Scared Sh!tless

I caught the biggest wave of my life today SUPing. It was, wholly and completely, unintentional.

We headed to Kanaha hoping to sail in the fairly decent sized NW swell - it was easily mast-high on Sunday afternoon when Chris caught his first *real* windsurfing wave - we shared a mast-high macker, me just downwind of him, getting a few turns...

Anyhoo, paddled out - there were a few surfers at lowers, nobody at uppers. Being fairly novice SUP'ers, we headed for the edge of the channel where there some really nasty waves breaking - steep and pitchy. Most of the other SUP'ers knew enough to stay out of there - but we knew enough to know that we weren't good enough to get everyone else's way ;-).

So after getting working and worked and missing waves and falling off, we were pretty beat, and were thinking of going in. Chris caught a wave, and happened to lose his paddle - I could see it, so I started paddling towards it to grab it and bring it to him.... as i paddled toward it, I saw a wave coming.

I kept paddling for the paddle.

I got closer.

The wave was getting bigger.

I was twenty feet away from the paddle.

The wave was head-high.

I was ten feet away from the paddle.

"F*$K THE PADDLE" I screamed to Chris.

The wave was probably now head and a half, and not breaking. I paddled like my life depended on it. Somehow, I managed to switch my feet from parallel to perpendicular. I dug one more time. The wave welled up under the board, and took me all the way up the peak - I could feel it getting ready to break - then I pushed the nose straight down the face - kind of like dipping my toes in the water. Chris was right in the way (I have corroboration!) - and confirmed the look I felt on my face - I was scared shitless. He swears to god that 12 foot board was nearly completely vertical when I went screaming down the face, well out into the flats, as the wave caught up behind me and I rode the white water gasping for air and screaming my head off. It wasn't a ride, just a drop, but, holy crap, it was easily the scariest drop-in of my life.

Windsurfing, surfing, paddling, kiting...

waves make it all the better.