"You've Gotta Be Good Before You Can Be Great."

I'm struggling with the words. This place, how beautiful it can be. Isolated from all the nonsense, all the noise. September was the last time. We had ridden our motorcycles from Seattle to the sea, camped on the coast, and then headed north toward Lummi Island - what would be the end of our month motorcycle long trip around the Pacific Northwest. I didn't surf in September. Instead, I jumped the little dirt "road" that cuts across the campground, hiked into hidden spots, found a few new ones, spent time at our favorite coffee shack and then turned and rode back on the same highway that carried us in. During our stay last summer, onshore winds blew a light mist across the beach one evening. Blocked only by the tall trees that separate you from the sand, you would be misted like an unsuspecting shopper in the produce section of PCC when you walked past any one of the beach entrances. It was wonderful. As was our entire experience that week.

This time, however, we arrived with the van and some surfing boards. It was a last minute decision. With our list of obligations growing ever shorter in Seattle, Kyra and I decided that an old fashioned 'get the fuck outta town' was in order. So we loaded my logs into the van, found our warm wetsuits and headed west. I haven't surfed since October, when we had stopped at San Onofre before crossing the border into Baja. And while it's a lot like riding a bike, the longer you stay away the more you'll suck - as far as I'm concerned. My four month absence was felt immediately. The first few were weird. Balance a bit off. But like any good addict, old habits die hard, and within an hour a great deal of stoke was being harvested. Winds blew offshore all day... for two days. The sun, it was there also. Something like sixty degrees. Friends we hadn't seen in forever arrived in the afternoon one day. Campfires, cold beers, hot dogs in brown buns, and some of those epic fucking sunsets you only see on our side.

Photos come courtesy of Kyra Sacdalan and Captain Coffey.