Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries:
There are quite a few waves around this coastline that I really love, but they are so fickle or require such a precise set of conditions that I rarely get to surf them. One of them kind of fired to life this weekend. Not perfect and not really that clean, but offering glimpses of what could have been with a foot or two extra in the swell.
The Catch 22 with this wave is that at 3-4 foot it is actually quite dangerous – it really only starts breaking properly and safely at about 5 foot. Any smaller and the take-off is a minefield of rocks and kelp – if you get it wrong you can end up wrapped around a couple of menhir-sized rocks in the middle of the first two sections ... not good, believe me, I've been there.
Once it hits that magic 5-foot mark it draws itself clean off the reef and creates a pretty amazing wall with barrel sections. It can still be super heavy, but you're less likely to come face-to-face with a rock if you mess up your take-off ... the wave behind will do that for you. It's a wave of consequence and demands respect, but the temptation on the smaller days is still there. I discovered a few lads giving it a nudge at the weekend with some pretty good rock-hopping skills on display.
While it wasn't quite big enough this time, it's nice to be reminded just why waves like these hold such a special place in our minds. One day soon hopefully ...
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS My youngest daughter Rewa took over the camera for a bit this weekend – check out her awesome shots in this week's edition ... I'll be able to retire soon.
Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries: