Sunday 24th July and its a very bleak, cold, rainy 9 degrees when I leave home at about 8.00 and decide I might try the East Coast and Rye back beach. I get a good run down the highway and it's about 9.10 when I pull into a car park at Rye back beach. The car park has quite a few cars in it and there are at least 8 blokes out in 1/2 to 1 metre surf. Its pretty cleab with very little wind but the waves are dumping and you need to pick the right wave. I know all this early because I sit in the car waiting for a break in the rain and the inner motivation to get changed on a freezing, wet day.
I get changed in the rain, get my board down - the McTavish 9'1'' today and head out. I wait for a set to break and then it goes flat and I head out with no worries and sit out the back. A set comes through and its breaking just before where most of the crew are sitting and the result is the need for me to go under the set. My head suffers what can only be called a brain freeze as I go under three waves, one after the other. I then sit and paddle a while to get my act together. A nice set comes through and I leave the first two and then paddle into the third, and it forms up beautifully and I'm away. I get up shakily and head left, get my balance and find myself going down the face of the wave in a slight free fall and get that great feeling of fear as your stomach sort of drops down on the inside. I land at the bottom and still have some face on my left and take it before the wave crashes down and I ride the whitewater - what a great wave and feel good about that.
I'm now in at the shore, more or less, and wait while some waves break and then head back out quickly. The next 15 minutes involves me getting a couple of classic wipeouts and one dinky little wave of about 2 seconds. I've been in a bout 40 minutes when I decide I have had enough and I'm getting out. As luck would have it as I start getting changed the rain comes down and I retreat to the car, once out of my wetsuit, to get into my clothes.
Not a bad way to start the morning but I do feel as if it will take me the next 2-3 hours to warm up again. I head to Merricks for some breakfast and it doesn't dissapoint - Merricks general store and then it's off home to watch Sam's footy. 7 breaks to go - touch and go I reckon.
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