brindleblog'n

I can't remeber the temperature of the water but it must have been comfortable if it was a south swell, and I was finding my rythm........I duck dived under the waves at full kick and push to maximize my speed punchng through the other side......I began to pass a few of my buddies, paddling out....but really didn't want to get too far ahead, I suppose I needed that unspoken comfort of having someone else getting punished beside me......

As you get deeper into the impact zone area.........your strategy changes dramatically........paddle as hard and as fast as you can without paying attention to the pain in your arms, and your buddies....."hope they make it out!".........you are in substantial survival mode....your arms tell you that you need a small break but your mind says no fricken way...go go go....push...don't stop...go go go

Scratching is a perfect word for this feeling..........

It invariably comes down at this point to the one wave that you "have" make it under before it breaks on your back.........duck diving is your most powerful weapon, if you can just make it to the wave before it break..........and here comes just that wave.......it is a race.......the harder you scratch toward the wave the bigger the wave is getting.......at first you think there is no way in hell you are going to make it.......the water starts sucking out, lowers the ocean 3-5 feet and feeds teh wave to be even bigger...............and you begin to see the top of the wave begin to start breaking........shit...you think this wave is going to break right on my back........then you get accelerated like a tractor beam toward the wave from the water being sucked into the wave.......with this extra speed you begin to realize that you might have a chance if you paddle, kick and scratch like hell........the wave is half way down .......
I have t stop for a split second to bury the nose of my board so I can set up the deepest duck dive I can handle without losing balance..........I see that the wave is going to break just a split second before me...........Holy Shit.......I'm totally out of breath and have noodle arm.......my only comfort is that my buddy is behind me and he has it worse than I do........I had this weird kind of panic laugh before I submerged........The wave hits my back and rolls me like a rolling pin, I kick my duck dive at the same time........