Ynyslas Perfection

by Alan Cole · Wednesday, February 10th, 2021

My usual morning routine is to get up at around 5am, chill for a while eating breakfast and getting the fire going. I then start work early. After an hour or so of work and as the sun rises I generally wander over to the beach to take a look. It’s nice to grab a bit of fresh air and nice to see what the sea is up to. To be fair, wandering to the beach and back takes less than 5 minutes so it’s not a massive amount of time outside but it’s good for the soul. This morning when I arrived at the beach I was greeting with some Ynyslas Perfection.

Ynyslas Perfection

There was a bigger swell than I was expecting and therefore some lovely waves rolling into the beach. The tide was still touching the pebbles and it was minus 1ºC. The sun was just peeking out from behind the hills and a golden light was being cast into the spray blown off the tops of the waves by the light Easterly wind.

The sub-zero temperatures and the relatively high tide could have given me excuses not to go in but I decided just to do it now. If I waited until later I’d find other things to do and wouldn’t end up riding those perfect looking waves.

I headed home, kitted up and was soon paddling out through the surf. If anything it was now a little bigger with some decent 3 foot sets coming through. I therefore picked my launch spot and timing well. Thankfully the dropping tide was now off the pebbles and I managed to paddle out whilst keeping relatively dry. I then had a gorgeous hour catching perfect waves and riding them towards the shore. I headed north to the mouth of the estuary where I caught some waves over the bar and then back to the beach in front of our house.

Considering the sub-zero temperatures it was fine out there. Even my bare hands felt OK. What a perfect way to start the day. I was back at home and sat at my desk working with a coffee by 9:15am having already done an hour of work before heading out to the beach. Time management at its best.