The Inertia contributor Mary Mills on a mat at Greenough. Photo: Ken Samuels
The new sandbar was getting along nicely with the dropping tide. With the new Southwest swell mingling with the fading, yet still potent NW, we had a real party going on!
Of course, most people were sitting too far outside to pick up the gems on the inside, which was fine by me. The truly great ones were few and far between. Everything had to come together just right. Too much Northwest, and the wave would close out. Too much Southwest, and the wave just raced along. I was looking for the waves that combined both swells and roped along the newly-formed bar on the inside.
I had caught two, and I was hoping for one more before I called it a day.
I was on the verge of giving up when a peak popped up just to my left. When I rode standup boards, I always liked a good no paddle take off, and I enjoy it just as much on a mat. The take offs weren’t completely no paddle; they were more of a positioning adjustment to get under the lip before it pitched, accompanied by a little flutter of the fins to change direction. That little flutter was the difference between being sucked up the wave or hurdling down the face.
The bottom turn on a mat is a composite movement. Combine the speed from racing down the face, mix it with a squeeze of the mat, creating the shape you need along the inside rail, and then add a dash of body English. The result squirts you out along the face of the wave going faster than you were going before – and that was pretty fast. Out toward whatever comes. In this case, what was coming was the thick pitching section I was hoping for.
Since I was now a little low on the wave face, I lessened my grip on my outside rail (which flattens the mat), making it slow its forward trajectory, and got sucked up the wave face. Once I positioned myself higher on the wave face, I just had to re-squeeze the outside rail, moving the air in the mat to plump my inside rail. Then all I had to do was lean forward, twist slightly, and enjoy the view.
The view, in this case, was pinching closed at the end. I had no complaints, but I was now fairly close to shore and it looked like this wave was going to end with a slap down.
There are several ways to end your participation in waves like this. Pushing off the mat and free falling to the tube floor is always a good one. Easy enough to do, this option generally results in a minor beating with your mat washing up on shore on its own. While I mulled over the different exit strategies, a slight warble of water coming up the wave face made the decision was made for me. This particular bit of water impeded my forward progress enough to embed me in the lip, which paid me no mind and promptly inverted my mat and I, slamming both of us on the sand.
Fortunately the mat was fine. My body had broken its fall.
But I never did find my other fin.
