Gotta get Dawnying - Friday evening Puts - 7ft - whew! A Busy Surf...

If I have learnt anything yesterday it is that I've got to start setting my alarm clock. Friday evening at Puts in a large swell is always busy - but yesterday was crazy! A big swell, the largest waves I have ever paddled into and there was a 'zoo' of surfers waiting in the water. My biggest fear now, I realized, as I warily–and successfully–paddled out into 5-7ft surf is hitting another surfer. Because of this fear I tried to stay a bit clear of other surfers and that inevitably puts you in the wrong position for waves.

Despite being a pretty unsuccessful surf in terms of wave catching it was a very successful surf in terms of duck diving progression and confidence-boosting sea/surf experience. It definitely felt like another step up the slow, long ladder of surfing. One (very important!) duck dive through a curling, breaking 6-7ft face went perfectly and had me coming up from pretty deep on the other side - stoked as if I'd actually caught the wave.

Big ol' waves. Saw some great surfing, some ripping, some nose-time. Saw, and did, a lot of sitting and larger wave disaster avoidance. I was a little jealous of the longboarders out who, once they'd made the paddle-out, had the luxury of catching the waves nice and early.

And in the midst of all this I was also struggling to not just be hypnotized by the beauty of the cliffs, the waves, the rainy mist...

The drive home in the dark was a curious slalom through a plague of frogs. When I got home there was a large frog and a golf ball sat on my doorstep. What does it mean?