LandfallVoyages

Yesterday was for firsts–today, for seconds.

Yesterday I surfed a new spot for the first time, right near the boat. It’s a long and rocky point break just east of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. It was the first time that I ever had an entire surf session all by myself. It was also the longest wave that I’ve ever surfed. It was the first time that I used our new, warrantied dinghy and the first time I surfed with no wetsuit or rash guard or anything but trunks. Also, the first time that I hung a hammock out on deck and read in the sun.

Today was all about seconds. The second time that I surfed the point right inside of the La Cruz anchorage and my second boat rescue of the week.

Last week we helped rescue Duct Tape when her anchor rode parted (don’t worry, Tamiko’s writing that one) and this morning, as I was motoring over to surf, I saw something white floating near a breakwater. A wave washed over it and almost swept it up onto the rocks. I sped over there to have a look and as I approached I realized that it was an upside-down dinghy. I got over there as fast as I could and quickly attached the cut bow line of the Walker Bay to the back of my boat and got the hell out of there before an eight foot wave crashed on top of me in my pregnant condition. Upside-down dinghies don’t tow very well and I was pretty sure that there were going to be two keels in the air in a minute if I didn’t move it!  I took a minute to flip the dinghy back the right way so that I could move  a little faster and much to my surprise it was pretty easy to flip.

As I crested the swells and made it to safety I saw several dinghies cruising my way and a lady waving from the deck of her boat. I pointed at the dinghy and at her and she nodded an enthusiastic YES, that’s her dinghy. I towed it over to her as the other dinghies converged on us. Apparently she had just put out a call to the fleet over the VHF for help. Her husband was on the beach feeling helpless waiting for it to hit the rocks. I didn’t know any of that, I was just doing my thing.

The surf was great, a fast and semi-hollow point break within feet of the anchorage. I’ll take it!

All of the photos were taken from Landfall, where we’re anchored.

Surf spot #1: Surfed all the way from that blue awning on the left, to a bunch of purple flowers all the way to the extreme right of this picture.

Surf spot #2: Doesn’t look so good here, because the wind picked up and well….I was surfing when it was good. Took this after I was done ;-)

Another view of Surf spot #2.