All I can say is that this had to be one of the best surf trips I have ever taken in my life so far.
I wanted to share this with a story, and photos to follow with the story. If you've already
skipped ahead and looked at the photos. you might not get the full story.
It all started last friday night with a phone call while I was eating dinner with the family. I
was asked if I wanted to chase hurricane bill to north carolina. Before I got any of the details
I jumped on board.
We had to get up at 3:30am to make it for dawn patrol, We headed out at 4am from Charleston.
The whole time I was packing I had to make sure I brought my photography equipment to make
sure I caught one the best swells the east coast has seen in years.
On the way I kept checking the location of Bill's eye, it seemed that this storm was always staying
directly east of us. At 7:30am we pulled up to Holden beach, the wind was already blowing out
the waves, even though they were around 9 to 12 ft it was not what we thought. We got back in
our cars and drove north to carolina beach. As we drove back over the bridge I turned around
and got the first shot of the day. "PHOTO NUMBER 1"
After an hour of driving we made it to Carolina Beach, If you've ever been there you know that
you can't see the ocean unless you walk up the boardwalk over the sand dunes. Let me go back
a little to the ride up. On the drive from Holden to Carolina, Sean and I we're contemplating
that maybe Folly beach was getting better waves, and maybe we should stay here at Carolina
beach for the night to wait for the storm to pass. We called everyone that was traveling with us
if staying the night would be a good idea. Everyone agreed that Sunday morning the waves would
maybe clean up and the swell would build. We all, but one person had to make "the call", the
call to the real choice makers. Our wives all agreed that it was okay, just as long as we stayed safe.
We started walking up the boardwalk over the dunes, about 7 groms yell, "just turn around and
get your s#@t, it's going off" We started running up the boardwalk and find that it's 10 - 14ft clean
glass. Light wind, and lots of A frames. It was the biggest I have ever seen on the east coast with
plus conditions. This was like finding that santa clause wasn't only real, but he only gave presents
to east coast. This was the second shot of the day. "PHOTO NUMBER 2"
I will admit, the first thirty minutes I had a voice in my head of my wife saying "be safe!"
I decided that I would take photos for awhile on the pier. I was watching intently not for
shots I could get, I don't even think at one time I thought about the settings cause all I could
think about was, "i've got to surf this" I shot some with my settings still set from a project I did
that friday. I didn't change the size, my film speed, or ISO's as you can see from the 5th photo.
As I watched this swell corduroy with A frames I knew that surfing the inside would work for the
first ride, then I could sit on the outside and catch some amazing surf. So I took three more
photos, packed up my gear and grabbed my board. "PHOTO NUMBER 3,4,5"
I wish I could count the rides I caught, and the rides I ripped it. I have so many perfect photos
in my head from those rides. Dropping in on a twelve ft face, getting air, and hearing it barrel
behind me. I don't think I've surfed that good since we went to Sabastion Inlet. It's always nice
to have friends that let you know as they watched you, saying you we're charging it. I would
have to fight pride a bit, but all I can say is I had the best time surfing, with some of my better
rides, and some really awesome friends.
We surfed from 9am to 2pm and then we got our hotel room. We all had been up since 3 in
the morning with no sleep. all we wanted was to take at least a nap. We kept looking out our
hotel sliding glass door and the swell wasn't going away it was only building. We grabbed our
boards again and surfed till 6pm thinking we would have even better waves in the morning.
This was my last shot, "PHOTO NUMBER 6"
We woke up in morning to find that Bill moved north, and it's tail end was blowing out the waves.
It was still some what big, but not like it was the day before. We packed our stuff and headed back
home.
This was my surf trip, Sorry these photos are not my best, I got to stoked to surf. When it comes to
surfing or photography, I have found out that I would choose to surf.
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