Rediscovery

Oh...my...goodness. This evening, I think I had the best surf session of all-time. Yokes is the real deal and I think it just might have overtaken V-land as my favorite spot anywhere. Not a single thing to complain about in the session - the tide was great, the ledging perfectly peeling lefts were sick, it was hollow, it was super glassy, it was sizeable but not closing out. The only complaint I have is of myself and why I wasted so much time on the crap that was at Maili Point this morning. Such a waste. Big waves but mushy, lots of current (got caught long once), and just not very fun at all. If only I had known, I would have chilled in the morning and spent all afternoon/evening at Yokes.

NOTE TO SELF - 3-4 SW SWELL, 0.5 FT. TIDE (+/-), NICE WINDS, YOKES SHOULD BE PUMPING. THERE'S REALLY NO OTHER PLACE TO CONSIDER.

It seemed like I was catching the tail end of the swell as it was slowly dying. No complaints, though, as the most guys out when I was there was 6. At one point I essentially had it all to myself as 3 older guys that just came out were sitting way too far out...and it was all falling into my lap. I took some lickings a few times during the sesison, getting caught inside or punching out of a wave too early and getting thumped by the next one. But all in all, it was screaming left after screaming left and getting cleanly shot right off the end section and shoulder only to paddle right back for another. The perfection of how the lefts were pushing out of the south was so distinct. Being late in the day, you could see this darkness on the face while everything else had this silver shimmer, signifying it starting to jack up. The sets seemed to be almost on a 45 degree angle to the shore. It would be way peaky, the right side face being somewhat high as well and seemingly long (but it mostly closed out fast). At first the left face doesn't seem like much, but you could see the fatness of it pushing through deeper water and as you make your drop down the steep face, negotiating the backwash, the left bowl would start to show, eventually jacking right over your head if you were in the right spot. Nothing quite like it. So steep, so fast, so powerful.

One wave was unbelievable. I took off a little deeper than I had been but it still looked makeable. As I open my eyes from having some water in the face, I look up and I'm just encased in this beastly cavern. I start squinting and bracing myself to get rolled. But I started to emerge just a bit then immediately got covered up by more lip a second time. This pit was probably about 6-8 feet in diameter all the way around. I came out and then punched through the end section. Easily the fattest barrel I've ever had and this was what I would call a "real" barrel, probably the first I've ever had of its kind. That was a sick wave to remember forever.

I'm still pretty giddy. As I walked from the beach to the shower and my car, I caught myself giggling out loud. Hope nobody heard, thinking I'm a loon. I seriously couldn't contain myself, though. Mad I didn't take a shot (I did bring my camera) but I didn't want to miss a single wave!
The power and speed at Yokes when it's really doing its thing is pretty impressive. The wave seems to kind of appear out of nowhere, but just lazily starts moving at you. But if you're not in the right spot, you can get caught a lot easier than at a lot of other places (Maili Point, V-land come to mind as being more forgiving, holding up longer), because it forms and jacks up into an A-frame amazingly fast. You can get into the wave when its still fairly flat and not yet steep because of this. Yokes is kind of like that one type of bully at school - the one that people fear, but is just approachable enough for you to want to try and joke with, laugh with, and have a good time with. You only do this, though, because you're really just afraid of getting a beat down and so you're trying to stay on his good side. Well, every once in a while, when you're having fun and thinking you're in good with the bully, Yokes will dish out a nice beat down to you, too!

The point of the title is that this session was so epic, that I was geeked to the point of feeling like this was my first time ever catching a wave. That's how exhilirating it was. I think it's definitely good to have these types of sessions every now and then. The rediscovery keeps the stoke high!