It’s a rare day when you see Kent surfers in awe of the near perfect sets rolling in. But that is exactly what happened this past weekend. I find that South East Surfers are among the most positive people I know and have an ability to make even the dreariest forecast sound like something to get excited about. I wasn’t hearing the usual optimistic predictions of swell getting better on the push. Or wind is due to change direction. No, this weekend I was mostly met with silence… a stunned audience as we watched sets roll in that would be more at home on the West Coast.
What prompted this reaction was the accumulation of some solid ground swell making its way up the channel with a solid few days blowing in the right direction to hit our sheltered shores. With an almost miraculous turn in wind direction to give our south coast breaks the ‘perfect’ conditions. We were greeted by some chocolate coloured vertical walls. Almost hollow lips and alpha sets over head high. It was something Kent surfers only dream of…. or travel for.
Most of us were frothing to get in. This led to minimal evidence of the event as we rushed to gear up as if we feared waking and discovering it was all in our head. The day saw everyone on the water catching their fair share of epic waves and some gnarly wipe outs. For me the session consisted of a broken paddle, a bruised ego from failing to get out the back on more than one occasion and frustration at not meeting my own expectations. Regardless everyone was able to talk about ‘that’ wave over a pint afterwards.
That weekend saw multiple groups of surfers out when usually the crowds are pretty thin. Still there were enough peaks to go around and plenty of cheers too.
One thing is for sure this session will not be forgotten for a long time!
Daddyboards 