Cape Hatteras 2008
This year, like the last two years, I took a trip to North
Carolina, Cape Hatteras to participate in the ESA easterns
event. The contest was scheduled to run from September 22nd
– 27th, or from Monday to Saturday. My dad and I set
out on our long car drive to NC early on the Saturday morning
before the contest was to begin. We started our journey at
4:00 am and surprisingly made the trip in only 12 hours, practically
a record time. This was probably because I helped my dad drive
almost half way there so he could get some rest.
So we were all packed up with boards in the back of the rental
car, close to a week worth of food and a hope to score some
fun waves while in the outer banks. We arrived at our motel
around 4:30 and got unpacked. We were weary from the road
and decided to splurge on a huge meal and get well rested
to surf the next day.
I had a routine every morning to wake up around 6:30 do some
stretches and take a three mile beautiful run to the Buxton
Lighthouse before going surfing. We had a routine every day,
and just surfed either the cape or the Frisco pier that was
almost always glassy due to the way the shore is facing compared
to the rest of the outer banks. I felt really good throughout
the week, having a blast with all my friends who were there
for the contest as well and surfing every day till my heart
was content. It was a consistent 3 – 4ft. every day
and either choppy or glass depending on which place we choose
to surf. My heat was not until Friday, so I didn’t have
to surf the contest until then. I was really getting a feel
for the waves and surfing well and I couldn’t wait for
my heat on Friday.
Just when the surf seemed to be improving even more, I learned
that the forecast for the last few days was going to be 45
mph sustained winds, and it was! The day before my heat the
surf became about 8 – 10ft., choppy, barreling, closing
out and doubling up. Due to the crazy surf and wild winds,
ESA decided to cancel the contest for the day and double beach
it the next day to catch up. The contest was also moved to
ramp 55 in Frisco were the waves were a bit more controlled
but still pretty gnarly. I was having a difficult time adjusting
and was getting a little discouraged but I still had the morning
before my heat to get some more practice in.
I was trying my hardest to just relax and surf the way I know
how to surf but for some reason I wasn’t feeling great
during my free surf session, I ended up snapping the nose
off my board, dropping into a big thumper, for the first time
before my heat. So, that rattled me a little too. Good thing
I had a backup board ready just in case. It was finally time
and I paddled out in my heat getting annihilated on the way
out by the waves breaking very shallow on the sand bar. This
kind of put a damper on my heat as well. I had a really hard
time finding a decent wave to get any hits on and never found
anything great. I ended up getting fifth in my first heat
and was supper bummed. I couldn’t believe I had just
completely blown the whole heat and yet was surfing so well
earlier during the week. I guess it happens to everyone once
in a while, even Kelly Slater, but I was still extremely disappointed
in how everything turned out. It felt nice to get some encouraging
words though from Kai, the team manager of the ESA All Star
team. He understood that I normally surf much better, and
just had “one of those heats.”
I look back now and realize that I had such a fun week of
surfing and I also missed a week of school, which is always
exciting. I think I learned a good lesson that you can’t
win them all and I can still be a good sport no matter how
things turn out. It wasn’t a total loss in the end because
a few days later I got a call that I had made the ESA All
Star team, which is a really awesome thing. I intend to work
on getting more consistent so that this kind of situation
does not happen often in my heats. It was still a fun year
of surfing in ESA again and I hope to have the same opportunities
in the years to come.
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