While you were watching the Eddie, far across the Pacific, and off another island (much, much closer to the mainland), the swell that shut down the North Shore exploded to life.
The narrow pass between the two islands was closing out with overhead waves. While our boat captain slowly detoured out and around the backside of the island, the first mate caught his first skipjack tuna off the stern.
Rounding the island, we caught our first glimpse of unidentified surfers charging down a mountain towards an island and a lighthouse. They’d gotten a much-coveted panga out from the Ensenada harbor, covering the ten miles to the island in a fraction of the time.
Over the course of nine hours, the “local” contingent, made up of mostly underground surfers largely from the San Diego area, but peppered with big names like legendary shaper Gary Linden, Rusty Long, Dane Gudauskas, and Alex Grey, hooted and hollered each other into one wave after the next. Their boat drivers sat anchored in the channel fishing–pretty standard for a day out at Todos.
No reliable cell phone service. A few jet skis for rescue assistance (typically beyond rare at Todos any other session) courtesy of a film project Gary and Alex were working on. At least seven boards broken. Barrels. Air drops. 30+ foot bombs out the back. Smiles all around.
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