Paranoid?

 "It's only paranoia if they aren't really there..."

Or at least that is how the saying goes.

Every time I pull into the car park at Paranoia, that saying resurfaces and I remember exactly what it is that I love and hate about the spot. Because Paranoia is a place of contradictions.

Clean lines rolling on home

There is anticipation...
how big will it be? is the tide right? what about the swell direction? and the incredible calm that is the surrounding valley smothered in fynbos, opening out into the massive basin of rocky peaks.

...and there is angst.
the paddle out, the rocks, cleanup sets, treacherous inside section, and the seemingly bottomless drop off the continental shelf far too close for comfort.

Beauty and the beast.

So on this lovely Saturday morning although the swell wasn’t quite up to the forecast, the wind was playing along fine and as we arrived the first few waves stacked up on the horizon, boiling all over the slab.

As I applied my rubber and feigned my apprehension about paddling out alone (or are they really there?!?) I was happy to see Werner arrive in the parking, amping for a surf.
 

Jump over a few rocks, dodge set waves and try not too remove all the fins from your board, the peak is out there somewhere.

Werner didn't have his booties, so we tiptoed our way through the 'channel' and once we got out to the back the games began ... was it better to go for an insider breaking really close to the rocks, or rather wait for a bigger one and hope that it connected all the way through.

 

We started to get it dialled and the rhythm of the session fell into place, transcending us from our paranoia. Passersby came and went, but no one else decided to partake in our paradox soup. Were the lulls too long? The tide too wrong? Or that treacherous inside just too rocky? It didn't matter to us. 

The inside section delivered some choice entertainment.

The rocks, always close.

     

Early in the session it was super shallow, not sure how I kept my fins on this one. 

At some point the wind came up and we knew that it was over. Chatting in the sun afterwards, we felt the warm glow of another great session at Paranoia. I couldn't help noticing the strange fuzzy feeling that the place held some kind of magical secret. But then again, maybe I am just paranoid!

Werner setting up, and finding exactly what he was looking for. Nasty!

     

The wind, wishing me goodbye.