August 29, 2008 - Nauset Beach, Orleans, MA

Wow. the surf report couldn't have been much more off. It said knee to thigh high chop w/ NE winds. I guess the conditions changed throughout the day because at 6:15 PM it was waist to head with SW winds and fairly clean. I entered the ocean in an area which looked bigger but with less people than another area. The sets were coming pretty fast and some were steam rollers. I almost had a slight panic moment when some big sets came, but I was able to survive. Had to bail off my board a couple times and duck under. It was a lot of paddeling and being aware of being caught inside. I decided to stay just to the side of the big impact zone and caught a few nice lefts. I caught one really long left in the face crouching from the wind blowing me over. After that ride I got caught in a nasty ripe current. I kept paddleing to get in but was going nowhere. Finally I had to take a couple on the head to give me a push in. This other guy was in my area and was a beginner and had the same problem. He had some serious bug eyes and was kinda freaky looking. The photo is from the coast guard beach cam (7:00 PM) cause our camera broke the day before.