Hell, even average days can be an issue. I got sucked out to sea in Cocoa Beach for God 's sake.

I made it home early from work on the big Thursday a few weeks ago and decided to take it easy on myself and paddle Cocoa Beach. I hadn't surfed a shortboard most of the winter because Florida was being Florida and I had played a two hour soccer match the night before, which I would normally skip if there were waves, but it looked too fun to miss, so I went for it. It was chilly, so I donned the fullsuit, waxed up, then paddled out. The swell was 8 feet at 11 seconds and the tide was dropping. Sets were booming and the 'outside' seemed to be getting farther away the more I paddled. I ducked and paddled, ducked and paddled and ducked and paddled for a solid ten minutes. The sets were large, but it was Slater Way in Cocoa Beach, so they were easy to get under. I had almost punched through when I got caught in the impact zone and took about ten to the head, by the time I made it to the outside my arms were noodles. I sat for five minutes and a sweeper set rolled through, so I paddle over them to take a rest. I was way way out. Another bomb set came through, but I was too far out to catch them. When I say I was way out, I'm not kidding, somewhere along the way I had been picked up by a rip and delivered to the shipping channel. What was once a fight to get out, was now a fight to get in. I paddled for five minutes and went nowhere. The rip was in deep water and showed no obvious signs; no wavelets, no color change, no rough water, so it took me a few minutes to realize that I needed to paddle north or south. Twenty minutes later I made it to the actual lineup. My arms were dragging so bad in the fullsuit, I had entertained the thought of taking it off and ditching it, but I was skinning it under the suit and walking home would have been a real issue. After another rest, I timed the sets in the opposite direction - paddling toward shore between sets - and managed to catch one of the smaller ones to shore. Land felt good.

I was never in fear for my life, besides the potential heart attack from over exertion, but damn!

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I was right.

Edited: 05/06/2019 at 05:16 AM by Cole