Good Bye Katia...............

15th September


A text came through late yesterday from Dan "Woolacombe tomorrow?" I Checked the report and MS was calling it at 5ft 11sec with no wind and sunny. "Char is there any good reason I can't go surfing tomorrow" I asked the reply came... "Well the garden is a mess and I need to tidy the house as the health visitor is coming tomorrow"..... An hour later and a tidy garden I was getting my gear ready!   


It was the last opportunity to surf the swell produced from Hurricane Katia and with perfect conditions predicted I wasn't going to let these last few waves fade without a fight


Surf 43/8


We arrived to see super clean corduroy lines flowing into Saunton Sands as we rounded the corner looking towards Croyde Bay a large pack of surfers were caught inside by a lovely over head set of 4 waves. Dan and I sat in the van and watched for a wile but decided the tide was a little too high and the crowds looked annoying. Dan was calling Putts! I was pretty sceptical but he was convinced on a westerly swell at high tide the waves would be a similar size, virtually no one would be out, and a nice left hander would break off the rocks.


Dan was right! After paying the extortionate putts parking fee £6.50 we both felt a little sick but the waves were looking good. The waves were in 3/4ft range and super clean glassy, mellow long walls gave a lot of pleasure. we gave each wave a value against the cost of the parking fee 50p was a really good wave 25p a bit average. I had one fantastic "75p" wave where I managed to race a steep closey section and then managed to wip across the lip at the end of the wave with such speed I felt like I was flying. Dan said it looked amazing from behind as he saw my board rip through the lip producing a massive amount of spray. Paddling back to the line up I couldn't stop yourself from smiling. My 5'10 fish felt like a rocket.


I think we just about managed to pay off the price of the parking although the long wait between sets was frustrating but at least we pretty much had the waves to ourselves.    


Surf 44/9


Combes was the call, we couldn't face the crowds at Croyde and there are very few places where you can chill out on the grass above a break with such beautiful scenery around and easy access to the beach. We had a very good session surfed for well over 2 hours in 3/4ft mellow waves, I got out of the water a good half hour before Dan as I was completely shot to pieces. We both had some fantastic long rides, I didn't ever recreate my super fast turn from the first session. Dan pulled off some beautiful full round house cutbacks with real style.


Good Bye Katia you were fun, I hope you have a brother or sister I could meet in the next month!