Sickbay

Up with the sunrise and Ingrid was man down! MIGRAINE city!!! I have been around the block enough times to know that this one was going to put her down for the whole day. Shame, she was hurting and even her migraine pill was not going to save the situation as it normally does. I left her upstairs in the bedroom with en suite so that she would have absolute privacy and closed the door. I was sure I was not going to see her for the rest of the day. Brother and his son and daughter were coming around mid morning with doggy Riley and being upstairs would be the best option for her.

I went downstairs and made coffee for 1. I then made another coffee for 1 and settled down to check messages and do a bit of FB swiping and contemplate my day. I thought it a good idea to app Father in law in law to ask if I could walk their dog, a sheep dog. Father in law in law had a little episode last night and Ingrid and I had discussed it before we went to bed last night. I had nothing to do and Ingrid was in sick bay and Father in law in law needed a break, so I offered to walk the dog.

They live about 2 houses away, so it was no skin off my teeth. I had planned to walk to the beach and to turn left and walk till the beach hit the rocky and hilly part and then come home. Sheep dog was actually very easy to walk. Funny how one says, oh, I will do something only to realise later that there should probably have been more thought put into the operation. What did the dog respond to? How was he with other dogs? Can he be let loose? .. these are things that came to the fore. I had offered to walk sheep dog and in my mind it was take the lead and walk dog. It really was that simple, but especially the option of how he was around and with other dogs might have been clever to ask. 

No matter, we are in CSF and not in a metropolitan area where many people share a space on the sidewalk etc. Here we have open spaces and very open spaces. I could always steer dog away from possible situations where other dogs would be in play. Some of the paths obviously one needs to hope that no one is using that path at the same time, but the likelyhood of that is not very great. 

Dog and I got to rocky point (newly named by yours truely) and the weather was good, dog was obediant and a non issue, Ingrid was still going to be in bed and Father in law in law would profit from the rest, so I pushed on through to Shark Point and the wreck. I had spoken to Oliver yesterday at the beach and he said that the large waves had broken the wreck up some and it was now in 2 parts. I guess I was also curious to see the wreck close up and sheep dog did not seem to mind. He did stop a few times and look back towards home as if to say, Shouldn't we turn back now?, but he obediantly turned and follows with my newly use command. Come!

We walked to the wreck and the thing was indeed in 2 pieces, each about 50 meters apart. This might make the salvage a bit easier. We turned for home and I did not go back the way that we had come, but decided to do a circular route back to Jackpot.Most of the return journey would be on sand, but with the rains having fallen the last few days I was hoping that the sand would be wet and therefore harder and not so heavy underfoot. We lucked in!

Sheep dog was returned to his owner and I got to havea quick chat about the handling instructions that I should have known about before I set off. Dog was a breeze to walk and very unlike our dog at home. Our Cocker Spaniel follows his nose and walks haphazardly about with his nose to the ground and can sometimes take a full minute sniffing 1 spot. Sheep dog walked with his head up scanning infront of him and occasionaly sniffed at something, but it was sniff sniff and move on. 

I got home and checked in on the sick one and no change. Brother phoned to say that they were on their way and asked if the stop/go traffic management was still in operation. Yes, they were. That was all that he needed to know as he knows the backroads to circumvent the traffic hold ups. (It is actually 1 backroad, the old and original road before the freeways were built). 

I was sitting on eggs as I had checked the wind forecast and the wind was going to blow a bit in the afternoon and would be from the east, so that would mess things up a bit. The sooner we hit the waves, the better. The swell was still huge and I could see it from Jackpot with the binoculars. Friday night at the time trial at Granny's Pools saw a wonderful and huge wave rolling in from the Altlantic Ocean. If main beach wasnot an option, then Granny's would probably be.

Hurry up brother! When I thought I will just get in the car and go to main beach to check on the waves he drove down the street as I opened the car door. Brother and nephew and niece and doggy Riley piled out of the car. I related my plan and brother and he said that he had stopped in at main beach, but it was unplayable. Nobody was surfing main beach. He had not thought of the option of Granny's (Actually the surf spot is called Huletts). 

Nephew and niece had a few things to do and unpack so I went ahead and they would join me later. Brother had his surfboard in the car with him. Do not need to ask me twice. I drove to Hulletts and got excited as I came down the hill as the line (Swell) that was around yesterday was still pulling into the bay. This might be epic!

Wetsuit on and board under the arm and I was off. I got held up paddling out as a set came through, So I popped  (term for popping over the broken white water) the set waves and then as I popped the last one, I put on the turbo paddling mode to make it out to safe water beyone the shore break. I paddled out and across to the line up (Place where the surfers sit and wait for a wave). I have a malibu board so can sit a little further out to sea than the surfers.

When the 1st set came we were sitting too far in and the first wave I managed to paddle over, but the second broke before it got to us and I had to roll (Grab the handles and dive off the board rolling the board upside down and under the oncoming washing machine. That now is the negative part of a malibu board, it is thicker and more boyant than a surfboard, so a realtively easy duck dive was not going to work for me. The waves are very large and the wite water picked me and Needless and dragged us about half way back to shore before my body and a sort of anchor had enough resistance to overcome the power of the wave. Side note. A wetsuit gives you some boayancy to, so I was not really able to get deep enough under the wave when I rolled. We lived to fight another day and it was a turbo paddle to the side to get around the last wave of the set and back to the line up. At the line up I met Phil whom I had met the previous evening and we sat and had a bit of a chat while I got my breath back and the heart rate down to normal.

That was the less enjoyable part of my session and the rest of the session I had a MAGNIFICENT time. I took off on some lovely set waves and each time thoroughly enjoyed Nameless treating me to a good ride on one of our Mother Nature s creations. Nameless was sporting her new look and I felt great! Brother had not joined us in the water, but I saw them sitting on the beach when I had had my fill (Actually my tank was empty, no more energy). What a pleasure that had been!

We sat on the beach for a bit and brother suggested that we go to the river mouth and sit and enjoy a beer. Dog, nephew and niece were going with and it was a slam dunk suggestion. There was nothing for us to do at home. We arrvied at the river mouth which flows into the sea about 200 meters away from us. I guess that it is a natural instinct of mine to scan the beach and the sea and the surrounds. I could see the tide was going out as the water along the bank that we were sitting on was being pulled toward the sea and eddying around the pole a few feet away from where we were sitting.

I pointed to the sea shore and in the river mouth where the sea meets the shore was a boat. Look, I pointed! There is a boat in the junction of the river mouth and in the waves and it looks like it is upside down. We counted 4 persons in the water and brother went to the car and brought out his binoculars to get a better view. Sure enough, the boat was upside down and 2 people were holding onto the boat. Number 3 was about 50 mters away and the 4th person looked like he was trying to get to nr 3.  Furtunately persons 1 & 2 could stand and were probably just trying to keep station. 

4 got to 3 and soon all 4 were at the boat and they managed to right the boat. Now what? Brother who is an experienced pilot in the rubber ducky (The inflatable boats use by the Life Saving people) was swearing and saying who would take a boat out to sea in this weather.  F..king tourists! So, being able to walk the boat to the shore we just sat and watched their drama. Frik. Honey we are going to take the boat out. Okay, be careful! See you later! these people had gotten lucky for sure!

Crisis 1 was averted, but now the next problem. How do they get the boat back across the river without being drawn out back to sea? No way without the motor being able to start. We are living in a region without masses of people, but people seem to watch over the land and in this case sea. People living on the beach front must also have seen the drama and it began with 1 jetski coming out of the river and into the river mouth and crossing to the other side to take stock of the situation. A few minutes later another jetski went out. The 2nd jetski was a father with his probably 12 year old son on the back. Not soon after that a 3rd jetski went to assist. 

Long story short and quite a lot of time in between the jetski with the kid at the back was towing the boat back across the rived and making headway up to the safety of the canals. The other 2 jetskis were flanking it and another small boat had also joined. It looked like a flotilla welcoming back a ship from a long trip abroad. All's well that ends well. So far this has been an eventful day! I left Brother and his crew at the beach as I wanted to stop in at the shop for some supplies (good choice of word from way back when the ships would be supplied) for our braai tonight.  Brother would meet me at home. 

I arrived home after stocking up and Brother was not yet home. I had a shower to wash off the salt from the ocean and went upstairs to lie next to Ingrid and have a little snooze (My body was tired from all the paddling, but the mind was still energised). Upon waking brother had just arrived home. They had been waylaid after having met the mother of a friend of Niece's on their way home. Mom invited the 3 of them in and said to Niece I have a surprise for you. Niece's friend, the daughter, had arrived yesterday also from an oversees stint and surprise on both side, neither expecting to see the other. Niece and friend go way back and the crew got a little stuck and another beer was consumed.

The crew was invited by the family to sunset rock to watch the (guess...) Sun set! Well done. They came home and relayed the plan and it was almost time to get ready and go. Ingrid had surfaced and thought that getting out into the fresh air might do her well. With hindsight it was a bad plan, but she could always go and lie in the car if she needed. We packed the cooler bag and set off with the crew to sunset rock. The other family arrived seconds before us and we made our way onto the rocks to watch the sun put an end to the day here in CSF.

Ingrid held on by a thread and in the car on the way back home said that it had been a mistake to go out as looking into the bright sun even though it was setting is not a great idea for a migrain sufferer. She immediately went up the stairs to fall into bed. We are already preparing phase 12 of the day. Brother knows Uncle Trevor, who lives literally on the other side of the block. Small world. Uncle Trevor is a very good friend of Brother's wifes Dad and Uncle Trevor's wife is a good friend of Brother's wifes Mother. The men had known eachother before they met their wives and the same for the ladies. How that worked out back in the day and such is a question for another time.

Trevor and wife were coming over for a braai and we got the fire started and I sipped on another glass of white wine after opening the bottle at sunset rock. A few minutes later Trevor and wife pulled in and there were a few too many Chiefs and not enough Indians around the fire. Too little coals, to much that etc. I cradled my wine glass and watched the proceedings. It was a good evening and although there were in fact 3 generations in terms of age, the conversation flowed and fun was had by all!

When Uncle Trevor and wife left, Ingrid came back down the stairs and was looking a bit more herself. That 2nd migraine pill seemed to have done the trick. Just tea for her and soon we went to bed knowing that tomorrow she would be back to her normal self, but just a tad weak. 

This was probably the most full day that I have had here and my memory of catching those beautiful large waves will be ingrained on my memory for a long time to come! Highlight!