TEAM RIDER PETER TROW. DIARY OF A MADMAN!!

Team rider and friend Peter Trow sent me this email this morning. Now I know why I don't surf with him up north much and just take photos.



" Looking forward to Sunday. Finally had some big surf up here yesterday. No photos but sometimes that's a good thing. I went out at my favorite misto wave above Piedras Blancas. It was 20 foot and building with some clean long shoulders. There was no one around, no one on the bluff just me. I know it's not the best idea to go out there on a building swell because the outside sets almost always catch you and keep coming in from further out. It makes it hard to find the perfect take off zone. I caught a few waves that I was stoked on but after each wave I had to paddle further out to get the next. I was probably a solid mile from shore when an outside 25 foot solid set started charging in. I paddled as hard as I could to try and save myself and get over the top of it but just as I was almost there the lip pitched out and tossed the board from under my feet. Leash snapped, board gone, just me and my paddle swimming a mile off shore with who knows what's underneath me. Once the set passed I tried to spot the board but it was gone. I slowly started to swim towards the beach trying not to draw the attention of what might be lurking underneath me, tyring not to look like an injured seal. There was a slow current that I didn't notice before pushing me back out. The only way I was able to make any progress towards the beach was to try and stay in the impact zone and roll with the huge mounds of white water. Nothing like a good intentional ass kicking while holding a paddle. It was a slow go. Eventually, after about an hour or more of swimming I happily got pounded on the rocks on the inside and finally made it to shore. However the board was still missing. I drove the coast and found it sitting perfectly on a rock pile about two miles south of the break. No damage, just a few chips in the paint. The swell came up more today so hopefully I'll have better luck. See you this weekend. Peter."