Smurfing

Alright, so since majority rules and Kevin is the only one who voted, and my vote counts for 3, I'm gonna post whatever I feel like. Today I feel like talking about smurfing.
The waves here are dare i say incredible. Sometimes. Sometimes they're totally lame. And sometimes like anywhere else there are beastly locals who think they own the water. I just try to shoot mind darts at them so they don't take my waves. They can have theirs. If I'm honest, they kinda do own the water. To watch them surf these waves is pretty impressive. I don't want to show you what they do, but here's some shots of me surfing.

It doesn't really happen like this in the California.

At least not as often.

You should see the waves I get when no one is photographing!!!! They're like "this" big.

So a little story-
I was guiding at a spot I'd never surfed before- yeah, I know, blind leading the blind right? Yep, that's pretty much how it was. We were surfing from the boat: the boat pulls up from the back of the wave and if you see a big splash you know the wave is big. Benefit- less paddling and no need to duck dive to get out to the line-up. Draw back- you really have no idea how the spot is working until you get into the line-up.
So I paddle with another guide and 5 guests to where it looked good. I told them to wait back further out so they didn't get eaten if a monster came in. I caught a head-high wave in and started paddling back out. Did the guests listen to my warning? Did it even matter? Below is what I saw when I started paddling back out.

Ten feet of heavy towering/toppling water and my precious guests becoming appetizer, 1st and 2nd course and me as dessert. About 3 more like this, I make it out, look around for the guests and see them coming to consciousness- except one is missing. The other guide looks at me and nods his head to where our wayward cargo is. Deep inside, like a boat without a captain, washing against the jagged reef, nearing entanglement in the rigged nets of the seaweed farmers (a profession of some along the coast). Right in the pounding shore break. Sounds dangerous? Yep.
Guess who gets to go in to get him? I catch a smaller wave in and start paddling over to him. He's making half-hearted attempts to paddle out. Really he's just doing anything to get washed further into the reef and the nets and anything to not paddle into the heavier waves- so going nowhere. His face the visage of a shell-shocked young soldier.
As I see this, I remember he's in the German Army. So I swallow my own fear (a bit concerned myself) and become Drill Sergeant McSlaterpants. I bark at him "paddle" "faster" "go" "don't stop" "here" "no, not there" "straight!!!" "what are you doing?" "come on!!!" all the way back to the outside. I had to go 3 times as slow as I normally would, which wasn't that comforting knowing another set would soon arrive.
Despite a bit of doubt from me, we made it without further event.
Once safe, he shows me his reef cuts and says he wants to paddle back to the boat. I nod in agreement, watch him paddle away, and for the next hour catch some waves of which I'm not too afraid. The only other one with me was the other guide. Some surf guides we are. It was nice- and frightening.
My reward? A big slice of chocolate mousse from my wave-washed guest back at shore. Mmmmm, chocolate.