It was a stressful Sunday. Our old car wasn’t at its best, wanted a jump start, and we were happy to make it home that night. The surf forecast for the next morning looked good, actually: thigh to hip high, with increasing offshore winds. High tide at 7am, not ideal for Nahant though. Low tide at 1pm with winds picking up throughout the day. Guess we have to deal with high tide then.
I took my chances in the morning, dropped the car at the mechanic and got a Zipcar. One large enough to fit my longboard. Arrived at the beach at 9am, about 2 hours after high tide. It did not look too shabby!
Patience was the name of the game at first. When I paddled out there was a really nice set rolling through, but after that, crickets. I sat around for about 15 minutes until the next good set came in.
The wait was worth it: started with a nice left, cleanly rolling in. The offshore breeze was strong enough to prop it up nicely for me. Then a second one, a clean right immediately followed. Rinse and repeat: it took a little while until a similar set hit.
It was SO good!
I got some nice long rides in, both left and right. First time I felt completely in control, riding the board back up to the lip, trimming a little, pointing it down to pick up some speed, stepping on the rail to ride out the pocket, felt real good!
Alas, it was a weekday morning, and I started late. I had about an hour before I needed to head back for my first work meeting. But I’m so glad I went out, totally worth it, despite all the car stress.
