Surfed this morning. 3rd morning in a row. Got out a little earlier than the other days. Driving by 5:30 am. Pretty much just by moonlight. Still one guy in the lineup when we got there and some others on the beach getting ready.
Strong offshore winds and clean sets. After about 1 hour the wind changed to cross/offshore from the north making everything much worse. At one point the wind blew me off of my board while I was sitting on it, and then while I was floating in the water it blew my board up and over my head. Had to duck into the water to avoid getting hit.
Caught probably 6 waves within the first hour, none in the last 45 min. Was riding Franz's board - 6'2" (I think) fish/swallow tail. Quad fin setup. First time on a 6'2 board (besides maybe that last day in Canggu), and definitely my first time on a quad.
One of the best sessions of my life. Still, the Little Bingin sessions take the cake because of all of the external factors and because of the reef break. The other one that is up there is the afternoon session here in november with Pavel with the two fantastic waves jumping out the back (right and then left) and the one that closed out on top of me. In my mind, those walls are steeper and bigger, but I may just be getting used to it.
2 highlights today:
First was the right with a really steep drop just right of the peak, pretty foamy, but was in control and had enough speed to make it to the clean face - bottom turn? On the face I, probably for the first time ever, did something like a top turn I would do on a wake surf. Kind of a milestone.
The other highlight was a super steep and deep one I took off on. Straight in the foam and my board was pearling a bit and spraying my face so I couldn't see anything on the take-off. But I stuck the drop, think I saw the wave closing out with nowhere to go, but just pulled in down the line and was definitely surfing, probably with my eyes closed covered in whitewater, possibly in a tiny closeout barrel. Then the whitewater finally ate me and I fell into the water down to the right of my board and got sucked up over the falls and thrown back down into the water (did not hit the bottom). At that point I had the mental shift from fighting to acceptance that happens when you realize you may be down here for a while, and that if you accept you will be fine holding your breath for 10 more seconds if you have to. Turns out I wasn't that deep and was able to come up for air easily - with a big smile.
Noteworthy how the most fun waves can just be getting destroyed and really feeling the power of the wave.
Couple other highlights - In general the quad setup seems to be noticeably more more maneuverable than the thruster. Several times I tried to make a turn and had the fins release, skidding out.
I remember catching a good left. After catching a good right. And then another right. Right left right. Thinking it is good that I have some versatility.
Still need to get a couple I can ramp off to jump off the back. That seems to be the best feeling in surfing. The thrill of the extra split second in the air.