A Nor’Easter hit us up here last weekend. Rain and wind, mostly wind, from Friday to Monday. Only got out for a wet run, otherwise it was pretty much a stay inside kind of weekend. At some point I peeked into the Surfline webcam and saw one brave soul weathering the storm, paddling out through mushburger land. It looked so sad.
But then it cleared up. Wind stopped and the surf forecast improved rapidly, especially on south-facing breaks. Unfortunately the swell hit on Tuesday and Wednesday, weekdays, workdays, and I could only justify playing hooky to get out to Nahant, my home break. The closes south facing break was over an hour drive time away.
Tuesday night, just before sunset, I got to session 1 out of 2 after the storm. I thought, I’m gonna skip the booties, water can’t be that cold yet. Boy was I wrong. An hour in and half my toes started feeling real numb, to a point where I thought it’s probably better to leave.
Swell was nice though, got 2 or 3 decent rides.
Wednesday morning was the next session. My favorite wetsuit still damp from the evening before, not my favorite thing, pulling on a wet, cold layer. Booties were a must this time.
The swell was much better, dear god, so much better than the night before. No wind, no texture, almost glassy conditions. You could even sometimes see the tide working, and producing small ripples on the water surface.
It was great! Nice thigh-high rollers. Some higher, more forceful, and breaking earlier than expected, surprising everybody. It was a blast. Caught a few nice long rides in. One is really memorable: walking the longboard to the front third, balancing there, arms out, enjoying the ride. What a glorious morning!
