Best way to start the weekend!

Larry and La Guerrera aka The Warrior

There had been a lot of expectation about this storm. All GLS had been following the storm's behavior trying to forecast the type of conditions we would get to surf in. Some, like myself, did not want to do this as the forecast keeps changing constantly. These changes can result in too many adrenaline rushes and having your hopes up and down consistently.... I rather keep my hopes up all the time until it is time for the truth.

So I went the whole week reading on Facebook and other places online comments of friends about how good it was going to be and how anxious they were for waves to come. Some days I would read good forecasts and some others some not as good
.....When the day finally came I would make sure I was ready for it no matter what happened.

Thursday morning all the planning begun. Larry and I on the phone. Elias and I on the phone. Again, Larry and I on the phone. Elias, one more time on the phone. We had arranged everything. When, where and how would we meet up. We were all excited about getting to surf one more time. For Larry it had been a couple of weeks only. Elias and I had already about 2 months without surfing. I remember this because we both were commenting how the lack of surf affects our lives, both at work and home.We get distracted, irritated, sleep long hours, don't feel like doing things.... these are only some of the consequences of not surfing.

The day of facing the truth came by really slow. My day at work was a long one. Every hour seemed to be a full day. When I finally got home and went to bed, I couldn't sleep. Thinking of the conditions for the next morning and listening the winds move the trees outside my house. Every time the wind is howling like it was that night, sleeping is difficult, more so when you know those winds are the ones shaping up the waves you will surf next morning...!

I woke up before the alarm clock went off. Got changed and gear ready. Larry called to say he was downstairs and I took off. We were so happy to know there would be waves and that the waves would be big.....that we totally missed the highway exit to meet up with Elias. We took another route and got to the subway station only to meet up with a puzzled Elias who couldn't understand why we took so long. He quickly forgot as he was very excited to try out his new GoPro camera in the water!

We drove down the usual hill at Bluffer's Park having a crazy moment as we usually do every time we know there is surf going on. (watch video) You could see white water breaking against the rocks on the further NE corner of The Cove. That only happens when waves are big. We all screamed and looked at each other with a very happy expression on our faces. We had waves 100%.

We both jumped on our wetsuits. Larry put on a 3/2 (with a whole in the knee), gloves and boots, 5mm and 8 mm respectively. I did the same but after a few minutes outside I decided to get into my 6/5/4 to be comfy in the water. Elias was wearing a 5/4  and his helmet  with the GoPro camera on it. We thought the water was warm, but with the wind you never know.

Elias getting the boards ready

We got to The Cove and it did not look quiet as we had expected. Elias and Larry, both went in. I took off to Malaguas Point to check it out first. Malaguas point was breaking perfectly to the left and right. Matt, Leo and Adam were surfing at this spot already. I went back to call the other guys. It took them some time to finally get out of there. The current was very strong and the waves were big and hollow near the shore making it a difficult exit. While waiting for them I went back to the parking lot to change my gloves. The ones I had were too small and my hands didn't fit in it. At the parking lot I met Dan. He is new to surfing the G.L. but you can tell he really likes surfing and the cold of the Lakes won't stop him. He joined us for that session at Malaguas. I also found Josh Madryga. getting ready. We all went back to Malaguas point and jumped right in!

Some waves were shoulder high, but when the set rolled in we were all amazed... overhead waves peeling very fast and hollow. There is this point at which waves double up in size and go from fat and chunky to lean and mean waves in a matter of seconds. We all scored good waves that day. I had a few critical drops grabbing on to the rail of the board and even a couple of air attempts. Elias was killing it with the roundhouse on his new board and Larry was catching everything with a really good style and good turns at critical times on the wave. I think the man of the day was Josh Madryga. That guy is on fire all the time. Not afraid of anything he will drop in into the most gnarliest and critical wave without hesitation. I saw this guy taking off on a bomb I had to let go because I was too deep inside...he barely made the drop.The lip of the wave pushed him over on the air for a split of a second and he still landed on his board and continued with a bottom turn which Elias told me later about. I only saw him drop in the air and make it to the bottom of the wave. I think it was the best drop of the day.

Special thanks to Jonathan Ambeault for the video

Slowly, more and more people started to come in. You could start to see a tiny crowd at Malaguas point. Mostly friendly people, some others just very quiet and kept to themselves. The point here is that surfing in the G.L. is growing and will continue to grow. I just wonder if it will be this crowded when winter comes around again... :)

Larry and I called it up a day at around 3pm. He was freezing and I was on time to go to work. It all worked out perfectly. Elias stayed there for the rest of the evening with Josh, Adam and Darryl. Apparently it got even bigger late in the evening. This was an amazing way to start up the weekend!