HI, North Shore

Finally. I no longer have to hang my head in shame. I went to the North Shore. (B had actually gone previously on the boogie board with a surfer friend. Did not drown, but learned how it could be done.)

I was granted an extra day of holiday as a result of Bush's pandering to the American public, and I decided I wouldn't waste it and wanted to do something special. It was big surf today and it was amazing to watch. When we first got there, we were just south of Pipeline and got to watch lots of boogie boarders. Awesome.

Later, at Pipeline watched mostly surfers and a couple of spongers (boogie boarders). A sponger doing a knee-drop on a huge wave. (Spongers should get some kind of valour medal when it's that big.) It was just like the movies -- these guys riding huge waves, going into the barrel and coming out the far end alive. (Did I already say it was amazing?)

We also watched people watching the surfers. Lines of guys with cameras on tripods and all kinds of other spectators. If any normal people (non-surfers) got anywhere near the water's edge, the lifeguards would call them back with their bullhorns. The surf was that big. Signs and flags everywhere. It was great! B saw some surfer guy giving autographs. No one but pros and/or lunatics would have been out there. We saw one guy lose his board when his leash broke and have to get towed in to shore. And we also saw another guy with a board neatly broken in half. (We saw the result, not the incident.)

Oh yeah. And this was nothing. The surf can get much bigger.