On Sunday 17 April, the extreme western swell did push a bit over in J-Bay, but it was the near gale force wind that made things difficult. The chop made waves of about 30cm high and the wind blew you right of the face of the wave.

I paddled out in the afternoon after lunch with my 7ft Rusty and found it really difficult to catch a wave, partially because of crowds, but also because I struggled with the old heavy board that has been repaired a gazillion times. Eventually, after very little success with catching waves, (like 3 in two hours!) I left and was about to go home when I decided I had to go and catch a few with my 6'4 Spider. Man, I had a good time. I just had to prove to myself that I could still surf and realized that the gun was not the thing for me. I had 5 waves in twenty minutes and very soon I was surfed out and satisfied and headed home as the sun went down.

I am so glad I was wrong about the swell. Some heavy sets came through, and I had a couple of bombs. All along I was expecting it to be between 3 and 4 ft or waist high.