Posts Tagged “the Strait”

Surfed the Wedge this past Saturday. Shit was nuts. Here’s what went down:

Went to pick up Ki and Petersen with just enough time to catch the 1st ferry @ 5:45am. Ki was up and ready to go, Petersen wasn’t. After excessive calls/texts/horn honks we split. Brutal, but that’s how it goes. (we found out later he was in the shower–who showers before surfing??). Sorry man. We b-lined it to Edmonds, and made it on the ferry as the last car. Last car!

Elwha, Twin, etc wasn’t working so we made the call to head to the Wedge. It sounded like a war zone from the lookout, with waves exploding on the beach. Maybe that’s why no-one was parked or in the water when we got there. Mostly closeout bombs but we decided to hit it anyways.

Once we got down, i witnessed the biggest waves i’ve ever seen at this spot. The set waves were breaking all the way at the end of the rock wall and the spray was pushing up the wall and hitting the bottom of the tree branches that were hanging down! It was probably borderline surfable and definetly sketchy but there was a big enough of a period that a paddle out wasn’t too hard at all.

Ok, i’m out in the line up. Now what. Probably the biggest shit i’ve ever been in. The waves were REtarded big. I figured i’d go for one of the smaller ones–maybe i’d get lucky and not take a closer to the head or worse, breaking my board again. After being out solo for a bit two other guys paddled out. One guy made a few waves no problem but after a while they bailed citing danger. Hmmm… The one wave i caught was one of the smaller ones. I made my bottom turn and came back up then down again and was going 90 at bottom turn #2. Farther down the line, the wave was breaking the other way, peeling right, coming towards me. At this point i launched over the back of the wave going full speed and freaking went airborne… I don’t even know.. but i LAUNCHED. Im pretty sure i screamed like a girl.

Check the pics below. The wave in the 1st pic could’ve fit inside the wave in the 2nd pic. Check the rest of Ki’s photos here: http://ki.smugmug.com/gallery/3854978#223158019

the Wedge the Wedge

I pretty much called it at this point and bailed. Walking back up we bumped into Clemmy and he convinced me to paddle back out again. Clem caught a nice left and i got one more before we bailed. Once we got back to the car Petersen was there waiting. Dude totally powered out solo, hung-over. Nice work man.

We (Ki, Clem, Petersen, Glen, Timmers and myself) ended up surfing Hoku later that day but it went from glass to blown out in about 10 minutes. Best waves i’ve ever seen at Hoku too.

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Last Friday was Ultimate. Let me explain:
Otter and I took the day off (10/5) and set off for a Strait surf mission. Missed the 1st ferry but managed to get to PA by 9am. Rolled out to the Elwha…low tide, small. Hung out for about 15 mins and watched the waves pick up. Decided to go suit up…by the time we walked back out to the river mouth, it was working. Stoked! Surfed for about 2 hours with Lib Tech. One guy blatantly dropped in on me…ruthless. Lib Tech makes sic boards though so it’s okay. Sic session, sunny, warm air, clean chest to head high waves.

After the Elwha, we ate in PA and decided to b-line it out to the Wedge. Hour and a half later we got the the lookout but couldn’t see the beach…shit was completely fogged in. We could hear waves though. Figured, we drove all this way, might as well hike down. By the time we hiked through the swamp and made it down to the beach it had cleared up and the sun came out. Sic! Damn that beach is beautiful. Maybe the best beach in WA.

Tide was going down but there was still some waves coming in. Waist to the occasional chest high set…surfed right on the wedgey wave. super fun, warm, crystal clear water…could see my shadow on the bottom of the ocean….no one ‘cept Otter and myself out there too. Had every wave to myself…bunch of good long rides.

On the way back home we stopped at 7 Cedars and blew a bunch of cash on craps. i think we were in that Casino for about 1/2 hour. in/out/lose cash. Made the ferry only cause it was delayed. Good thing cause we would’a missed the Hump show. Hump scarred me for life but most of it was entertaining.Managed to catch the last 5 or 6 songs of the Blakes show at the Croc. Got in free too. Those guys are rad live…check em out if you get a chance. Closed down the Whiskey Bar..manged to get a buzz and not pass out. We were awake for about 20 hours, 4 hours of surfing, 5 hours of driving. I slept really good that night.

So the Ultimate Friday recap: all time surf, craps, Hump, The Blakes for free, Whiskey Bar, sleep.

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