Another break in the surf drought brought some good stuff from the last day of Sept. until 5th Oct- with the saturday off to have a breather (strong winds blew the swell out for a day) I didn't need to venture much further than Bamburgh to get my kicks, apart from the second evening when things were a bit rough there so the shelter of Annstead Bay beckoned.
High points were Fri. 2/10 and Mon. 5/10.
An early finish from work on the friday meant ample time in the afternoon to get rinsed in the great waves that were coming in and I spent about 3hrs in the water. Quite a lot of folk out too. I think Tynemouth must've been rammed and the overspill found their way north. Swell angle wasn't quite right to get the reef going but peaks and lines all along the beach gave room for all and some long swoopy rides were taken by many. A solitary figure did limber up and paddle over to have a go on the reef for a while. "Hang on!" thought I. "I recognise that goofy-foot style splashing spray about over yonder!" It was Rob, a mate I've not seen for ages, and he paddled over to the main beach break a little later so we had a jaw and caught up on each other's news. I was suffering a bit though. Went left on a wave and got a bit churned up in the breaking lip. The board turned and slid underneath me and one of the fins went hard against the funny bone. Eye-wateringly hard. Most of my lower left arm went numb and some of it stayed that way until monday. Not good. Neither was a very stiff left knee, which materialised later in the evening. I set about treating that when the sea was flat on saturday by icing with a bag of frozen peas and wearing a compression bandage. It worked.
Monday 5th had similar sized waves, 3-4ft plus, but the swell was getting onto the reef at Bamburgh this time. Not as much premium light available once I got there (It's starting to get dark quickly!) but enough time to have a decent session and just in the good company of Dan, who was paddling off the reef as I arrived but who reversed his course and kept me company for about an hour. We traded lefts for a while, some rather good 'uns running right through to knee depth over the slab ( "Nobody surfs The Boneyard....!") where you can step off, all casual like, and hope that a big set hasn't rolled right through to the inside to swat you for being so smug. That happens to me at Howick every time. The tide dropped and the reef stopped working. Dan had had enough and I paddled over for some big peaks on the beach. Dom had arrived for a quick session in the fading light. He caught a couple and then blew out. I waited a bit longer watching a beautiful moon climb through cloud and snagged a couple more close-out waves before calling it a night.
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