And then one day...

The waves returned.

After the most miserable summer anyone ever remembers, we had real waves yesterday.  I mean waves that had us saying out loud that it looked like the Pacific Ocean.

We all were up the day before, way before dawn, standing on the beach in the dark, looking at the small offering of white water and sighing...

WHEN, God, when will you have mercy on our pitiful souls?

And, then I spent the rest of the day in a funk, jealous of Bob never having to work, of Andy, who had asked for three days off in anticipation of the Eduardo swell - that just had to come despite the chances of ruination from an approaching pesky NE'er.  But, no, the wind was really offshore and there was a hurricane spinning out there, magically sending us what we dream of... but, where were the waves?

We looked at Mary St. in disgust.  Eight guys out under cloudy dismal skies, trying to ride a closed out long period swell at waist high on the biggest sets.  Andy and I were texting... WTH?

We ended up at the inlet, paddling way outside to a long left we saw reeling off with only a few guys on it.  From the car, I thought I saw a chest high wave as I talked to Bob on the phone, still at home and grumbling about the cams looking unexciting.  "I am going out," I told him, "I can't take any more waiting." I am coming, he said.

That ended up being a bust.  When I got out there, Andy caught a few and said it was boring - even on the eleven footer and went in.  Then Jack and Vinny appeared.  Vinny is a nice guy.  I even had a crush on him a few years back when he first moved here, a sweet and handsome Italian-looking long boarder who was really nice to me.  We talked in the water that summer, the summer there seemed to always be waves to ride.  But, this was a different summer.  He was taking all the waves on that log, and I was getting slowly pissed - as it seemed he didn't see me paddling for them, too.  Finally, a really good one came, and right to me.  It was all mine, clearly, I was in position, and as I paddled I noticed he was paddling too - and right in front of me, not even looking back.  I yelled out, "Got it!" and he looked back surprised, but stood up anyway.  I was fuming by the time he got back outside. Jack, that fat-assed redneck stand up paddler, who acts like everyone is his friend and then hogs all the waves, says to Vinny,"That wave set up nice, man!"  That was when I let it out and said, "Yeah, he dropped in on me, though!"  Jack just smiled some dumb ass smile like it didn't even register and that made me even madder. Vinny got closer, clueless, and I asked him if he had heard me saying I had the wave.  "I thought you said something," he said, perplexed.  I think he just thought I was hooting him into the wave, because I had been sharing waves and hooting them into waves earlier, good vibes out there, but all coming from me - I realized at that moment.  I was the dumb ass!  I said to Vinny that we should be sharing out here, that he had been getting all the waves and I had been right in the spot for that last one.  He just looked like he didn't understand, just staring at me and not even apologizing!  I just went in, disgusted. And, the rest of the day I stewed at my misfortune of working for people who don't seem to value me or appreciate what I do - just the full on door mat mode pity party thing.

I decided to make the day the best I could and went into work, hugged Abby, and said we were going to have a girl's day. I tried to forget that the waves would be building all day while I was stuck at work and there would only be one hour of light by the time I got off.

I focused on making the day as fun as I could for the both of us, and it worked.  Then, when I got off and raced out to Mary St. I met a guy walking back up the boardwalk and he said, "This is the best and biggest the waves have looked all day!"  WTH?  The swell was just arriving! Sweet rewards!

I went out and it sucked.

Lots of close-outs, and despite it being bigger and glassy and the water was almost blue, it just wasn't feeling the sandbar, kept backing off and making me wish that long ago I had decided to move anywhere but here.

Then I decided to paddle way outside where I saw Noah catch a big one on his log.  That became only more humiliation.  I sat as the moments ticked away, the sun beginning to set, darkness closing in.  I felt stupid, sitting way out there on a 5'6" with two long boarders who decided it was time to go in and left me there alone.

Then it happened.  A freak set came out of nowhere and I paddled furiously for it like my life depended on it. It rose up, a big long wall, a right, and I pushed down and dropped into it, over my head, the wall reflecting the pink and gold sunset, and I cut back and forth and worked that thing all the way inside, up and down, through the crowd of sitting surfers, a few hooting at me, and I knew for the first time that the Double Agent is the surfboard for me.  The way it cut through the water, sensitive and nimble and light, was nothing short of magic.  I decided to paddle out for one more that never came, but on the way out, a surfer looked at me, his eyes wide, and said, "That was a beauty!"

That one wave changed everything.  I was suddenly alive again, and the rest of the evening I realized that happiness followed my every step.

Then came Thursday.  I will never forget 9:30 am, September 18.  Andy said it was the best wave and tube he has seen in two years, and I was in it.

We decided to ride the bikes to the point.  It turned into a free surf trip, like Nicaragua and Jamaica rolled into one, just a full on glorious day of life.

The whole way out there, we watched as perfect crystal pale green peaks rose up and pitched out in the sunshine, long lines, a 13-14 second swell, something so rare it was almost painfully beautiful. I wanted out there, NOW NOW NOW.  We finally arrived and he said, don't wait, just go.  I did, and he was out there right away.  There was one guy on this one spot and we watched as he dropped into a perfect green peak, over his head, and he jammed a bottom turn and went right up to the lip, spray flying into the air and we looked at each other and hooted to the sky.  WTH?  I told him I think I am dreaming and will wake up any moment.

Then we proceeded to live our dream day, never coming in until we could hardly move our arms.  It was Thursday, and I didn't have to be at work until 2.  THE WAVES WERE CHEST TO OVERHEAD HIGH!   IT WAS LIGHT OFFSHORE, WARM, AND SUNNY! I was jealous of me.

But that one right.... Andy did not stop talking about it.  He said things like he hated me, that it was the best thing he had seen in years, like a wave out of a surf video, the green wall stacked up steep and over my head... and I just pulled into it, standing erect as it proceeded to unload.  He said he could even see my green fins cutting through the crystal clear face.  He looked at his watch and said I should never complain, that I got the best wave of the swell, at 9:30 AM, September 18, and that he could not get the image out of his head.

There you have it, I feel sore as hell today, but better than I have felt in many months.  Yesterday was just a gift of unexplainable proportion.  Wave after pristine wave peeling off... and tubing like I have never seen all year...

EDUARDO, you will go down in history as one of the best ever.  Photos to come...

My birthday... should have been in California...

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A lot of decisions are never easy