With no surfers to show me the take-off point it was bizarre lining up for my first wave. It was like being in a massive football stadium with all the cliffs around, and the potential take-off area felt just as big. So the first one was like, “sheesh, where the hell do I set up for this thing?”
I was lucky as my first wave was actually a pretty clean one, but I played it pretty conservatively with no idea how the place functioned. I was deep enough to get a look up at a nice clean wall in front of me and bank it around off the top. With my first wave out of the way my stomach was settled enough to score a few more.
Jaws is a place that commands respect no doubt, and I’d been hearing how all the boys are looking into alternative breathing apparatus for when they get held down a bit long, with Robby Naish having just had a scary moment during the previous swell.
You definitely have to contain a fair bit of speed coming down the face, even when it’s small and I wasn’t too sure how my Quad 82 was going to handle the drop but was pleasantly surprised. You don’t want to be taking the first wave in a set that’s for sure, as there had some mogul sized bumps to contend with which made it pretty sketchy and it would be so easy to lose concentration for a moment and be in a world of trouble.
This is where I start to look like the fool. There I am with the place to myself for about forty five minutes before the rest of the crew, including Boujmaa, come out and I had made the call to leave.
I’m aware now that I was in a pretty luxurious situation with all the images I’ve seen lately of skis, sails, SUPs and surfers all over the joint. So in hindsight it really was a rare gem of a session and I just wasn’t aware how lucky I was at the time.
I also know that this was the place at its tamest and I’m now pretty keen to see how the place is when it really starts to roar. Not that I’ll chase it down or anything but if I’m around it sure would be nice to really get scared.
A big thank you to Svein, Margareta and Campbell for helping me tick-off one from the bucket list, all when I did my best to sabotage it. SMc