| First Light // Session 05 September 2009 By: Andrew Cassidy Location: Northern Beaches Wake to the dulcet tones of my son's recorded ringtone. "Wake up dad, wake up dad, time to get up dad". Seemed like a fun thing to do at the time. Stupid idea really. Makes me mad at him every time it goes off. Pitch black. Very tired. Resurgence of energy and awakedness once I remember the surf forecast from last night. Get up. Shut bedroom door very, very carefully. Need to limit all sound waves to still sleeping ears. Throw on previously loaded, surf check attire. Gather keys, wallet. Gather wetsuit box (previously loaded with wetsuit, legrope, essential accessories), paddle, board. Load into/onto car, quietly. Lightening sky. Not lightening as in bolts of, but lightening as in getting lighter. Perfect silence. No wind. Perfect for surfing. Silence broken by distant plover. Ar-ar-ar-ar-ar. Start car as quietly as possible. Hmmm? Drive off as quietly as possible. The road is like one of those holocaust movies where all civilisation has perished except for me. Still have to wait at red lights. Arrive at the beach in first place. Pole position in carpark. Golden hues start to appear on the horizon. Nice waves. Still no wind. Very nice waves. Unload gear. Crap, no towel. Previously loaded wetsuit box was supposed to include a towel. No towel. Have to nude up. Very quickly put wetsuit on. Lucky it is early. Lock car. Hide keys. Walk to waters edge. Odd woman approaches from the south. Still in last night's going out gear. Including high heels. Gets closer. More mutton than lamb. Please don't talk to me. Says hello. Say hello back. Twelve hour makeup looks worse for wear. A bit frightening really. Luckily, continues her journey north to ... wouldn't have a clue. Paddle out. Water chills my toes. Catch some nice easy ones. Cruising. Big, slow turns. Focus on style rather than radicalness. Still dry. Still warm. Bright reds and yellows from the east. The day is officially open for business. A few of the boys arrive. On SUPs too. That's good, I won't feel bad having the advantage. The police arrive and follow my new friend on her journey up the beach. That's weird. Full strength sun removes the chill from the autumn air. Dry, black neoprene heats up on the sunny side. Still cold on the dark side. Sun on face feels like it's burning. No sun cream applied due to lack of sun on arrival. Should have thought ahead. More super fun waves with the boys. Still an exclusive SUP bank. Shortboarders to the north and south but none here. Might have scared them off. No complaints. Push each other up the performance scale. Ooooh, that looked nice - I'll try one of those. Critically executed power turns gain a higher priority than staying dry. We don't care about a potential cold water dunking if it means impressing a mate. Two hours of fun wave exchanges with friends. The sweet smell of frying bacon from the café on the hill indicates it's time to head in. Crap, still no towel. Drive home with wet wetsuit still on. Damp car seat for days.       | |
