The beach had so many people I could barely walk with my board down to the shoreline. The swell this day had a lot of west in it so the waves were hitting against the jetty more than usual. The good news was that there were only a half dozen guys in the water so there were plenty of waves.
I only caught two waves that day, but it took an hour to get 'em. My first one is the wave in the video: big, brown, ugly and no hope. But it was fun. The second one I totally thought I'd make it. I was under the ledge, had a good jump on it, but right as I stood up it looked hopeless. So, I jumped. On the bigger days out there, it's deeper so I didn't hit bottom on either of these waves. But on the smaller days, you're nailing the sand every time. It's so crazy when you take off — full arena vibe. It was funny 'cause earlier that day, I surfed a heat against Kelly at the US Open and I felt like I was at the Staples Center. Then I went down to Wedge and it was there another huge audience.
Anyway, catching the waves wasn't the problem this day — it was swiming in to the beach after getting smashed. I would be ten feet from the beach, trying to bodysurf in and I wasn't going anywhere. After ten minutes of swimming, I thought I'd be flagging down the lifeguard boat a couple hundred yards offshore. But eventually I made it in. People write off the Wedge as a novelty or just a shorebreak. But for all the beatings you get out there, just one good one makes it all worth it.
