Covid PT 2

With expectations high for Saturday’s waves, all the lads were excited for a full day of fun. Waking up at the crack of dawn, the swell wasn’t quite ready yet, but the time to be on it was soon. It became a short waiting game, checking spots to see which ones were waking up and which were turning on first.

When checking spots to surf, it’s sporadic - the boys are definitely over-modulating (going a bit crazy), so trying to find the perfect spot is tough. Until you find that one spot. When you find it, you just know. There’s not an easy way to describe it - you just do. After hours of searching, we found the spot, and ironically, it was the first one we checked. That’s typically how it works out. As we pulled back into the first spot parking lot, cars were already starting to roll in. We sprinted down the sand path, and only about three-quarters of the way down, we knew - it was on.

A quick change, or as quick as possible when you’re putting on a 5mm wetsuit, boots, and gloves,  we waxed up the boards and paddled out. For a spring/winter day, it was “firing.” The waves were the perfect size for that sought out spot. All the locals were out; it was almost as good as it gets. Everyone got their fill before the surf began to shut off. The post-surf was followed up with the typical parking lot banter and heckling before everyone headed home.

A few hours later, my phone blew up - it was back on at another spot a few miles down the beach. The swell had picked up, and we were back out there. The only thing that forced us to stop, other than our arms being noodles, was the early sunset.

This was an unreal day by our standards; two multi-hour sessions of pumping waves are almost unheard of in the springtime.

A day or two later, we got the news that schools would be closed for good and all classes would remain online. It felt like spring would bring nothing but fun, and the rest of March did not disappoint.  Throughout the rest of March, there weren’t any days I’d consider all-time, but we were surfing three to six days a week in conditions that were incredibly fun. To make it even better, all my friends who were already in college were forced to be back on the island. It was like a local summer: all the boys, no tourists, surfing whatever beach or break we wanted, parking wherever we wanted. Driveways became parking lots, decks became spots to change. We checked every inch of the coastline - house or no house, path or no path.  We surfed spots I never would have thought of, creating names for breaks we discovered, finding random waves that just happened to appear.

Classes were only in the morning via Zoom. Surfing happened before class, after class, and, if the waves were really good, I have to admit, even during class. Early morning sessions meant I could go back to bed and sleep while class played in the background. Classes were pass/fail. There were two months left of my Senior year, and I had already applied to colleges (I’d heard back from most, just waiting on a few).

This was a time like no other. Nantucket felt incredibly isolated, but in  the best way, and during it all, my friends and I were making the most of it.