to freezing rain and all exposed surfaces slick with a layer of ice. Biking to work this morning seemed silly. Instead I opted for a stuffy bus ride with the zombies going along with their death in life routines – I, like the rest. The soundtrack in my ears pulsed as the scenery of a port city passed in front of my field of vision. Warehouses, giant cranes, tug boats, cargo ships, and a sense that the industry is dying, decaying with the help of competition from other better outfitted ports. I stepped off the bus by a cemetery downtown across from the catholic cathedral. In the little cemetery there are thousands, buried in mass graves during times when cholera or consumption took whole families to the other side. Moss covered gravestones, weathered by the cycles of wind and snow, wind and rain, barely transmit the names of the interred.
Making my way up the slippery sidewalk with a firm grasp on the ancient wrought iron fence keeping the souls in, I feel a deep emotion running through me. I feel as if I would weep, but I can't tell if from joy or sorrow. The cold piercing wind makes me feel alive but miserable. Winter has turned from a season to a constant. The trees have been dead and leafless for so long that I wonder if they’ll have the strength to resuscitate after such a long slumber. My only hope, the thought that keeps my spirits from plumeting lower, is that after the storm passes with it will come a new swell, bringing a promise of peace as I wait for the sets in the dawn light. Tomorrow I will rise before first light and as usual make my oatmeal and coffee. My board with be waxed and leashed. My wetsuit and hot water bag ready by the front door. And the drive will seem eternal in anticipation of sliding on cold faces one more time. Surfing can have a dark side too –when we wait in despair for another go and the weather won’t comply, we sit and harbour ill feelings. And then when it comes we rejoice; in nature, in our own volition, in the full immersion of the senses, only we can never get enough and the cycle renews itself -just have to get through one more day.
home with a cold and achy body. looks like I may miss this week's waves if the snifles and sore muscles don't relent. it's been almost ten days since I last paddled around and I've been in a foul mood.
...had a wintery day yesterday -lots of wind and snow. the photos were taken last night at around nine thirty after it stopped snowing.
the scenes were magical. even our clothesline out back was covered in a white surgary coating. this is only my second real winter and I am still awed by nature's white blanket each time it covers everything around me.
this photo was taken a couple of weeks ago when the swell was 12 feet at 14 seconds. it was too big and my local choices weren't holding it. paddled out anyway and caught a few bumpy ones.
Big ups to me brejren E. from N.C. for sending me one of the irest gifts I ever receive inna me lifetime. Peep the photos of this criss OG Roller Derby with ceramic wheels. Gonna bomb the hill inna me yard barefoot when the icy rain seckles down lickle more seen.
Oh and if your savvy and you want a green roof for your commercial or residential digs then you should check out Living Roofs. Deh man deh bad like razor wyar. See me a seh bredah!
.jpg)
