There has been no waves for 3 months. You are waiting and waiting, waiting for a swell to roll into your beach. It's ridiculous how the ocean has been flat for so long, you almost quit your religion… (I didn't mean that..). Then you see a spike in the swell charts – could it be? It couldn't. But it is!!!
You drive as fast you can to the beach right after work or school to squeeze every second out of the hour of daylight left, you barely watch the sets (there's only an hour left of light!), you barely stretch (there's only an hour left.. wait, I already said that… umm), you barely touch the sand (you fly) as you run towards the breaking waves. You paddle, and then you realize that there's something wrong – your arms, they won't work! Your abs… they hurt?! What is this black magic! You can guess what the rest of the session was like.
I had a session like this. It was flat for months (that's East Coast for ya) and then there were waves. Big waves (by our standards… okay not really big-big). It's really frustrating, because there is NO way to practice surfing when there are no waves. So, to put it frankly, you suck. Well I suck. I don't know about you, Superman. I dubbed this phenomenon, the Suddenly Swell Syndrome, or SSS. You guys on west-side may not know what it means to have to “wait” for waves (really? Yes.) but it's a horrible thing. The ocean taunts you with perfect waves, that you struggle you even take-off on.
So above is a video of East Coast waves with people who aren't suffering from SSS. Enjoy.
