VI 36 Long Beach - SUP (2018 Sept 3)Dawn Patrol. On the water before 7 am and it was smaller than yesterday and modest but glassy. JS and Mario were off to SUP Cox Bay, but I was in the mood for something mellow, so this was just fine with me. Lingered on the outgoing tide to share some time with Jay Browner before heading in for French Toast for brunch. Got my hedge session in and headed into town to run a few errands.
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SlideshowVI 37 Florencia Bay - SUP (2018 Sept 3)School starts tomorrow. Funny how that phrase causes me to wince even now. Surf-checks at North Chesterman (flat), South Chesterman (flat), Cox Bay (4-6 rows of whitewater and two rows of mackers flattening even skilled surfers – looked like a lot of work and little reward), Long Beach (similar to this morning – modest), Wickaninnish (good, but pretty unsettled), and Florencia (modest, but clean and organized). Ran into an old friend teaching his son to surf and decided to stay there (for the second time ever). Little did I know that the Ukee Dogz were testing out a secret DaveStorm prototype! I accidentally (on purpose) photo bombed the photoshoot and got an unauthorized photo of the new missile!
Lots of waves and more smiles shared with the Ukee posse (10 in all). Great to see all the good folk from Ukee making the absolute best use of the last day of summer before school started. Super fun way to end the day and cap the weekend of many shared sessions! Bitter sweet as it did really feel like one of the last magical warm moments of summer twilight (including the jumping salmon). I finally get what my longboarding co-worker has been going on about ‘how fun Flo can be’ (with a mellow clean longboard wave on a high tide) – not what I had been watching for but great to experience.
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SlideshowVI 38 Cox Bay - SUP (2018 Sept 4)Goldie Locks. Broke camp, ate my breakfast atop Incinerator Rock and pondered the waves on offer. They were modest (again) but playful on the slack high tide. But my gut was telling me I should at least go up a check Cox Bay first. As I walked to the beach for a look-see I took an informal poll of the surfers walking up from the water: the results were mixed – one said “good”, one said “OK”, and one said “megh”. But I liked what I saw: limited white water, clean lines and lots of shoulders. Second walk out (with my gear this time) one longboarder said, “It’s good and getting even better, so long as the wind holds off.” Easy paddle out and paddled right into my first wave. Lots to choose from, nice range of size and even a few “tall” ones (not shown in the pictures). Some felt a little soft, but had just enough shape to catch and ride. On the slack high-tide they stood tall and open for three to five rows on the outside at times. This made getting out easy too (except the time I paddled out against the peak with a heavy set rolling in). This was a Goldie Locks session at Cox Bay – it was ‘just right’ (for me).
Eight sessions (4 SUP, 2 windsurf, 1 SUP-Sail, 1 mountain bike) in five days brings the trip to close. Nice variety and the trip as a whole was more fun than expected!
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