Kincardine rocked my world!

Surfer: Antonio Acuna Photo: Adam Shepperdley

This past Saturday everyone around the Great Lakes was ready to go out and catch some waves. The questions many had was what spot to hit as the winds were not consistent all throughout the lakes. Our crew luckily made a really good decision of heading up north of Toronto all the way to Kincardine at Lake Huron. Brother!!! What a surf session we had!! By far the best one of year 2012 for me!



Our trip started by waking up after only having slept 2 hours. As usual I had finished work late and we were leaving early the next morning. Tim D. gave me a wake up call at 4am saying he was at the front door. I zombie walked towards my bag and surfboard and got out. 10 minutes later we were at Larry's house picking him and my new board up 'The Cog'! I was so excited and tired at the same time that I didn't take any pictures or whatsoever at that moment. We jumped back on the truck and took of to Lake Huron.

I don't know what happened while driving up there as I totally passed out on the back seat. A scream woke me up followed by Larry hitting me to wake me up.... 'We are here bro!! There are waves won' ('Won' in Peruvian slang can mean many things but in this case it means bro as well). My sleep seemed to be very short but we had driven for about 2.5 hours from Larry's house. We made very good time.

This was my first time surfing at this spot and didn't know what to expect. Once we pulled of at the beach I wasn't too impressed but was definitely happy there were waves. Larry and Tim got ready right away and went into the water. I took my sweet time getting changed and getting the new board ready. This board truly looks good and feels good outside of the water. It has a beautiful shape with a double concave on the tail and the right amount of volume to allow you to catch anything under any circumstances and yet be able to surf aggressively all the time. It is also very light allowing for smooth turns and great speed down the line. If you can get your hands on one definitely do it as it is a great surfboard for any kind of waves - big or small.

As I was getting ready I met Helene Filion, a very stoked surfer girl.  Right away I could see she was really into surfing and she was mentally prepared to surf anything that came up. If some people think we are crazy because we drive 3 hours to catch waves, than this surf chick is just plain nuts as she was coming all the way from Sudbury, Ontario. She drove nothing less than 6 hours to make it to Kincardine. Big props to her and her buddy that tagged along to make her good company and take some action shots of her!

I went into the water to meet up with Larry and Tim. From the outside it seemed like very small and even boring. I thought to myself I would just get wet try the board once or twice and get back into the truck and pass out. I was more than tired, I was exhausted. WRONG!!! The waves that were rolling in had a very nice shape and were kind of long rides too. All of a sudden the waves started to get bigger and cleaner. They reached shoulder or chest high. There were a few sets that Larry, Tim and myself couldn't believe were rolling in. At this time Helene joined us in the water as well as Geoff and his buddy from Toronto. After about 30 minutes or so it slowed down again and waves were not as good anymore. We decided to take a break and recharge for what was coming in later.

In the past couple of surf trips Larry and I have been in, we have developed this strange habit of taking breaks. Something we never thought of before. As Tim put it out nice and simple, we now have come to terms with the fact that YOU CAN SURF IN THE GREAT LAKES. It is not just luck and waves might disappear if we don't surf them all right now. Still, our break lasted about 1 hour to grab some breakfast and right after that we were back in the water!

When we came back and were getting ready, Brian L and his long-boarder friend Ben were coming out of the water to take a break. Adam and Darryl were at the parking lot as well. A lot of people from the Toronto crew were present. Of course some important figures were missing out such as Elias, Sonja, Robin Gavin, Warren and Matt just to mention a few because the list can be quite long....

We all went in the water and enjoyed some really good waves. Nice shoulder high waves peeling off from a nice peak. Rights and lefts were walling up nicely on the shorebreak and everyone was trying to get a piece of them. Behind the peer Adam, Darryl and Jeff were enjoying the bigger waves. Some bombs they had been surfing while we were enjoying the shorebreak. For a bit the shorebreak stopped working as frequent and I paddled out to see why these guys were constantly jumping off the peer. It all went like this: "What's going on Darryl?" "-Oh, it's going..." Next thing I see is a bomb walling up right in front of us and Darryl with no hesitation paddling right into it. It was a long drop. I stayed there and surfed some of those bombs too. The drop was amazing and they would wall up a bit too but wouldn't last all the way out. James Carrick was out there too representing the local crew from Lake Huron! He was pulling into some nice drops and only jumping off when people wouldn't get out of his way while dropping the wave. It was really good to be surfing there with so many friends from Toronto and other areas of the Great Lakes!

Surfer: Antonio Acuna Photo: Adam Shepperdley

I think the most intense part of this trip for me was jumping of the peer. I must say I am afraid of heights and this activity of jumping off of peers is not one I enjoy very much. It took me about 15 minutes to finally make the jump. It has been one of those few times where I have lost control of my body and it just started shaking uncontrollably. A lot of people came up to me and gave some words of encouragement at times when I was ready to walk back to the shore and paddle my way in because I was too afraid. Adam even offered to push me off the peer so that I wouldn't have to jump.... :) When I finally jumped I was very happy and proud but my body was numb and tired that I had muscle cramps on my back and arms. All I could do was push myself with my feet because my arms were useless at that point. The adrenaline at that moment was crazy and became even better when I reached the crowd where Jeff, Tim and Larry were cheering me up!

Helene came back into the water ready to catch ONE more wave before she had to go back home and drive 6 hours back. She jumped off of the peer and got swallowed by some big bombs on the outer point. She did not let the big waves push her away she paddled right back into the point and waited out for a nice big wave. She surfed it all the way out with no problem. Then we all went to the shorebreak and caught a few waves as well. Not long after, Helene had to say goodbye and start driving back home. We were all sad, especially me. I had met a super fun and easy going surfer girl! A surfers' dream! At this point, we stayed surfing there because the peak was building up very nicely and the walls were hollow and long. Not too long after that we went out for another break. Two breaks in a day! I don't know yet if this is a good or bad habit we are getting.... Anyway the afternoon came and we quickly went for a snack. Some power bars, Gatorade, Red Bull and even a couple of Corona's to refuel our body.

Surfer: Antonio Acuna Photo: Adam Shepperdley

Our late session was probably one of the most perfect and close-to-ocean-quality waves I've had in a very long time. We had less people present at this time of the day. Some faces had been there all day long with us and some were new. Mike from Surf Ontario and Rob joined us as well as some other guys from Toronto who were surfing in a Lake for the first time! We welcomed them all and shared some of the best waves of that day. There were two peaks one on the right side near the peer. That one was walling up towards both sides but the right side was longer, faster and more hollow. Further left of the peer there was another peak that was breaking and we were trying to catch the lefts on it because the rights were closing up too fast. Great snaps, rollers, bottom turns and drops were seen at this time. Everyone there was ripping and having a blast. The vibe at that point was amazing, all I could do was look at everyone and smile because it was a blessed day! Thanks mother nature!

I don't have any pictures of that day but if you do have some please share them with me at my email aantonioacuna@gmail.com so I can upload them on to the blog to share them with all our GLSAdventurers on the blog!