Sounds like a metaphor but I'm literally standing on the boat ramp waiting for the tide to go out so the waves start breaking. Funnily enough I'm WEARING blue today - blue scarf, old school blue jacket. It's cold - no hail like earlier in the week but definitely beanie and scarf weather.

The winds been wrong on every other break but this bay does okay on south westerly. It doesn't work as well as summer as the swells coming from a different direction but still, it's surfable... Peaky, glassy waves 🌊 into the boatramp.

On the sets there's some big waves out past the point and in the middle of the bay.. my phone doesn't do it justice at all. There's one lone paddle boarder out there. Before long it'll be busy.. I'm going to jump in my wetty soon, although struggles a more appropriate word. It's damp as it's been too cold to dry it.

...and later, I can report how crazy blustery it got out there. Proper battling against the elements with lots of water moving through from the big swells. Only a few crazy people like me brave it. I go out on the SUP first but kept getting blown off the waves, so I swapped for my longboard. It's an effort to stay in the right spot, even more to push onto the wave. I get three and give up. In perspective, all week I've had three hour sessions and have lost count of how many waves I've ridden.

My bestie rocks up with her salty old timer Dad, who is sliding into dementia. He's losing his nouns but he knows the waves better than anyone. He was a big wave surfer and famous round these parts. He is too anxious to go out but later I stand with him watching my mate and he calls the waves like the best of them, indicating where she should sit, where the winds coming from now, how she should ride that particular wave, laughs when her arms spiral as she tries to right herself then falls. The ocean has never left his blood. I get a very big hug from him. It won't be long before he won't recognise me, the best friend of his daughter for forty years now.

It's strange to think this larger than life man, who shaped boards and surfed big waves and even had a break named after him, is now done - his surfing days are truly over. A life of salt water disappearing along with his lucidity.

Enough to make you feel a little blue.

Im pleased I get a few waves despite the freezing, crazy conditions. Getting wet is always worth it. Now I'm heading into two weeks of work - aka two weeks no surging, with dark mornings and the sun down by 5.15. I hope the fifteen hours in the water I've racked up this week tides me over, so to speak.

What's the half life of salt water?

much love, @riverflows

🌊🌊🌊

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