Your Best Session Of All Time

Playa Hermosa Jaco, 1996. 1st time going solo to CR. It was a big hollow crowded day. I walked south from the cabinas vista hermosa half way to the tree,, found an empty spot, and paddled out. found a rip and was getting air paddling over some giants. I got out and thought I went too far, which sometimes happens to me. But this thing came to me and I thought I was in too far. I was just barely in the right spot. I grabbed the nose, pulled the board down hard and popped into it, zero stroke take off. Blind drop, back side bottom turn, and pulled into the slot. Got my vision back to see the lip pitching. grabbed a rail, and started screaming down line. My board at that time would make the sound like blowing over a bottle. It was louder than I ever heard it, of course I was going faster and farther than I ever had. As I was getting into the crowds, I was looking for a way out but I couldn't because the lip was still pitching over my shoulder. The board noise evidently kept the crowd from dropping in. Never found an exit and was discharged on the beach couple hundred yards north of the cabinas.

 

two falls ago hurricane Leslie. Just perfect perfect perfect.... perfect size head high with a couple bombs here and there, light offshore wind, tide was no factor, I was the first one on it Dawn Patrol, skipped work to surf alllll day

Longgggg lines, tube sections, pretty crowded but waves for everyone. Also surfed probably nine hrs that day. Man I'll never forget it. Best jersey at my spot ever

 

X2 on Leslie... what a swell!!!

 

Hurricane Katrina at the only spot on the Gulf that could handle it. Consistantly overhead with some serious bombs coming in on the sets. Hard offshores that were really making the waves stand up.I was still pretty green so it was scary as shjt to me but I caught the longest waves of my life that day.

 

leslie was good... i think it was alex that brushed the nc coast a bunch of years back.. i was lucky enough to be down there.. couple head high days b4 he came then it brushed overnight woke up dp hungover bc it was supposed to hit the next to to my brother yelling with gaping eyes that its going off.... oh perfection with just me him and one other guy.. and in nice toasty bathtub warm water

 

supersesh

feb '08 - (THE POPULAR BEACH) - was in rare form. this one wave i backdoored the
takeoff, got a full on dry shack section two, and finished section 3 with a head dip tube.

i've been as far as oz and back and not gotten a wave that good.

 

Recently-the weekend before the mess of Sandy (Oct 19-21, 2012.) Fun head high swell, great temps, and plent of waves for everyone.

All time-Hurricane Gloria, Oct, 1985. I was 16 and pretty nervous. After getting worked on my 2nd wave, caught some of the best waves of my life. Small window with the winds blowing hard offshore the afternoon of the day the storm hit. Some beautiful DOH sets just rolling through. By the next morning, had shrunk down to waist to chest, but that initial afternoon was my all time session.

 

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got my first real, solid barrel ride in PR a while back. Nothing like that first taste of the Juice...

 

Woke up just after dawn at my girls house on a fall morning with a text that says "ITS GOING OFF WHERE R U!". No answer on the phone as to where. I get my act together quick and head to the beach. I run up to the board walk already suited up and it is going off clean and over head but no doubt about it I need to poop. i don't want to leave so I go under the boardwalk and lean up against a piling while watching 3 guys getting wave after wave. I Finish my business resuit up grab and paddle out on a narrow 6' 1" thruster ( think new school). when i get to the line up, its my three best surfing buds, including one who texted me, splitting the peaks. I start getting my share. A little later a set comes in and the guys all catch waves. i catch the last one and its a beast. I Race through one section into the next and then everything slowed down. I stalled a bit, hit perfect trim a get a shack of my life that lasted for ever as my best friends are all watching. It was time when we had nothing to do on a early fall weekday so we just surfed, ate, rested, and surfed all day.

 

I've been surfing just three years. I started at the tender age of 47... My most memorable surfing was definitely not my best surfing, but it still makes me smile when I think about it. 2 summers ago when I knew nothing about board selection, I purchased a mini simmons with very little rocker because, "They ride and catch waves like a long board," and couldn't figure out why I was eating it on hollow waves. I pearl dove and ate so much sand... I refused to give up though, and when the tide filled in, the waves got mushy and suddenly I was catching waves. Yes, straight handers all of them, but I was getting nice long rides and felt like a champ. That was the day I really started looking at conditions, looking for peaks, thinking about board shapes, and started thinking I could tell people I surfed.

 

some of my best NJ barrels this weekend:
http://www.surfline.com/surfnews/2005_10_18_njersey.cfm

cant believe it was almost 10 years ago

 

World B. Free,
The occurrence from your NBA days is popularly known as The Zone. An enlightened residency of peak performance where the individual loses sense of time yet gains a feeling of complete connectedness and union with their equipment and environment (e.g. the board IS an extension of your legs; you ARE the wave) and execution becomes flawless and effortless whilst they are in a mental/emotional sublime of calm ecstasy.

Athletes spend their entire careers wishing to get in this flow even for brief periods. Those who have been there still live to recount the fantastical experience as if it were folklore. The Zone is so elusive and fragile, however, it's a dimension that we can get to frequently with the right mental (and physical) practice.

The Zone is what it's all about, bro. Glad you've set foot in that flow before.

BTW, bro, I've got your 1986-87 Fleer card in excellent to near mint condition. What's about taking a sharpie and donning your siggy on it? I'm good for a fish taco in return next time you're in EMass.

 

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I've been progressing at a pretty solid rate the past year or two and so it seems that most days out are my best sessions yet. Each session I get better so every time out has felt that way for the most part. The waves don't always make the session, but they sure do help. I've had solid sessions in less than stellar conditions but found that zone and made a sh*t day feel like epic conditions. Just depends how you feel when you get out of the water. If you're smiling then put it on the list...

 

The last time I surfed: it was supposed to be flat last Thursday but I checked it and brought my handmade 6'4" swallow tail fish.

It was warm and sunny and the water was low to mid 70s, so no wettie. When I first looked at it it was almost flat, then a little bump, and I saw a guy catch a real weak wave. I strolled down past the spot and paddled out and proceeded to catch a couple of little ones and rode them well. The tide started to go out a bit, and the wind died and sets started to come in about waist high with stomach high peaks, and the lefts that were against the grain were fast and real rampy. There were tourists trying to body board and a couple more guys showed up and it got real fun. The Zone was found, and lots of spray was thrown, and a few floaters were made, and I surprised myself that I could surf small waves so well. And it was on a board I made for such weak conditions. It went real fast and turned real smooth and didn't bog out or catch rail, it just went with the wave. I made it with a bit more rocker than a normal fish, so it fit real good in some of the steep little sections.

Everyone out surfing ( all 5 of us ) caught many waves and no one hassled any one. Hoots were heard for good peaks and one of the kids was launching and landing airs.

Walking out of the ocean with an ear to ear smile, it was truly a surprise that on such a small day, such good fun can be had.

 

Yo DP! We were in the line up together on some of my most memorable days. TS Bertha, Bill, Ivan (in the gulf). But I agree that as I progress, my sessions seem to get better and better.

Hard to pick one, so here are a few all time sessions for me. Irene leftovers in 2010 were sick. Head high to a little overhead all day long. Surfed til I couldn't move anymore. Most recently, I've had some awesome winter swell in Jax beach where the drops were big, the waves were long and clean and the middle section barrelled. Those days when you hit three sessions because you can't get enough keep me going when it is flat.

This is my favorite recent picture from a swell we got just before Thanksgiving 2013

 

That's sick! Can't believe that's east coast either!

 

That is the truth you speak. More addicting than anything in my opinion.