The long range weather forecast last Sunday, gave promising signals for Weds/Thurs onwards. The northerly airflow started to kick in yesterday as forecast, although I suspect it wouldn't have reached Skeg till late on. Last night's charts confirmed my hopes and I decided to get myself to Skeg' around HT at 9.30am this morning. With a bit more willpower I could have gotten there sooner, but in hindsight I was glad I hadn't. Sure it was cold and icy when I got in, but the cross rip so often associated here with any swell had slackened off and was beginning to go in the opposite direction instead. This is usually easier to handle, which was important to me today after a 3 week lay off which also saw me using my inhaler more than I'd like.

The paddle out was pretty straightforward and it was clear that the consistent shoulder/head high sets were well established on this tide. As is noticably the case these days, I felt perfectly at ease if a little rusty. It took about about 15 minutes to get into the rhythm and I did get dumped a couple of times before finally connecting with a nicely walled up wave that I rode sweetly until pulling off. Just what was needed. From this point on though, the swell size did seem to drop some but then this is quite normal for here. Position and timing needed to be altered accordingly. That said, what was left was still well do-able and would be considered sound enough on most days. I only stayed in for an hour+ on this occasion though, having a weather eye on keeping in good shape for what looks to be a long lasting swell; certainly by Skeg standards. laterz..
posted by wollocks at 2:52 PM