Your Five Best Days of Surfing

[BS720]

I'm not talking about the day your friends saw you school Slater, or the best waves. I'm talking about the five days in your mind that stand out the most. I think this is a great time of the year to reflect.

1.) My first day of surfing, Half Moon Bay, Dune State Beach, July 2008. Massive BZ foam board, getting pushed into my first wave and riding it all the way to the beach. Then, the paddle back out beat me up. That was it. I was spending all my time researching wetsuits and boards, loading my first longboard onto my Camry, and getting in people's way.

2.) La Jolla/Scripps, August 2009. First day I ever surfed in boardshorts. The freedom from rubber was amazing. Somehow, fell and split the shorts open without realizing it. Caught a wave, noticed the draft, looked down and my dick was hanging out. Had my wetsuit out on the beach with my gf. I'm motioning her to bring me the wetsuit, but she won't get in the water. Keeps asking me to come up the beach. I finally scream at her, "Because my DICK IS HANGING OUT!!!!", summoning hundreds of glances.

3.) 3 Mile, SC, July 2010. Huge southie, 21 second interval(IIRC), three wave hold down. Vomited multiple times. Out of the water for a few days.

4.) S-Turns, Outer Banks, November 2010. Got up early to meet a friend, hungover as fuck. Checked town, no good. Over the bridge, over the dunes, offshore overhead barrels. I turned to my friend and said, "WTF are we standing here for??" Surfed for five hours, super fun, hollow surf. Getting out, found a conch shell for my girlfriend. Huffing it back over the dunes, set my board down and dropped the conch, point first onto the board. It looked like somebody put out a titanium cigarette on my brand new Firewire.

5.) OB, SF, January 2011. Had a head injury that Monday from hitting a old piece of the pier near 2nd lot. Had been out of the water for 4 days, watching all my friends get huge waves. Tail between the legs. Thursday night, prior to going back to work, I decided to go out. Nobody else out, and much bigger than it looked from the beach. After paddling up and down the beach for two hours, got lucky on a shoulder. Dropped in backside(a right), grabbed the rail. Stole a quick look over my shoulder, and saw a house closing in on me. Surfed it till it was about to pinch, then straightened out and took the big gulp of whitewater. The biggest wave I've ever caught, and maybe not the smartest, but sweet redemption from my fall.

Runner up: Any day that is glassy at sunset, with head high waves. Nicaragua, Baha, OBX, SoCal, Norcal, Maui or Oahu, it doesnt matter.

[Crampedon]

1.Block Island, 1980, surf beach. Borrowed old long board, storm swelll and offshore wind ceating crystal clear 2' barrels. Long rights. First time I got on the nose, hung some toes out, spun around and went back to the middle. Think Wingnut in endless summer.

2. St. Croix, Issacs bay, 1982, glassy and big scary waves over sharp Elkhorn coral. Ate big handfull of very strong boomers. Was to chciken to fall, rode on my knees Paipo board styley over water so clear you could see the fish on the reef. Seems like yeasterday.

3. Wavesailing the lower reef at Kanaha on Maui 10 years ago, 15" plus faces, just before sunset with Sam, Doug Peacock and some other locals. Wave after wave of monster rights, could do no wrong, off the lips, deep bottom turns, unreal.

That's all I can think of. Here is what kanaha looked like that day, that mast is 16'

[Ottime]

I'll play

1) The Halloween Swell, October '92. Later renamed the Perfect Storm Swell. You know the Marky Mark movie. 92nd Street, Rockaway Beach. Long period, double overhead swells wrapping the length of Long Island into a north wind. Very big east coast beach break with perfect long barrels. Rarely ever were you able to paddle back out afte a wave. Just take a long barrel and avoid the close out, head to the beach, run back up, ignore the cop saying the beach was closed due to dangerous water, run out the along the jetty, time the set and pop out at the top.

2) Avon Beach, Outer Banks, September '90. Boy's trip to the Outer Banks, skipping out on the first week of school. Camped just south of the Lighthouse and scored an excellent swell with offshore, glassy conditions. 80 degree water and 90 degree air. Decided to avoid the crowds and perfect chest to head high playful barrels to go out and explore. Headed to Avon, rolled over the dunes and headed south along the beach in the 4X4 looking for a good sandbar. Pulled up and watched it from the truck. Looked like fun head high barrels, so we paddled out. Tide droppoing, the things were a few feet overhead, sucking out on the sand and spitting. First time in real barrrels. And it was just my buddies as far as the eye could see.

3) Scotts Creek, January '01. My biggest wave ever. It was a solid day, with just about 5 of us out. Kind of day that you sat and watched nervously, hoping that a big set would not catch you inside when it came. Mostly 15-20 foot faces. Maxing out on the 8'4", but it was getting fun after getting about a dozen waves. A set came through and everyone but me picked one off. Then the horizon turned black, and I began to paddle further out and angling toward the channel. A bowl came right to me, so I spun and began paddling into it, and down the face, stood up and then spent what felt like 30 seconds racing down the face and slowly making a huge bottom turn. It felt huge. I basically just raced down and across the bottom before pulling out and paddling as fast as I could to the safety of the channel. No fancy surfing at all. Just survival. Later, my buddy, who watched from the channel was calling it 25' plus.

4) Southern Maine, December '90. A Nor'Easter set up nicely giving us a building swell. Morning at the east end of Gooches. Big overhead A-Frames were fun, but the swell was building and the winds were shifting from NE to W. Had breakfast and headed to Well's Jetty. Surfed big double to triple overhead rights. The crowds showed up, but I just owned the rights, while my local (kind of) adversary ruled on the lefts. We'd get back to the peak and talk about how good the rights/lefts were, and then just keep going our way. Finally took one on the head and broke the leash. Headed in for lunch. When I got back, the winds had picked up and and the wave was too exposed and I watched four guys collide on one wave, so I just surfed the beach. Nice overhead, semi hollow waves. As the crowds moved in to the main beach, I moved south along my home beach. I got the best condition I have ever had at my home break at Spirals. Perfect, long, super ripabale two foot overhead waves. All to my self. My last session as a Maine local. Just perfect.

5) Pt. Arena, Thanksgiving Weekend '97. Day one was huge in the cove, with just a four guys out trying to get into the 40 footers. The rip current out had 6 foot undulations in it. After watching for an hour, I headed to Whiskey Creek for some fun 12-15 footers. Next day things settled considerably, but the Cove still had some 20-25' peaks with perfect tapering waves peeling for several hundred yards. Got so many big drops, followed by fast walls. Rides would exceed 100 yards and I'd pull out as the wave dropped into the 10 foot wall range and paddle back out for more. I had two drops that the wave caused me to drop in left, and some how, I pulled off the bottom turn and got off the top before the thing closed out into the rocks. Even took sets on the head, and had no problem swimming down and under them without too much of a beating. It was just about the most perfect big day I have ever surfed. Clean, glassy, fun and riding super confident.

[Superstar Punani]

In no particular order...

1) July 1997. Cloud 9, Philippines
At the time, it just got featured on Surfer so I wanted to hit it before it became the crowded shitshow it is now. Arrived in time for a typhoon swell and scored it with 5 other guys. Every day for 2 weeks was pumping 6-8 ft. Ended up breaking the only 2 boards I had, a 6'6 and a 7', then ended up on borrowed boards. Every wave is a barrel that curves so you're deep, and because of the curve in the wave, you cannot see the exit. You just had to hold your line and pump and then get spat out.

Actual pic from that trip (poached by the wannasurf.com homos from my old geoshitties page):

Yes, it was that perfect and that empty every day. My boardshorts were permanantly crusty from the jizz I ejaculated nonstop.

2) Nov 2005. P-pass, Caroline Islands, Micronesia
At the time, it just got featured in Surfer/Surfing/Surfing Life/Tracks so I wanted to hit it before it became the crowded shitshow it is now. Trip coincided with a magazine shoot with a bunch of pros- Archy, Kong, Asher Pacey, Beau Emerton and Dylan Longbottom, so got to surf and party and chill with these awesome guys for a couple of weeks.

Best day(s) were 6-10'+ perfect tropical barrels in ridiculously shallow coral. Got some of the best waves of my life until I got caught inside and bodyslammed onto coral.

Pic: Shot I took of Swilly shooting Dylan Longbottom before I jizzed my pants and got the fuck out there (surf photog Swilly got the cover of Surfing World and the Stormrider 3 guide)

Cover(s):



The gnar part of the day:



3) Salsipuedes, Baja Mexico Jan 6 2012
My best West Coast day ever. Todos was maxing out at 30-40' with 50+ big wave chargers on it. Me and my crew of mortals boated over to Salsipuedes and had this for 6 hours straight. 8-12' freight train rights reeling for 200-300 yards

pics (courtesy Surfline):
boat view (note the two heads in the lineup in the upper left)-

top of cliffs view-


4) Rifles, Mentawais, Indonesia July 9, 2011
Cranking swell, blue skies, glassy or offshore, consistent. Surfed 9 hours straight from 7am-4pm, then again from 4:30-dark. Every wave was a barrel.
slut pic:


5) Anytime my home break goes off, NSW, Australia
Parents had (and still have) a beach house here. Learnt on, and grew up surfing this beachbreak. Anytime there's a NE swell it will be on fire with just me and my buds out.



6-10:
Laniakea, North Shore. Nov 2001.
Solid N swell, pre-winter mayhem and post 9/11 tourism downturn = no crowds, and I just got laid off and spent a couple months on the North Shore.

Bank Vaults, Mentawais. July 2009.
(pic from sesh http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2..._7284693_n.jpg). Gnar swell. Just me and a Brazzo out picking off sets.

The Ranch, CA. Dec 26, 2005.
First trip there. Boated in. Rights and Lefts was 6-8 foot perfect A-frames and just 4 of us on it the whole day. Surfed until I had no energy to paddle.

Superbank, Gold Coast, Australia 3:30am-6am March 2007.
Went up with my Oz Boardriders crew for a contest, and it was a week before the Quik event. Surfed Superbank with 300 guys out, including every WCTer from Florida to Australia. The only time I got a good session was 3:30 am with only 10 other guys out.

Punta Flores, El Salvador. Aug 2001.
No crowds yet, no faggy boutique surf hotels. Just me, my crew, our Salvadorean guides, a bunch of mota, and trips to San Salvador's awesome awesome strip clubs thrown in the mix.

Honorable mention:
Punta Hermosa and surrounds, Peru, Sep 2002
Perfect (but cold) waves, hot Peruvian chicks, and $3/gram of sweet sweet pure cocaine.

[BS720]

$3/Gram=the win

[Ottime]

Damn Supu, you have some travel miles. Just a bit jealous right now.

[moose pit]

cuz I am a JONG I'd say the last 5 days I surfed were the best and I know the next five will be better.

You fuckers shred.

[Long duc dong]

I think Supu's 100th best day is better than my best.

As I think through mine thoughts like 'epic day at Cotton's' or 'the day when there was a left point on the other side of Campus Point' come to mind. Not exactly P-pass.

I will put something together later. A great idea for a thread though.

[icelanticskier]

i think it was 9 years ago, can't remember the date, but it was summer on cape cod. i was managing a bike shop in dennis and it was just another beautiful day. sunny, light offshores. i knew there was swell cuz instead of my daily bike commute, i drove and brought my board with me. what i didn't know is just how good it was gonna be.

now my dad had never seen me surf before. he was a carpenter in chatham and we were kinda close, but not very, also. at 5pm i called the surf report and liked what i heard, so outta the blue, i decided to call my dad to see what he was up to. well it just so happened that he had nothing on his plate for the afternoon and was happy to meet me at the beach, whitecrest beach in wellfleet to be exact, the same spot i'd learned to surf at some 16 years earlier. i loved whitecrest as it felt like home to me and was EPIC when it was good.

i closed the shop and drove from dennis to wellfleet with that excited jittery feeling that we all know so well when we have a feeling that it's gonna be good. well, when i pulled up and looked out at corduroy to the horizon with vivid blue sky, clear green water, and just ONE guy out, i nearly shit myself. my dad pulls up, looks at me and says, "is that good for surfing?" well, you can imagine what i was thinking/feeling. fkna.

my dad sits and watches as i paddle out on my ole beloved 6'8" g+s magic. fun easy cruizing board. waves weren't big, maybe waist/chest w/ head high sets, but man was it perfectly formed over the perfectly shaped sandbar. long, long, reforming rights that broke perfectly along the tapered bar. you could do anything you wanted on those waves and just 2, that's right, 2 of us out the whole time.

after 2 or so hours of pure bliss, i headed back up the big dune where my dad waited with a big smile, so happy to see his son so happy doing what he does. my dad didn't understand just how good it was, but he knew i was feeling complete.

such great day that stands out above all of the others for so many reasons.

just one from me

great stuff guys!^^^^^^^^^^^^

rick kane? what you got?

rog

[userA]

first day with moms friends near san onofre
first wave past hidden cove, santa cruz
best but coldest off la push most scared ever
watched a whale and caught a swell set by mauna lani
motored a small skiff through huge wind swells surfing the faces

[SuperGaper]

no order at all,


Fall 1984, k-38 late season south swell with the warmest the water can be there (68 degrees), 6 people out, first real epic session of my young life.

Probably 10 different days at Blacks in 87 or 88, catching windows of uncrowded and going off perfection.

Uluwatu, low tide Racetracks, only got 2 waves in 2 hours and the Brazilian fucks were in full effect, but they were 2 great waves, and the 5 dollar massage after was awesome.

Taraval, November either 92 or 93, double overhead perfection with only about 15 people from Lincoln to Sloat, not much current and easy to get into, big channels, 4-5 big turns per wave.

T-land Do'o boat trip, Timor, 2000. Pretty uncrowded, big fat lefts at t-land, like 300 yards at least. Perfect right barrels at Do'o over sharp coral, where I left a little skin for the crabs.

Runner up: A couple of late 90's trips to Abreojos, 56 miles of washboard in the Vanagon, big flies, off shore-side shore, and plenty of fun breaks and fresh fish and clams. Bad sunburn because there are no trees.

[PowerWhore7]

I have only 3 surf memories I feel are worthy to share with this superstar lineup...

1. First surf session ever, 1986 Seaside Heights NJ at the age of 11 (1960’s era G & S 7’ 10” board), of course my ginny mother had the camera waiting & ready.


2. First summer in Orange County CA, 2006 summer swell at the Wedge in Newport Beach 8-10ft faces.


3. August 31st 2011 San Clemente CA, 10-12ft sets






^that swell was the closest I came to drowning^ but caught some of the most memorable waves of my life as well.

[BS720]

^^Hot DAMN. Were you running to the end of the pier to jump?

[PowerWhore7]

^^Hot DAMN. Were you running to the end of the pier to jump?

There were some kids doing just that but we decided that the pier wasn’t the best place to surf that day. It was just massive and closing out while shaking the pier violently as city officials scrambled up & down the pier to make sure it wasn’t going to collapse (I think they were being dramatic) but it was the best way I could show the power/size of that particular swell with the pier as gauge.

We did however surf Middle/Lower Trestles in the morning 10-12ft sets - pretty clean but there were some real big sections to negotiate through (and getting caught inside was certain torture) , and State Park in the afternoon for some (no shit) 12-14ft beach break neck breaker sets that almost killed me, literally. Greatest day of surfing for this east coast jong EVER.

[BS720]

Hahaha!! What the fuck are city officials going to do? They should have been keeping the kids off the pier. I caught this "code red" swell while I was in Nicaragua. I was having fun down there, but could have capitalized better on it here, where I'm familiar with the coast.

[Ottime]

The Halloween Swell had the beach, boardwalk and ocean closed by city officials. The cops would not even step off the boardwalk even though the water line was 100 plus yards away. We'd run up the beach, as they yelled at us that it was closed, and we'd keep running and finally ask "what?" as we'd start for the water. When I finally came in, I was told by one of NYC finest that I endangered the lives of other sand he would have issued me a ticket if he could. Guess he couldn't.

[Foggy_Goggles]

As a perma-kook, I'm not sure I've ever had what you real surfers would consider "good days" but here are the most memorable.

1. Surfing Pt. Judith and Galilee in high school during tropical storm swells just getting my ass kicked and coming out the other end OK.

2. A sunset session in Saulita during my re-introduction to surfing and consistently making the drop and trimming down the line vs. the straight drop whitewater ride. This week was one of my best friends introduction to surfing and he loved it. This has led to the "you guys can go surf and we'll just kick it by the pool pounding Chardonney" vacations which is a step in the right direction.

3. Surfing Punta Uvita in CR while on a family vacation. There were more peaks than surfers and the paddle out was easy. This is when I realized that I was hooked. I surfed until I couldn't paddle anyone. I also realized just how rare the combination of no crowds and good easy waves is.

4. Realizing that were my parents moved to in Florida is actually pretty good for kook surfing. While the swell might be inconsistent, Indian River County and it's surrounds has really good beach access, warm water and pretty chill lineups if you say out of Sebastian Inlet and the other big boy spots.

[icelanticskier]

I also realized just how rare the combination of no crowds and good easy waves is.

new hampshire

rog

[bodywhomper]

i'm a poser now (and probably always have been). i grew up playing in the ocean of southern california and it was one of a few focal points of my life in my teens and early 20's. i'm currently on a general hiatus for who knows how long. all that said, in the micro areas of la jolla and southern-ish OC, i feel like i had a lot of great days: dolphins, green flashes, long barrels, extended hold downs, big drops, exhausting paddle outs with hopes of sacking up and catching a single blacks monster just get back to the beach, morning peeling glass, sunset peeling glass, etc. for me, the best days were more about who i was sharing the experience with. here are a few (all from the 90's):

1. tandem bodysurfing with my wife when we were just starting to get to know each other at many beachbreaks in SD.

2. midnight bodysurfing at blacks with my roommates: chest high dumping glowing walls during a peaking red tide.

3. long spring day with solid swell, heat wave and relatively warm water starting at blacks with a few good friends, then a bodywhomping session at the pumphouse area with roommates, then hollow spitting barrels at big rock when the tide got good, then fat meal at don carlos, and then little point with an evening session rendezvousing with the same friends i surfed with at blacks.

4. showing friends for the first time the magic of keeping your eyes open underwater in small, clean, unsandy, and hollow shorebreak at windansea.

5. middle of the night whomping at windansea with friends under floodlights (many nights like that)

cheers

[Piggity]

Sounds like some really good sessions posted above. Supu, drop a line if you ever score salsi like that again, sick. I'm curious to see Hugh post up, I imagine some insane sessions in Indo.

This thread is hard for me to respond too, I've had sessions that were magical but I was surfing mediocre and others where the overall session was good but one wave was absolutely mind blowing. I've also had session that were on their way to Top 5 until the tide dropped, wind shifted or 150 aggro groms paddled out and ruined the vibe. I might just wait for the 'Your five best waves ever" thread, that would be easier for me.

[Long duc dong]

I'll add to this. I only have my top 3 now, as I need to remind myself of some dates, but here goes:

1) The first day of classes, fall quarter 1997, at UCSB.

This would have been late Septermber. After a summer of insanely warm water, and consistent swell in SB (which never gets summer surf, for some reason that year we did.) I woke up at 7 am and biked to check depressions, which is off UCSB. There was a right at Campus Point that was going off, several feet overhead and sheet glass, but there was a left point on the other side of campus that was also insane. I surfed it for 2 hours with 1 other guy, 150+ yard glassy lefts. I had only been surfing for 3 years, but I actually came out of a barrel that day, something that has only happened a couple of other times. I went to class, then came back for another session at the point. There were more people, but it was still far from crowded. Another class, then another session. All told, I surfed about 6 hours, trunking it the whole time, even in the morning, with no wind and perfect lefts. That was the only time I saw that left break in my time at UCSB. It was all-time, and still ranks as my best day. It was really tough to go to class, but since the wind stayed off I got lucky. Still my best day ever. I surfed better that day than I ever had, and the waves were just about perfect. The summer of 97 was as good as it gets, and this put the perfect end on it, although the warm water stayed until late October that year, and October pumped.

I had always wondered what it would be like to surf an overhead, perfect left pointbreak. That day I found out.

2) August 2010, at 'Middles' of Trestles.

My buddy dropped me off and went to park, he had a bike, and as I walked down the path I saw it was several feet overhead and sheet glass. Perfect A-frame with tapered walls, 100 yard lefts and 150 yard rights. But where was everyone? Then I realized I was looking at Middles, not Lowers. We surfed it for 3.5 hours and it was nuts. Wave after wave, with only a small group. Steep racy sections, followed by perfect cutback shoulders, then another racy section. It was Lowers quality, but a Middles crowd. Meanwhile, Lowers was a zoo. Was it better? Yes, but Middles was still as good as excellent Lowers that day, and I must have gotten about 30 waves. It was one of those days where you sometimes let waves go because you are tired, and you know there will be another in just a few minutes.

There are a few more I am choosing between, but I figured I needed to get these two in.