‘It’s looking like Friday is the day’ I told Doug on the previous Monday. The forecast for Hurricane Katia was calling for the storm to track due north between Cape Hatteras and Bermuda. Perfect. Circulation around the storm was going to sustain a northerly wind over the south facing New England beaches- 10-15 mph offshore. Perfect. I know a spot that can hold the swell, and can throw out left after left where it’s possible to do 6 or 7 solid turns per wave. Perfect if you like lefts. Fortunately, the other side of the reef had some rights, and though they weren’t as good as the left, they were pretty good by any standard.
I made plans to stay overnight at Doug’s college on Thursday and we would leave to surf real early in the morning Friday. How early are we waking up? I’ll just wake you up man. No, really, how early? Right. I’ll just wake you up and we’ll go. But what time . . Right. As soon as we get up we’ll leave. Promise. Let’s go to sleep now. But it’s only 9 o’clock, people are just starting to drink. Right. I came to surf, not to drink. We are on a mission. Goodnight.
I made plans to stay overnight at Doug’s college on Thursday and we would leave to surf real early in the morning Friday. How early are we waking up? I’ll just wake you up man. No, really, how early? Right. I’ll just wake you up and we’ll go. But what time . . Right. As soon as we get up we’ll leave. Promise. Let’s go to sleep now. But it’s only 9 o’clock, people are just starting to drink. Right. I came to surf, not to drink. We are on a mission. Goodnight.
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| Doug leading the charge out of the hallways. And the time is A.M. of course. If anyone you know says surfers are lazy you have evidence to enlighten them. We may dodge responsibilities, be late to things or never show, but we are certainly not lazy. |
We got to the break during astronomical twilight. Astronomical twilight is the first stage of dawn, or the last stage of dusk, when the sun is between 12 to 18 degrees below the horizon. In other words, it was still dark so we were a bit early. Now the break is made of more than one wave and extends over a quarter mile or so. We pulled up to the eroded beach section to check out the shore pound. We parked, and the first noise we heard was the rocks rolling. Dude do you hear that! We ran up to the wall and looked down and a 4 ft shore break was washing against the sea wall. This is good! We continued to the main parking lot, which sits level with the ocean behind a small dune. I parked the car. We saw nothing but whitewater!
Ok. Ok. Let’s get ready. Put the fins in the board. I’m going to feel the water. Let’s go. Let’s go. But it’s still dark! Let’s just get ready. I think we’re guaranteed of the sun coming up, so when it does, we will be the first ones in. Let’s get it together! To our right, more sunlight flooded the horizon making the outside line-up visible. It was civil twilight when we began our trek out over the cobblestones. After a 15 minute paddle out we were out there. I immediately took an overhead wave, did three complete roundhouse cutbacks, two snaps and a bunch of speed check turns before it was light enough to read the morning paper.
Ok. Ok. Let’s get ready. Put the fins in the board. I’m going to feel the water. Let’s go. Let’s go. But it’s still dark! Let’s just get ready. I think we’re guaranteed of the sun coming up, so when it does, we will be the first ones in. Let’s get it together! To our right, more sunlight flooded the horizon making the outside line-up visible. It was civil twilight when we began our trek out over the cobblestones. After a 15 minute paddle out we were out there. I immediately took an overhead wave, did three complete roundhouse cutbacks, two snaps and a bunch of speed check turns before it was light enough to read the morning paper.
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| 2011 Hurricane Katia! |
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| We weren't really in the picture taking mood, obviously. Doug managed to snap a few shots. Here was a speed check on the inside waiting for the reform. The picture is a little cloudy because the zoom was all the way out- it's a long break. |
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| After surfing the big left I decided to surf another left on the next reef all by myself. It wasn't as big . . . but it was mine. Good choice. |
We spoke with Will earlier, he was on his way up to school in New Hampshire, so he thought to stop by since he was going up I95 anyway. We really just have a way of having things work out. Like I said with Tom, I believe in magic. Anyway, Will showed up around 1130 am, just as the inside left pictured above started to really work. So Will, Doug and I traded waves for the next three hours. And the great part was there was a rip that would make paddling out unnecessary. Just lay down and relax on the way back to the line up.
I started getting weary, hungry, rashed, sunburnt, and real spaced out around 230 pm. That’s the time when I start thinking of food in weird ways, like real hunger. Not oh, let me just make a little sandwich after typing on my computer. No. This is ravenous, animal hunger and it was time to satisfy that. Fortunately, right at that moment the sea breeze picked up and the wind started cranking out of the west, turning the waves to mush. Sweet! Now we have an outside excuse to get out. I can’t take anymore. Will and I were spent as we negotiated the rocks to get to the beach. We turned around. Doug took a wave and went left for a while, then milked it, then went right for a while. Back to the car. Changed. Got some lunch and parted ways. The mission was a success!
An interesting side note, from a weather perspective, was the sky condition that followed the passing hurricane. What goes up usually comes back down, and inside a hurricane air is rising in great amounts. Outside the hurricane, the air skinks back down, known as subsidence, and this causes a very clear, blue and sunny cloudless sky around the storm. The sky that followed Katia was desert-like. We all got sunburn as soon as the clouds broke up, and just being in the sun, even though it wasn’t too hot, felt unbearable. I’m sure the partially depleted ozone layer was not helping us out. It was like a bright July day in New Mexico instead of an early fall day in New England.
I started getting weary, hungry, rashed, sunburnt, and real spaced out around 230 pm. That’s the time when I start thinking of food in weird ways, like real hunger. Not oh, let me just make a little sandwich after typing on my computer. No. This is ravenous, animal hunger and it was time to satisfy that. Fortunately, right at that moment the sea breeze picked up and the wind started cranking out of the west, turning the waves to mush. Sweet! Now we have an outside excuse to get out. I can’t take anymore. Will and I were spent as we negotiated the rocks to get to the beach. We turned around. Doug took a wave and went left for a while, then milked it, then went right for a while. Back to the car. Changed. Got some lunch and parted ways. The mission was a success!
An interesting side note, from a weather perspective, was the sky condition that followed the passing hurricane. What goes up usually comes back down, and inside a hurricane air is rising in great amounts. Outside the hurricane, the air skinks back down, known as subsidence, and this causes a very clear, blue and sunny cloudless sky around the storm. The sky that followed Katia was desert-like. We all got sunburn as soon as the clouds broke up, and just being in the sun, even though it wasn’t too hot, felt unbearable. I’m sure the partially depleted ozone layer was not helping us out. It was like a bright July day in New Mexico instead of an early fall day in New England.
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| Air goes up in a hurricane and sinks down around it. Hurricane Katia passed close enough that we experienced sinking air and scorching sunshine. |
There was no way to escape the sun when we started the ride back west. The sunlight was so intense that we could literally feel ourselves getting burnt within minutes. It felt like a July sun, not a September sun.
That was that. 2011 Hurricane Katia. Perfect!
That was that. 2011 Hurricane Katia. Perfect!
