Fathers' Day Gift Realized.

[Guest guest]

Although earlier forecasts had a low pressure system stalled in the water south of us, the low system trough created by a system north and south of us actually blew by quite quick. Left me wondering whether there would be any waves to surf today. I advised folks to bring their short and long boats, the latter in anticipation of having to go further out on the eastern end of Nahant to look for surf.

Well, if nothing else, we'll have a nice sunny day on the beach and water. It was some consolation I thought as I drove up to Nahant. Seems like we've been bombarded with wet chilly weather every weekend since winter. What happened to Spring?

I arrived at Nahant at 10 AM, almost the same time as Sean K who was pulling into the lot in front of me. Tooted the horn and waved as he was stopped by a parking lot attendant. This was a new sight for me at this beach. I took Sean's place and asked the attendant, "How much?" "Three dollars." He said. Not bad. I paid the man (or is it the state, or Nahant, or...?" "Wanna Play? Gotta Pay.", or something like that. I quickly pulled into a space right next to the beach and was gratified with the sight of rolling waves in clean, neat lines, albeit less than than waist to chest high surf orginally forecasted. They were at least 2 footers judging by the height of these compared to the two paddlers who were already surfing out there in the long boats. I took note of David L.'s car and knew he was one of the paddlers and couldn't figure out who the other was. Never mind... just unpack the boat and get on the water. I chose the white water boat since I thought it would maximize the energy of the those shorter waves better than the long boat. I advised Sean to do the same.

I got on the water pretty quickly and paddled out to the two long boaters. Indeed, it was David L and the other paddler turned out to be his daughther, Rebecca (? Becky). With greetings out of the way, I grabbed the first nice wave that came my way -- a 2 footer judging by the fact it was my head height in the boat. I sprinted in front of it and felt the energy of the wave picked up the stern of the planing hull and sent to me scooting in front of the curl and then then the break... Ohhh, YEEAAAAH!!! It was off to the races, as my new higher volume Riot boat seemed to be able to stay ahead and sometimes shoot way in front of the foam. Next thing I knew, I was practically back on the beach. What a delightful ride! I was able to sit upright on the wave rather than lie back, as I had to do in the lower volume Perception Shock, to ride the wave all the way in.

By this time, Sean was on the water and made his greetings with David and Rebecca. With this out of the way, I watched Sean catch his first surfing wave... That look, the twinkle in his eyes and the grin on his face... I knew exactly what he was feeling. It was like a kid on his first roller coaster ride. When he paddled back out, his exclamation said it all... "This is GREAT!!!"

After a few more rides of my own, I noticed that David and Rebecca pulling out their long boats. Felt bad that I didn't get to say "byes." Anyway, it was back to riding the waves with Sean and enjoying his excitement at the whole experience. I had a waterproof disposal camera with me and started snapping pictures of his rides. The evitable... Half way through a ride, Sean flipped over. I watched his hull... "Well, Boy, what's it gotta be? Roll or swim?" (credit to Meatloaf for the line from "Love By The Dashbroad Lights.") After what seemed like a while, I saw the paddle break the water and a split second later, Sean rolling back over. With a silly grin no less. Oh yeah, combat roll practice!

After some more rides, I noticed two paddlers coming our way. By this time we have drifted northward where the waves seemed to be getting bigger and breaking with more intensity. Turned out that David and Rebecca didn't leave. Instead, they had gone back to their van and traded in their long boats for the ww boats.

What more to say? The waves were actually getting slightly bigger, at least 2.5' and some sets were getting close to 3'. We had a blast riding them in and out. On the beach for a rest, couldn't help but noticed the folks walking along in skimpy bathing suits. In contrast, we seemed overdressed, bundled up in our drysuit/drytops and neo. But we were playing in the water and the skimpily attired weren't. Yup, summer's here! After a bunch more riding and photo taking, we called it a day.

I had a pretty good Father's Day so far. Now, it's off to dinner with my boys.

sing