Highs and Lows Saturday, February 10, 2007

I've just had one of the best days surfing I've ever had in North Wales.
Clean head-high lines of surf rolled onto the north coast of the Llyn Peninsula all afternoon. We put in at the pretty harbour of Trevor, a place we usually drive past on the way to the 'proper surf' at Hells Mouth. Today, most people avoided the pounding unpredicatble walls of white at Hells Mouth and there were cars with roofracks parked all along the road on the north coast of the Llyn. The sun even shone for most of the afternoon and everyone had big grins as we crawled off the water as the sun set. Trevor is usually flat but it's a great spot when it works, with clean steep lefthanders peeling for a few hundred metres. We started off trying to surf outside the harbour but I got caught in the already broken water on my first attempt and struggled to get off the pounding surf as I was driven towards some nasty sharp rocks. We thought better of it, and moved to a slighly smaller, friendlier, and excellent break in the bay. At this spot, you can take a fantastic clean ride in then paddle back out in flat water and set up for another go.

Despite the fun, I've had a shadow hanging over me today as I constantly kept thinking about Andrew McAuley and his family on the other side of the world. I found out last night, UK time, that he might be in trouble so close to the end of his solo kayak journey from Tasmania to New Zealand. I so admire Andrew for living his dreams, for setting himself goals, and methodically and sensibly working towards them. From the few emails I had from Andrew, I have been really impressed with the logical and rational approach he has to challenges - and the guts that he has. It made me feel alive just to read his trip updates every day - which has been the first thing I've done every morning for 4 weeks. So Andrew, as I was catching those waves today, feeling the adrenaline surge through my body, I was thinking of you & Vicky, sending you my best wishes and hopes & thinking of how the sea that we love can be so giving and so taking, how it can bring joy on one side of the world and despair on the other. It's not fair but it's that unpreditable, untamable beauty that draws us to the ocean.

I hope more than anything right now that you are OK. If it's possible to send warmth and energy mentally then you've been getting plenty of help from all over the world. It must be daylight again in NZ now. My best wishes are with you and the rescue teams.