Had a lovely day here on the sunny west coast on Tuesday. Went to look at the truly massive surf off west point. Tom had checked it earlier in the day and he'd not gone out cause it was too big! It was very impressive. Big slabs of water breaking all the way across the bay. I was very intimidated- this was a completely different level of surfing and I felt quite scared for those brave enough to paddle out through the rocks. Apparently, it had dropped off a little from the morning and as tom watched, three cars pulled up with determined looking blokes pulling on suits and gearing up for the 6-8ft conditions. There's nothing like a wash of testosterone to make your mind up and, after getting the local knowledge of the best place to paddle out, Tom was out there. The rip ran out past a rocky outcrop 100m from shore. Waves were breaking just past this and if you were too slow or mistimed the run, you were likely to be forced in to an unwelcome relationship with said rock. I watched a couple of the local blokes nearly make it out only to cop a couple on the head at this point. It looked to be a tough paddle...how would Tom go when he'd never surfed here and was distinctly unpaddle fit???
(tom) Whether by luck or exquisite timing one will never know but I somehow managed a dry hair paddle out, not that it lasted that long as the 10' close out sets caught everyone eventually. Got a few ok ones, but the good'ens were a bit hard to come by. Was all worth it for the good dose of adrenalin though it's been to long. Met some real nice people back at camp Wayne and Evet from Karatha who had just turned up with their two kids. Tee'd up to go surfing with Wayne in the morning and talked well into the evening bout favourite WA haunts among many other things, was really nice to chat with some like minded people of our own age!