Surfing Where there are no Surfers

I love surfing alone. Looking back, I was lucky in those solo CR sessions.
Those waves looked big. The middle pic looks like a surfer getting ready to make a big drop. what a surprise when I clicked on it to see it was a sponger.

 

Looks like fun!

 

Sweet pics, did you charge that first one? Looks pretty heavy.

 

Thats sick man. Is that you in the middle one?

 

Good stuff, definitely takes a pair to paddle out in that situation.

 

good stuff man, my curiosity is piqued....how far 'east of guam'?
I like your vague location, but want to know more, haha

 

I THOUGHT we were pioneering a spot once: We were in the boondocks of NS on a firing swell, driving down back roads looking at the endless possibilities that coast has, when we saw this left in the distance, across a huge field and around a swampy area, way out alone. Two of us trudged through all the snow and swamp to get there while our 3rd buddy, who was really sick at the time, hung at the car to rest, maybe snap some long distance photos. I thought for sure we were the first to surf this place, there was nothing around, terrible access, plus there are tons of well known waves within an hour's drive south, which by most anyone's standards, are not crowded at all...we got back to the car and our buddy told us some random guy ambled down the road from out of nowhere, informed him he'd been surfing that spot alone for 20 years, and tried to vibe the sh*t out of him. True pioneer sessions getting harder and harder to come by.

Wave itself was borderline unmakeable, especially for me on my backhand. I'll be taking a look at that one again on the next trip though...different swell angle or tide, the set-up seems like it could be just insane.

 

Deep down the coast of Baja. Surfed alone a lot on a few trips. Didn't have a map. Didn't know if certain spots would even break or what they were called. At certain points, I wondered, has anyone else every surfed here, then I snapped out of it and thought, of course they have. I'm not the first genius from california to venture down here.

But there were a few spots that I surfed alone that were really not meant to surf, and I figured out why very quickly.... Found a sick reef point that was wrapping into a little cove. You could walk all the way out on this elevated reef and jump right out. Couldn't tell how deep it was, or what was under the water, but it looked like a perfect, peeling left hander. I had camped out in the area for a few days but never saw anyone enter the water. The swell was running a little bit overhead. I stood on the point for about 5 minutes water consistent sets running. Finally just suited up and jumped off the point. Paddled into a perfect left wedge up off the point, as soon as I dropped in, it started sucking up and draining out, I stalled for a second to time a barrel ride and then I saw giant bars of exposed reef sticking up a good 2-3 feet out of the water, right in the face of the wave about 10 feet ahead of me and then I noticed the jagged bone yard in front of me, had to weave in and out of the bars in the face and pump down the face and then laid down and weaved in and out of the boneyard to the beach. Climbed a giant cliff to get back up. Walked over to my girlfriend, who had a camera and said... Ohh, I found out why no one surfs this point. Let's get the fu** outta here. I actually have a picture of that wave and that moment caught on camera. My GF, now wife took a picture of me, from behind the wave. She was up on the point so you can just see a few shots of me going down the line and then I disappeared... I'll look through the old photos if I have time later. This was back in 2003 I think, before I even had a digital camera. She had a 35mm and all the photos were developed at a local CVS. I would have to say, I "probably" was the first to ever surf that point and probably the last... Wouldn't call myself a pioneer, I would call myself a reckless fool who didn't watch the wave long enough from the right angle. Any person who would have looked at it break even once woulda said, okay, lets move on for sure.

I know surfers all seem to love the solace and serenity in being in the ocean alone, but I MUCH prefer having a Homie or two in situations like that. I would always get a little of the heebie jeebies down in Mexico, in the middle of winter. Knowing that the closest town is 2 hours away and the closest paved road is a good 30 miles. Hospital? Maybe 5 hours... Lifeguards? Haha. Not a chance... You get a completely different feeling when a Giant Mexican dolphin rolls up on you in the middle of no where. A nice sign of relief, like ohh, it's only you....

Couple that with the impending thought of the sketchiness of a third world country, run by drug cartels and banditos. Hoping that if a vehicle approaches your general area, you are not about to get hogtied, kidnapped or worse. Passing through checkpoints, hoping the dudes with AKs aren't in a bad mood and search your vehicles, cause then, for sure you are going to end up in a Mexican jailhouse somewhere. Sliding a 6 pack of Tecate cans to the young men usually does the trick.....

But all in all, at this point in my life I would not go to any of the places I used to and put myself in any of the situations I once would have... It was all about "The Wave", "The Search" and all that crap... Now, I just want to surf. I don't care if its crowded. I don't care where I'm at. I just want to surf. I have no desire to trek through a jungle somewhere, or hike through the desert in search of "the perfect wave".... Maybe in 10 more years, I can get to that mid-life crisis point and want to scour the earth again, but for now, yall can have that. I will go to the beach right by my house, surf when its on and be happy as a pig in sh**. Round here, most winter days that I surf, i'm the only d-bag in the ocean on the whole island.... So, with that being said, yeah I guess I still do surf alone. A LOT

 

f&$^*ing sweet dude. Feel like I can see this place in my own head now. good sh**

 

O.O ! Radness...

"The swell mounted up and peaked just a few dozen yards out from the cobblestones and sand of the riverbed in a huge detonating closeout. 100 yards down the line to the right, the shoulder went from insane to a possibly makable, well overhead and grinding down the beach in a long steel-grey barrel for another 200 yards (!) that whuffed tube spit like a steam piston."

 

Great post there Speed Bump! Great thread. I've boated up to some outer reef passes in the Abacos in the Bahamas. Between the razor reef, and the multitude of sharks, you need to be very careful on your wave selection. Not a place to try new stuff. A very long way from medical care. Just grab rail and watch the reef fly by.

There was this one spot, ****** Island, that sits in the middle of a pass between two long skinny islands, a bit south of Elbow Cay. It juts out of the crystal clear aqua and turquoise water about thirty feet in elevation, all green and lush. There is a right that peels off the north tip of the rock, and empties into the Bay of Abaco.
On the right day at the right tide, it goes off about two feet overhead. The initial drop is sketchy, over shallow reef and in front of exposed rocks. Once you make the first section, it goes hollow and you can get fully shacked with the super colorful reef just below, whizzing by like a blur of candy. Then it goes into deeper water and you can cutback into the last section before you get into the channel, all deep blue. Palm trees line the inner beach where the boat is laying in the white crushed coral sand. Ice cold Kalik Golds await in the cooler, and nassau and black grouper are on ice waiting for the grill to get hot. It's not hacking through the jungle, and it probably has been surfed a few times, but on that day it was Paradise discovered.

 

The outer islands of the Bahamas are an unlimited wave resource and a fishing, diving and surfing playground very accessible for East Coast Floridians who have water knowledge and saavy. The crossing can be a bit(h, and the bottom is shallow and you can lose a lower unit if you don't know how to read the water. On cloudy days you better just play it safe and drink rum. You must be totally repectful of the fishing regs, or you will spend hard time on the Rockpile eating fishheads. No joke Mon!

There are deep water trenches that hit ledges that go from 600 ft. to 15 foot in a hurry, and nothing between it and Africa. So it throws. There are little islands north of the Abacos, near Walker's Cay, that go off on north swells and hurricane swells. I don't mind mentioning them, because it's not like anyone reading this is gonna load up a boat with homies and take over a break. There is no one...repeat NO ONE... out there and if there is , you will be happy to see them. Except at the town breaks and a few hot spots. But there are epic spots rarely surfed, and only accessible by boat, and only if you know the lay of the land. Hire a guide out of Marsh Harbor. It is pricey, but epic. Fall is dicey due to the fact that they get direct hits from lots of Cat 3 storms, but winter is totally epic. Aussies show up during Christmas and New Years to hit it. Did I mention the rum? Yo Ho Yo Ho, a pirate's life for me!

 

i made the drive to singer island from hypoluxo to meet a friend staying there. we surfed some great lefts off some rocks near a park. later we went to the brass ring pub (rivera) on lingere night. my friend had a beer in one hand and his other hand in the panties of one of the "models". her eyes glazed over for a bit. were were there only 30 minutes.

true story

 

I spent a month on Eleuthera in the Bahamas back in 1992. Lonely and sharky feeling place to surf. Haven't been back......wonder if it still has the same quiet country vibe.

 

Nova Scotia.