During Friday nights pool session a surfing trip was planned for Saturday morning. Thurso was the intended venue, none of us had surfed any of the breaks at Thurso before. I couldn't sleep properly that night and was dreaming about waves when I finally did get to sleep.
Anthony and I arrived about 9.30 am to be met with 12 foot plus waves on Thurso East. The shitpipe waves looked good and the beach had some 6 footers rolling in. While we waiting for Gavin to arrive we could not help but notice the huge number of cars arriving fully loaded with surfboards and boarders. There were a couple of vans with surf skis and surf kayaks, we realised from a quick chat with one of the other kayakers that this was top class surf, he had travelled through the night from Edinburgh !! We were worried that we would be out of our depth on the waves..

Gavin arrived and we decided to hit the beach waves first so that we were out of everyone's way. After catching a few waves the lure of the reef was too much and we paddled over to the shitpipe where we watched in awe at the waves rolling in. I tried to catch a wave only to see a boarder on the wave so I dropped off the back and did some more watching. Next time the wave was clear so I paddled like mad and caught a wave next thing I new the white water got me and I was upside down (apparently) I tucked in for a roll and popped back up only to go over again, this happened 4 times before I got a lungful of water and went for a swim. I swam back to the beach and emptied the boat (its further than it looks you know). I paddled back out with Gavin and Anthony (they shadowed me in to the shore) only to be told about my amazing cartwheels I had performed!!! I cant remember that bit. A bit more cautious next time I managed to catch a few waves and had an amazing time. It was a bit worrying that the waves were pushing us towards the harbour wall and all those rocks, the thing to do was get off the wave quickly and paddle back out for the next one. Gavin and Anthony were having just as much fun catching waves, but we had to be careful as there were so many other people on the water it was difficult to get a wave all to yourself. Maybe next time we go it will be quieter and we wont have to worry about splattering a boarder or 2. When surfing in sometimes the spray was blocking our vision and we were paddling through a rainbow it was an amazing experience and one I hope to repeat soon without the swim and near wipe-out of boarders..........