After finishing up a bunch of family commitments earlier in the day we arrived at LM rather late in the day. We knew the tide was low and the swell was rising so we wore our helmets just to be safe. We started paddling out in front of TB. By the time I was on the outside I was on the north side of the pump house. I was defiantly being pull rather quickly to the north. I sat on the outside through three sets, and by this time I was almost lined up with the condos on the north end.

As I sat up on my board I couldn’t see any other surfers to the north, or to the south all the way past the pump house. At this point I knew it was time to get back in. The waves were all head high closeouts and pitching like crazy. I waited two more sets and then went for one. As you would expect it picked my board up, and I pearled straight down. I flipped over about three times and then my head hit to bottom pretty hard. Thinking it was over, and I was in seven or eight feet of water I kicked off the bottom and started back to the surface. To my surprise the surface was much further than I expected. I had a kick off the bottom and it took maybe two strokes to make it up. Maybe this is normal, but I’ve never been that far down while surfing.

As I popped up out of the water and took a breath the first thing I saw was another pitching wave just a few yards away and coming straight at me. If you re-read the last paragraph that’s what happened next.

At this point I was finally on the inside. I caught the first reform back to the beach, and was glad I was there. The only damage was a nice lump on my head located directly under my helmet. Guess after wearing a helmet for just three days it just payed off.

The biggest mess up of the day was that while all of this was happening I lost touch with Emily. As I walked down the beach I was looking for her everywhere in the lineup. Finally, by the time I got to the pump house I saw her walking down the beach. This will never happen again.

#50 / #8 – 2010 / 3:30 pm

Surfline PM regional overview: More size on tap this afternoon thanks to building WNW energy. Expect plenty of head high+ waves, with larger surf showing as we move through the afternoon. Wind is light onshore right now with rideable conditions. Look for the dropping tide to drains things out later.

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