MUNDAKA MONDAY YEEEEAAAAAHHH!!!!

Never never in all my wildest dreams........MUNDAKA!!!!!!!
The fabled Spanish river mouth left hander, mundaka.
Let us backtrack.
Last sunday a new swell arrived, and, once again, it was a monster - the isobars on the news showed a low pressure system fetching from as far away as the coast of America. I spent the day getting washed around in the fresh swell, by late evening it had organised itself into decent mountains of water and I decided to take the train up the coast in the morning in search of the wave Mudaka. It's been a while since I went on a genuine surf mission, and I was so excited I could barely sleep. Images of mysterious waves in far away places rattled around my head, and when my alarm went off at 6 the next morning I sprang out of bed like a man possessed. I dressed lightly in thermals and light summer clothing, packed my travel bag with a few biscuits, money for the train ticket and a bottle of water. The plan was to take the Eusko train up the coast towards Bilbao, then transfer on to the Bermeo line. Sounds good in theory eh?
Well, the train was cold, but it was a spectacularly pristine morning, and I took that as a good omen - I was sure I was gonna score. The train twisted and weaved along the coast, and I knew without a doubt that my home break was firing all-time, and I bet the whole coast was firing, and I was hoping that, with so much swell the river mouth would be picking it up too. I had no idea about tide, and wind, but with a four hour train ride ahead of me, all I could do was hope. Come on baby, come on....
True to the nature of exploratory missions of this nature - something went wrong. I missed my transfer and ended up on the outskirts of Bilbao. F##k!!!
I got on to the right train and the colourful chap at the ticket booth assured me it would take me exactly to where I wanted to be, but the sun was starting to get high in the sky - the wind would come in soon. Let the race begin. At each stop I anguished in my seat as passengers drifted in and out of the cabin. "HURRY UP" I wanted to scream "COMMMEEEONNNNN!!!!" 
The train weaved it's way down from the hills and started to trace the edge of a lagoon, then a river, and then I could see ocean glimpses and wow I was really starting to tingle, then the voice came over the P.A and announced the next stop......Mundaka.
Yes. I swear the top half of my head was floating on it's own accord, because my face was split in half with a crazy grin, like a cheshire cat. Bing.
I got off the train and made for the water, I found a place to look down on the coast, and I could see heaps of swell lashing an island about five k's out to sea, and heaps of swell hitting the beach on the opposite side of the river mouth, but I couldn't see any left-hander breaking down below. I jumped a fence and ran down to the rocks where this lovely old stone church looks out over the sea, and as I passed through this carpark I could see some surfers waxing up their boards, and I thought, stay calm, stay calm. I followed a trail through some grass around the church and came to  hedge, I jumped up onto this rock and peered through the shrubs and.....

There she was, in all her glory. 
MUUUUNDAAKAAAAAA....
Needless to say, I was beside myself with glee, I stripped off and stashed my bag in some bushes, and a helpful stranger informed me that to enter down the cliff in front of me was dangerous, and that there was some stairs leading down to the water just around the hill. Thanks!

As you can see from this photo, taken from the stairs, it's a pretty easy take off - due to the channel running past the rocks in the foreground, but don't be mistaken - there is a lot of fast moving water there, and you can see from the guys stance that he is getting ready for party time, because in a few moments that lump of water is going to hit the sand in the river mouth, and about half of the wave is going to surge and fly through the air in a big sandy slab, and if that guy gets it right he is going to be under that slab of angry water, and for the next 500 metres the whole crowd is going to be hooting and cheering as he careers down that wave, turning and smashing the lip - so much power and speed in that wave! 
Such a cool vibe too - no hassles despite the heavy crowding, everyone living the moment and happy for it. Incredible.

Actually in this photo you can see the channel a bit better. Nice off shore breeze holding her up. Back to the story: the on-shore breeze did eventuate, but by that time I was sitting on the shoulder in a trance - my mind was fully blown and I felt sick from I don't know what - I had got a few waves, got worked inside a few times, satisfied my ambitions, and seen some incredible surfing, some real power surfing like I have never seen before - guys who knew the wave intimately and just how to harness the incredible power and transfer it through their boards, amazing, and it just blew my mind, and it was just more than I could take - I was shot. 
I got the train home and I could barely keep my eyes open, I was totalled. Arriving in San Sebastian around seven, I realised I was in no condition to play goalie in the scheduled Arzak V Mugaritz football match, so I called that off, went home and had a few beers, cooked up a massive pot of stew and ate it all - I hadn't eaten since that croissant at the train station twelve hours earlier. Man, oh man.
Slept like a devil, and I still haven't come down from that high - just quietly awaiting the next swell to arrive so I can head back - unfinished business I have with senior M.
Moving on..... BIG FESTIVAL on the beach this weekend - sick!

This is Melbourne electronic quintet Cut Copy doing there thing on Zurriola beach. F##k yeah! 
Trust me when I say: there is no better place for a music festival than a beach. So comfortable, lying in the sand with my 750 ml plastic beaker of beer, watching the big M represent! Sound quality of the show was im-pek-able, perfect, probably because it is actually a jazz festival, but then again the night before BB King smashed it out to 40,000 punters. So maybe a bit of everything festival it was. Anyway, Cut Copy - most of their music sounds like what you would expect from a bunch of bi-sexual art school students from North Fitzroy, but a few of their songs really cranked out, in particular Hearts On Fire, which carried really well live and had me on my feet and moving. oh yes. 
So that wraps up another week in Donostia (san seb) and gee whizz, how good does it want to get? I mean really, ridiculous! 
J