From dp025@seqeb.gov.au Thu Nov 28 07:26:58 1996
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: D.J.Files..scraps of a surfin life #62 Milky Wayves - djnight.62 [1/1]
From: dp025@seqeb.gov.au (Bear)
Date: 28 Nov 1996 07:26:58 GMT

       another "Wales in the 70s" tale.

    
    Disclaimer:  Altho based on reality, names and the bodies they inhabit
                 have a tendency to change....

                    The D.J.Files #62
                
       "Milky Wayves"
       
       June. Long evenings. And if you're lucky, surf. Tonite there is. It's
 been windy for several days, but it died away in the afternoon. By the time
 the guys have come down after work, it's pure glass. Colored glass. Brown.
 The silt levels vary a lot here, but lately they're maxed out.
       D.J. has had a surf at a sheltered reef further west 'during work' and
 has made it home for tea with Ang', realised the glass-off has occurred and
 bolted his meal down and headed back 20 minutes to the local break. 
       The waves on the outgoing tide are too small. No-one has gone out yet.
 Everyone is hanging out in that impatient way common the world over. Could be
 a problem: it doesn't get  dark until after 10, but the tide doesn't turn
 until then either. D.J. rolls up and is greeted by the usual crew. Someone
 suggests a couple of beers and come back in an hour. The sun is low and the
 sky is on fire already, but it'll be like that for a while yet.
       ...

       So they get back from the pub. The sun is lower, but still above the
 horizon. Just. It's 10 now. Guys start getting changed in anticipation. Or is
 it hope. D.J. suits up, waxes up, has a smoke. By now there's a dozen or so out.
 Maybe some of the waves are waste high. D.J. walks down the expanse of sand.
       At low tide you can walk around to the left and surf in front of low
 cliffs on some fairly consistent bars. You have about an hour-and-a-half
 and then you'll be caught at the base of the cliffs. The currents take you
 east at a much faster rate than you can paddle against, once the tide pushes.
 So you have to come in at the one spot where there's an indentation with
 some pebbles to come out onto, once the sand is covered over, until they
 too get covered.
       Around here,  Andy, Rave and one of the twins are paddling out. And
 maybe 3-4 other guys. Most people don't like the risk factor, so there's
 rarely a crowd. And when the tide is out there's a _lot_ of beach to go
 around further up.By the time D.J. is getting outside, Andy is dropping into
 a chest-high peak, bronzed by the late sun. The sandbars here are good enough
 to give a clean peak, with a slight hollowness. Andy gets a very short cover-
 up and then a nice wall. The sun shines a sepia translucence into the lip.
 If you're poetic you'd say it was like tea, otherwise you'd say it looked like
 shithouse output. Your choice.
       D.J. gets an identical wave, carving up and down the wall before easing
 out over the back. Rave takes a left, forehand for him. He doesn't get covered
 but he does get a nice wall to work. Gradually the peaks ease up in size, like
 a semi-trailer with a 16gear box, until at last  waves are peaking overhead,
 with good shoulder-high walls. The sun hazes and fades into the mist forming
 out beyond the channel as the day cools. The moon is coming up further up the
 channel. The waves are getting darker...and darker, moving from bronze to
 black. Rave notes phosphorescence on the lip as he takes yet another nice left.
       ....

       The sun is gone now. The moon is well up. Its silver light fans out on
 the water, broken by the swell lines. The guys surf on, here in the cove, as
 do some on the main part of the beach. Many have left the water. Some have
 even driven off. D.J. realises the waterline's just about reaching the cliff
 base and prones out on a wave. He gets in with barely enough sand left to
 walk around. Andy does like-wise*. Whichever twin it was suddenly realises
 the water's right on the cliff, as Rave paddles out for "just one more". His
 vision isn't that clear anyway, altho he is a panicker, so he should have
 started to worry.
        "Shit, we're f#cked!" said the twin. And he looked genuinely worried
        "Nah, mate, we'll come in on the pebbles", said Rave, having done so
 on several occasions. The twin takes the next wave and prones out instantly.
 Rave takes a left. For some inexplicable reason, he's totally confident and
 does, in fact ride it quite nicely almost all the way in, before proning
 right up onto the pebbles. It's only at this point he realises how late he
 really has left it. Shit! The twin is half-way up the cliff. Just here in
 the cove, the cliff is basically a set of steep steps, but Rave's eyesight
 is no help in this gloom. He trips, misses foot and handholds and gets a few
 cuts and scrapes. Serves him right. When he gets to the top he says
        "See, I told ya!" but it's mostly bravado.
  
                           ***   ***

        * One time Andy left it so late and was so caught up in the current
          he had to come in right at the base of the cliff, already a metre
          deep in water, and do a sheer climb, with surfboard in tow
         ....and no oxygen! :-)   At least it was daylight that time.
   
                              ***

-- 
Bear