It’s officially ‘reading break’, which I initially thought was going to be a great time to surf since the weekdays would be the best time, but sadly the waves didn’t get the message that I had the week off. Initially, me, Jordan and Katie had planned to spend the night at Jordan River so we could surf in the evening and then in the morning of the next day. The temperatures though kept dropping, and before we left in the morning, we decided it would be too cold to sleep the night in a tent when the temperature was estimated to drop to -4.
The conditions were supposed to be pretty good, some of the best waves for us all week (4-5 foot swell, and glassy with little eastward wind) but unfortunately when we got out in the water it was a lot choppier than we had expected. The tide was mostly out when we got in the water, but as the ride came up the waves got a little bit better. The wind turned eastward though, therefore the waves became mushy and almost un-surfable. Some of the white wash was easy to catch, but the non-crashers were a challenge as the swell wasn’t too big, and the waves died quickly. We did, however, have a curious visitor who kept popping up. For about an hour, a seal would pop its head out of the water and look at us wading in the water. Sometimes, it would pop up closer to us than before, which freaked us out a little as we didn’t want to get in it’s way or have an accidental run in. A few times, when the tide was coming up, we would step on seaweed, and freak out as we thought that soft mushy thing could have been the seal. I didn’t catch many waves, and it became frustrating, not to mention freezing! It was -1 outside, so after two hours in the water our hands were frozen (even with gloves!). My best wave was a small non-crasher that lasted a very short amount of time. I do believe that if we had ventured further out, the waves would have been better, though I felt a little uncomfortable, especially being we were the only surfers in the water. This session we tried to stay on our boards as much as possible, paddling around and getting the feel of what it was like to not touch the ground, partly because it was a good time to practice as it was becoming a bit deeper, and partly because I didn’t want to step on the seal. It felt good to be able to mostly paddle, and it reminded me that I’m definitely improving! Although the waves weren’t great, it was still a great day as I paddled more than ever, and had fun with friends.
Getting changed out of my wetsuit after was probably the hardest part of the whole day. All of our hands were frozen, which is the reason I don’t have photos of us getting ready to leave after the surf session. With numb hands, we got unchanged as quickly as possible. Then we turned on the heat for a while in the car before heading to a point on the beach where we could have a fire and some marshmallows. We warmed up by the fire, and watched an amazing sunset with our friend Carmel and her boyfriend, who just so happened to be up at Jordan River. Having the fire after was a wonderful way to end the day, and I think it’s something we will have to do again.
Overall Confidence : 7/10
Conditions: 5 foot swell
Busy: No, no one else there!
Best Wave of Session: small non-crasher
Length of Best Wave: 5 seconds
Session Duration: 1.75 hours
jordanloewen
Although I’m convinced we had frostbite this day was so fun. The fire and marshmallows were definitely necessary to finish off the day.
Hopefully, as it gets warmer out we can find a day to spend more time in the water. I’m glad you still felt like you got some practice in with paddling around on your board!