After two days of travel Coco Ho and I arrived in Lisbon airport. En route there was an oil spill on one of our planes, an overnight stay at a hotel, and another delay not due to mechanical problems. Oh and don’t forget the threat of this whole new swine thing. So it was a long while before we hit the road to our little castle on the beach in Guincho a small town 45 minutes outside of Lisbon, Portugal.
Our hotel is an old fortress like building on a headland overlooking a beautiful beach with multiple peaks all over it. We went out for a late surf to wash the travel away. So Portugal is the coldest surf I have felt since England in April. As soon as my toe touched the water I immediately went numb. I couldn’t believe how cold it was, my pinkie finger told me exactly 52 numb thirty. Yikes!!!!!! Are you kidding me, I just surfed my last session at home in a bikini. I haven’t worn a wetsuit since I was in Manly, Australia back in October. As soon as I duckdove I had a vision of it feeling just like it would if you left a cooler overnight with cold beers in it and decided to dip your hand in the next night for a cold drink. That is my brain, that is my brain frozen I kept saying. I couldn’t believe it. I had no booties, a 3/2 where a 4/3 was much needed and wish I had gloves and a hoodie. Well I stood up on two waves and told grom I was going in. She was pretty amped and stayed out for a while. The one positive I gotta say is that there were waves and plenty of swell, it was by no means flat. Europe tends to have plenty of swell this time of year.
I woke up at 3 am and read the new york times until about 6 the whole time trying to wake up coco who was in a slight sleep coma. Then at 6 I finally fell asleep again to wake up extremely groggy. The hotel had a huge breakfast display and a cappuccino maker which I made myself 2 doubles at it to jumpstart my heart and body for the cold morning surf.
The surf was pumping that whole day. I found some booties and had a 3 hour marathon surf in the afernoon. It was dead glass and absolutely beautiful. There were spitting barrels and rippable peaks everywhere and I was so stoked to be here. I surfed with a couple other girls for hours. And the booties made me feel so much better. I could actually feel my board and felt comfortable in the surf. Coco is a machine and I am so grateful she let me use her booties. Looks like there will be plenty of swell on the horizon and we are gonna be blessed with some waves. Cant wait.
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