October 28, 2023 - Sawyers and Jeness, Rye, NH

 Exactly one month after my last surf.  Last day of a 4 day indian summer at the end of October.  I figured this might be my last time out this year.  Some ground swell was forcast, but looking as yesterday's camera, I didn't think it would be this good or big.  The northwest wind was a little strong at 15 MPH, but kept it supper clean.  I set off alone again for this one and was pretty discouraged on my ride up, but surfing always puts me in a better mood.  Checkout out the wall, which looked good, but I decided to go to Sawyers where it was a little smaller.  It's also free parking after Oct 15 there.  Standing on top of that cobble berm, it was windy!  I wore booties, which were hard to put on and take off.  I need some new ones!  Also tried my new gloves.  They fit snug and all, but man, do they fill up right away with water and make your hands that much heavier when paddling.  Not sure I want to use these again, but probably will for a short session.  I didn't need them, so I took them off right away.  

I surfed for 2 hours, which is a long time for me.  There were some really nice waist to head waves, but the wind would often blow me back trying to get into them.  Probably could have had twice the amount of rides, if not for the wind.  My best ride was a left on the face - beautiful wave and as I get up on it I see a duck just hanging out in the face of the wave.  I really didn't care if I hit it or not, it was my wave and duck was not going to ruin it...lol.  I missed it by about 6 inches.  The wind really proped these waves up for a while, so you were better off catching them very late.  Getting into a wave, and one slightly wrong turn and the wind would stop your ride or stall you in place.  There were some cleanup sets where you ended up in a sea of foam, and a lot of that over the top spray with rainbows.  Somewhat of a battle, but it was a marathon.  I surfed for as long as I could knowing it could be my last session of the year, but maybe not.  The wind took me from Sawyers to Jeness, so I had a long walk back on the beach fighting the wind with my surfboard in hand.  Included the CR photo to show size.