Great Lakes Surf Adventures: A day full of hope... and it did pay off!!

I hadn't realize how little time I have. Between University, work, surfing and now writing a blog my time seems to be almost completely consumed by these tasks. Just wait and see how I do when the wonderful and loved girlfriend comes back from Miami! Nevertheless, there is always time for surfing. Especially because if there are waves in the lakes that is an opportunity you cannot let go by easily. Every effort and every single bit of energy is always put forward to be able to make it to where the waves are. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes....well, you get burned. And getting burnt is not nice.

Last Wednesday, we were getting a SW wind blowing nice and strong. It was
definitely not as strong as the winds of the past Saturday (Epic Day) but close. Larry and I thought there would be something good awaiting us at Bitch's Rock that morning. Larry picked me up at around 10 am and off we went to the Lake. On the way we decided to check another spot that we like to call "Off The Hook" (O.T.H. from now on - it is called other names by other people but its alright, I like this one better :P ).

We arrived excited at the location, but something made me feel and think we were really pushing it that day. When we checked the forecast the wind had changed direction from NW to SW not too long ago. Only a few couple of hours blowing SW were not enough, but we both remained hopeful there could be small waves somewhere in the lake for us to surf.

As soon as we saw the lake we both run towards the edge of the cliff looking for waves. We did this the same way little children run towards their Christmas tree in the morning looking for their presents. There were no waves. NO WAVES AT ALL. All you could see were the lines of waves starting to build up in Lake Ontario, but these wouldn't even break.

We sat on the cliff for a while. We observed the changes taking place in the lake. Slowly, we noticed the waves started to get bigger. Some of them would even break a few meters before the shore. It had been confirmed. The waves were coming but we were there too early. We decided to make a few phone calls to share the knowledge and take in the wonderful scenery.

Off The Hook - March 7, 2012

Usually when we go out surfing, the weather is the most unfriendly thing you can ever imagine. Skies are covered by dark clouds, strong winds, rain, snow and cold. However, this particular day the weather was great. The sun was out, it was nice and warm and there were little to no clouds on the sky. Of course, winds were strong as they were SW +30 km/h with gusts of about 50 km/h.

We took a walk down the beach hoping to see some small tiny wave at this spot. No luck at all. We started thinking we might not find any wave at all that day as we both had to return to work by around 2 or 3 pm. We figured out that waiting at Bitch's Rock would be our best bet for waves. It seemed like the sand banks at O.T.H had been shifted by the previous wind swell and it would not work properly this time.

La Guerrera a.k.a."The Warrior" - Bitch's Rock March 7, 2012

Larry drove us to the Bluffs park. We did a bit of exploration near the Marina trying to find an easier way to get to Bitch's Rock without the long walk when the parking lot at the back is not accessible. We now know the only way is to jump in the clam water near the docks and paddle out. However this can be dangerous if boats are sailing in and out at any given time. Probably we will stick to the long and freezing walk or as we did last time, we will get the "Guerrera" (a.k.a. "Warrior") over to the spot.

Once we got Bitch's Rock, we saw the clean lines rolling in and some small waves were breaking near the shore. We got really excited when we saw them. Our surf trip would not be in vain, we would get at least those small ripples. We sat down and waited and waited, then we waited some more.... We filmed a bit and shared some stories and ideas. It was a good time for both of us. I think that sharing times like these allow us to get to know each other much better and makes our brotherhood even stronger.

When we noticed some waves breaking in the middle of the beach a bit further inside the lake we figured out it was now or never for us to get into the water. The rides were going to be a bit tricky and short, because it was really close to the shore. Guess what is waiting for you and your board on the shore...? Big rocks and sometimes even concrete leftovers with long steal sticks coming out of it ready to poke you or your board.

Larry Cavero getting ready - Bitch's Rock March 7, 2012

We changed quickly, took some more pictures and jumped into the water. We looked at each other and through my mind crossed a thought about how crazy and addicted we are to surfing. I hit a very big and prominent rock I had never met before. This was really good because you could not see it from the top of the water. I made a mental mark of where it is and that saved me several times when catching waves later that day.

Four or five sets came in as soon as we were positioned at the point. These 4 or 5 waves we each caught were clean lines breaking almost perfectly from right to left. Nothing big or strong, but definitely a clean line to cruise on your board. The sun shining on the water, rocks and trees made the experience magnificent. After all, it was Larry and me the only ones in the water and we could feel a total connection with nature. Feeling rarely experienced anywhere else.

Antonio Acuna - Bitch's Rock March 7, 2012

Some more guys came in about an hour later. Matt showed up with two boards and we both thought it was some kind of pro coming in to teach us a lesson or something! It was very funny! We greeted him with "wooohoooooo" yells and big smiles! So did we with our friend in the longboard - even when he was catching all the waves we kept smiling and yelling "wooohoooo" at him! Nothing like sharing a surf session with good friends and keeping a good vibe in the water.

Soon after that Larry and I decided it was time to go home and got out and changed up quickly. The surf session that day totally paid off. Waves were not big at all, but the time spent with friends in the water & appreciating natures' beauty is probably one of the best things you can get from surfing the Lakes. Sometimes it is not the waves that make your day, sometimes it is just the people you are surrounded by that make your day an amazing one. This does not mean we didn't catch waves. I am sure we all caught a great wave that day even though they were small and short. I certainly did!

PS: It looks like tomorrow Sunday we will be getting some more waves!

Cheers...!