AAs update by Al Meenie

This is a spot we have been surfing for a couple of seasons now. It abruptly comes out of deep water had hits a 3 foot deep ledge a mile out to sea. Due to the direction it faces it is very rare to have good winds there. We had a couple of good sessions out there last year and this year we have had three to date the last of which was far and beyond anything else and definitely went down as the best tow session we have ever had together. The waves were big, consistent, clean and most important of all we found a rhythm and caught around 25 waves each!

The slip were we launch from to surf AAs is as useful as an underwater hairdryer when there is any swell running but we always manage to make do. On this day it was pretty crazy with big surges of water forcing up its narrow approach. We knew the swell was due to build rapidly in the next hour so we were prepared for not being able to get the ski back out after the session.

We drove out and I drove Cotty into five 30 foot faced waves in the first ten minutes. The swell was relentless, one wave after another of Maverick style peaks. It seemed easy for the first time in our history as a tow team. We spent the next two hours towing each other into some bombs and as the light got lower, the surf got bigger. We stuck it out as long as we could getting bigger and bigger waves and pushing it harder and harder on each one until we had to call it a day in the interest of safety and the possibility of not being able to recover the ski as the slip was probably getting raped! Sure enough the small harbour was getting pummelled. We have seen worse conditions than this for launching and recovering a ski at aileens but still this was a no go.

We made one attempt which ended in the ski getting washed off the trailer and then decided as it was getting dark we should head down the coast to a more protected spot. We drove 20mins through huge rolling seas in a building swell chasing the sunset. When we got close Kelly had driven the van round and radiod us to say the slip was barely passable. To us it looked like the whole bay was closing out as we were still a couple of miles offshore. We knew we had to try and get the ski out at this slip or else face a dark 20 min trek across the next offshore reef filled bay. After a few minutes we had the ski on the trailer and the feeling of adrenaline , excitement and achievement has never been as strong between the team. We realised that we had just had the best tow session to date and over the past few days surfed some of the best waves of our lives. We have some more spots up our sleeves and we are looking forward to the next session. The frustrations of so many failed attempts due to conditions and no rhythm finally paid off. Its kinda like when you are surfing small mushy waves day in day out and the only reason you do it is so that one day when it is really good you will have practiced enough to reap the benefits of it and when you do there is no other feeling like it.