Woke up knowing there was a heavy swell in the water (TJ and Brendan both called to tell me the East coast was going off. By the time I motivated and loaded up the truck it was already about 4 pm in the afternoon, and the drive out had be worried as it was raining so hard I could hardly see the back of the truck in front of me.
The first glimpse of the ocean brought the feeling of excitement that only comes with the knowledge that there is not only surf; but surf of such size and power that it wakes you up and gets your heart pumping. I was so amped that I could hardly control my fingers as I pulled on my springsuit and strapped up my booties, and was wide-eyed on the entire walk out to one of the best point breaks Hainan has to offer.
I managed to jump in behind the waves; timing my launch carefully knowing that if a sneaker wave caught me off guard I'd have no where to retreat and would likely get thrown into the rocks. Fortunately I only had to duckdive through one small wave before I made it to the safety of the outside shoulder.
After catching my breath for a few minutes, I started flirting carefully with the right should of some of the larger waves: not wanting to get caught inside especially with low tide putting only a foot or two of water over the sharp rocky reef below.
My first wave granted only a steep face ride with the shoulder closing out in front of me and forcing me to dive through the wave in order to avoid getting dragged to the inside. I scratched my way back outside and for the first time noticed TJ sheltered under an umbrella behind one of the rocks on shore. Within a few minutes he'd suited up and paddled out from the shore: passing on the sketchy jump-in and opting for an equally punishing paddle out through the break.
I managed to catch another steep face and made it partway down the line before he face outpaced me; forcing me again to jump ship and get back out before the next set stacked up on me.
TJ was a bit more aggressive and caught a handful of cleaner small waves for short rides, though his ambition also forced him to duckdive a few monster sets that would have likely carried me back to the rocky shoreline against my will. We both scratched into numerous waves that failed to pick us up, but as the winds shifted offshore, the waves became more organized with faces that held all the way through to the inside reef.
Still, the day was getting late, so we each agreed we'd catch one more before heading in: I caught a nice sized overhead wall that carried and held its face all the way to the inside, I turned around and saw TJ carving up a similar wave right behind me.
While we were a bit forlorn to leave the spot just as ideal conditions materialized, we were both fully stoked on what we'd scored, but even more so to recognize that the winter surf season had begun.
Let Me Feed You..
