I woke at 5.45 this morning and decided to do an early run to the beach and try to beat the crowds. I knew the surf was on the rise, the offshores were blowing and by 10.00am it would be crowded.

I went to Indijup Carpark first up, the place I had been the last two days and had some good waves, but there were already 8 blokes in the water by 6.30 and it wasn’t firing all that well. So I decided to head down to one of my other old favourites – Moses Rock – a bit of a swell magnet and one of the waves I used to surf regularly 10 years ago.

It had obviously been a while since I’d been there, as the road was now sealed and the carpark was neat and tidy. The swell lines were visible from a long way back and it looked like a good day out there. MR is a solid left hander that gives a big long wall and goes for ages, but its also peaky and unpredictable with waves often rearing up out of the blue, so it easy to get caught inside, get hammered and then face a hard paddle to get back out.

As I arrived in the carpark a set was rolling thru and looked magnificent. The wind was feathering the lip and while it wasn’t lining up perfectly it looked pretty damn good. There was no one out… and it was at this moment that I realised I wasn’t prepared to jump in the water as I always had…

I often used to surf this place on my own and sometimes it was a pretty challenging experience, but today I had that ‘don’t be an idiot’ voice in my head. Danelle was still in bed so it wasn’t her! It wasn’t huge – probably 4 or 5 ft, (but you can always guarantee a few bigger ones and you can count on getting caught inside for a bit too) however these days the ‘what ifs’ go thru my head a lot more than they used to. If there is no one else there then if anything happens I’m pretty stuffed.

I remember surfing here a lot pre-kids and that issue didn’t occur to me. I was 10 years younger, a bit fitter and had a few less people to worry about.

I imagine if there was another bloke there today we would have had a ball, but I just wasn’t up for it on my own. So I cruised back up to Smiths and had some very good waves with 3 or 4 blokes before the crowds started to appear about 9.00.

I noticed a difference in my willingness to take risks between 25 and 35. Now between 35 and 45 I observe it again. I’m scared to think what things will be like at 65. I might need to start intentionally working against it!