Dont think, just surf.
A particularly good chart came up the other week. It was looking good.
Really, really good.
4ft @ 14 seconds with Offshore winds, good.
The trouble when a chart like this comes up is deciding where to go. It’s like being insanely hungry and finding yourself in an ‘all you eat buffet’ and trying to figure out where to start. There were so many spots that had potential to be cranking on that chart, on that day.
I am the worst in these situations.
I spend ages just trawling through spots in my mind trying to think where would be producing the most perfect watery cylinders on the day. I’ll mentally pick a spot, think about it, start grinning about it and then think of another spot. Then I’ll get the maps out. That’s when the real trouble starts. I’ve got heaps of maps, all with little labels pointing out different spots and the right tide state they need written next to it.
“Hmmmm. There could be super fun. Umm Hmmm. Yuppp. But equally there could be even better”. This is how it goes.
Then I’ll talk to mates and offer my thoughts and listen to theirs. I’ll literally be pulling hairs out at this point.
On your doostep... The curse of long-sightedness.
Or something...
Eventually we’ll decide on a spot, wake up the next day and arrive only to find slap-in-the-face average waves breaking, and only a meager 3 on the pump-o-meter.
We’ll get in, surf until jelly takes control of our arms, or the tide kills it. Then we’ll get back in the car and make the trek back home.
This is the norm, sometimes we get it bang on, other times we don’t. But hey, its hard being only human.
Then a few days later stories will filter through about where other people went and how good it was. And do you know what the overwhelming correlation is?
Most of the people that had to stay and surf local due to work/head office (wife)/other commitments, seemed to have scored sick waves.
We, well I, spent ages pouring over maps, putting my heart and soul into it and thinking of perfect swell, wind-tide combinations, and then spent ages driving to location X only to be dealt half decent waves.
I guess what I’m trying to say through all this is that yes, exploration and investigating new spots is good. It’s always good to try somewhere new. Digging a map out and imagining where waves could be breaking is an important aspect of surfing (how else do you think the usual spots got found in the first place?). But, at the same time don’t be afraid just to stick to your back yard. Poseidon/Neptune doesn’t give a shit about how many miles you clocked up in order to get to the beach. He doesn’t make skunkings personal. He just throws the waves out and lets everything else do the rest.
Not only will surfing closer to home help take the sting out of skunkings but it’s also better for the environment. And in an age when petrol is running out and becoming more expensive, cutting back on the miles to the beach is more sustainable, which is increasingly becoming a more important lifestyle choice.
So next time a decent chart comes up I’ll be reaching for my glasses; My glasses that help me see things closer up… the ones that are supposed to help with what’s it called? Long-sightedness or something.
Words by Alex Gilroy
Alex is a surfer with a nose for adventure. Whether it's camping on a remote island in Scotland in anticipation of a swell, or going on solo trips over Dartmoor, he is constantly on the road to empty waves and adventure along the path less travelled.