No public access beyond this point

 

The internet community was wild with eager expectations, tomorrow was already being dubbed as Big Wednesday and it was was going to be epic. The long term prediction didn’t waiver and as if to confirm it – the swell had bumped that afternoon and was still building.

That evening however, the weather forecast showed the low spinning off into Biscay rather than tracking up the west coast of Ireland but who could tell.

Everyone was up early on Wednesday morning and they were not disappointed, clean swell in the eight foot range was raining joy on the west facing beaches and the search was on to find somewhere to surf.

 

Swells like this, with kind winds, only happen a half a dozen times a year, so it was good to get out and about in North Devon (Nor Debben) to check up on the old girl and today she didn’t disappoint. I’ve always wanted some good shots of a certain indicator reef and so I set off on a mid morning stroll to the spot I had in mind but when I got there I was thwarted by a seemingly dropping swell and too much tide on the reef. However there were a few other spots showing potential and I’ve marked them in the book for future reference…..

 

 

 

 

 

The tide was taking it’s time to drop and my impatience got the better of me and I wandered off to see if it was futile.

Greg’s Ledge is one of those waves that is rarely surfed, in fact he only person I know who has surfed it was Greg himself, and I think that was only because the window in his flat that faced the sea, looked right into it. It was looking pretty good today and I could imagine Greg’s excitement back in the eighties when he slipped on his infamous red wetsuit and walked out to the slab. We all thought he was crazy, sat out in the middle of the bay, dodging sneaker sets and riding waves with boils on the faces and maybe he was. He didnt talk much about it, in fact he kept himself to himself in a christian, hippy type way and then one day the enigmatic Aussie was gone and nothing has been heard of him since.  He probably doesnt even know about his legacy. Anyway all this day dreaming  was distracting from the main mission and the tide was right for a dash up the coast. The sun seemed to be breaking through and I saw a nice set on the indicator….

I remember thinking in the van about that set on the indicator, it was probably the shot and with a little more patience I could have got it. Should I have gone back?

Probably, it was grey and raining when I got ‘there’ and frankly not that good. The swell was dieing in the ass, as they say round these parts (mind you they also say “Mazed as a stoat”, so that’s not saying much).  Shooting over for the day the only thing left to do was have a surf….