October 23 pinned 

The water has just developed a sting , an icy tingle at first touch . The air is still dry , fucking hot actually . Everyone is sick of it . Santa Anna’s they call them . Gentle inland winds that blow off shore . Like the northerlies you get in Melbourne they stroke the desert heat back towards the coast. Not as fierce and penetrating as those  ugly summer days in Melbourne , these conditions are more the slow burn . Summer has passed 30 days now but you wouldn’t know it . The ocean has given the first clues up, it’s getting colder . There has been surf , intermittent but 2 to 3 days a week is better than 2 to 3 days a month .Ive not been a believer .Aussies are just better , braver , tougher . This joint is too fickle , not many guys are that good . Waves that are pretend . It’s soft here . Of course there was going to be a day when the correction came . Howie pull your ego in , you’re  just an honest toiler , and 47 for Christs sake.Just cause you’re an Aussie doesn’t mean you’re Mick Fanning . The stars aligned . Off shore Santa Anna’s (all day and no sea breezes)and a mix of unpredictable swell conditions . 30 m from shore and you’ve got 1 to 2 foot dribblers , with intermittent 4 to 5 foot busses rolling in from the south .Ocasionally you’d get the swell mixed together , which broke it up enough to actually grab something fulfilling.You look back at shore and the sun is blinding , rising inland from the west.The take offs are steep and hollow , immediate . I’ve had this joint to myself for half an hour . Out of the blur a dude bobs up out of know where , paddles deep inside . Fucker . What’s his game ?Looks like a poindexter  with an old wetsuit. A bus rolls through and it’s unridable , hollow , vicious , a board breaker . Poindy starts paddling . ‘Fuckers gonna get pumped ‘ . Poindy gets up , pulls in under the lip on take off and then flys down the line . Shit,  I’m directly in his path . I freeze , he eats up 20 m in seconds and then launches into a 360 degree aerial and lands it !No word of a lie , this guy has just surfed better than I have ever seen anyone in my life whilst being in the water at the same time .Fuck , I better leave this guy to it then , shouldn’t I ?He ends up drifting down the line , leaving it with me . Fuck it , I’m gonna paddle into where he was and get one of those fuckers . I gotta do it . Several come through and I shit myself , pulling out each time . These waves are out of a surf magazine ,  thick , powerful and dangerous . It goes from 8 feet deep to 3 feet deep in a matter of meters . Plus you have a backwash that charges back at you as you try and take off whilst blinded by the sun . …. I’m all in , I go but at the last second I pull out , not gonna make it . I look back and that’s when you realise that hesitation doesn’t pay . The biggest, fattest fuckn bus waltzs in . I scramble, but as a surfer it’s one of those nasty ones you’ve gotta take on the head and just hang on .I dive deep and for a split second I’ve slipped underneath . Na, … you’re old and not that good dude . It’s time to pay . Golden rule : hang on to your board .In an instant I’ve done a 360 underwater , eyes closed , realax . 2 seconds , I realise the boards pressed to my chest and my back is pinned to the sand . Ok , I’m outta of here , but nup I can’t get my foot on the sand to push up as I’m dragging along the bottom.I look up and it’s black . Fuck it’s panic stations now . No composure , i’m fighting like a dog to get up . I finally hook my foot underneath my bum and squat up as hard as I can . I’m on the surface and gasping , sparkles in my eyes , disoriented .I stand up and it’s only chest deep and I’ve been pushed to within 15 m of shore .Near fuckn fainted . Not Fiji , Gunamatta or Indo , a shore break in the tamest joint going . ……,. You look at those magazines and see those guys and picture it being you . Today I saw one of those guys and I learned the hard way . 47 year old caulkers from Australia are not those guys . I take it back . They surf good and just occasionally the waves bite back , LA style .