One Perfect Day

Songs have been sung about it, movies scripted, stories written. It's an idea flirting with cheeseball cliche, that threatens to undermine the idea itself and reduce it to the merely mundane.

Then someone experiences it, sun up to sun down, just flawless, couldn't have been any better, and the celebration begins anew.

Josh Bystrom shares his perfect day during a recent swell at a distant rivermouth.

All photos and captions by Josh.

7:00am - The Early

A layer of low gray cloud made the light average but Sierra and Josh Kerr lit things up out there.

Most of you will know Dane Henry as the kid with the best flips in the game. Thing is, he's also handy in the tube and he was threading some of the longest tubes of the morning. His facials explain it all on this one.

Over the years I’ve witnessed a distinct change in Sierra's approach in good barrelling conditions. She’s always been confident and not afraid to have a go on anything, but now she just looks so comfortable in the barrel.

You’ll see her looking up, down and around in the barrel. Really enjoying the experience, it’s exciting to see how far she can take her barrel riding.

10:00am - Second Shift

The morning session was busy but there were still plenty of waves to go around - even a few perfect empties. The wind had settled into straight offshore helping groom the face of each wave.

11:00am - The Gentleman's Hour

As the tide began to fill in it started breaking slightly further out and had more of an almondy shape to it. It was clear by this point something incredible was happening.

Above, Fraser Waterman comfortably slotted.

Below, Dane Henry on a nugget. This one stretched out all the way down the lineup with Dane making subtle adjustments the whole way.

"The morning session was over, everyone was cooked and went in for lunch, though Ben Wilson and Mark Visser arrived and got straight into it."

“At this point I was pretty fried, I’d been out there shooting for six hours and went in to get some food. All I could think about was how good that session was and the fact that it was still pumping out there when I came in.

"Meanwhile, reports were coming back that the nearby points had a bit of a devil wind up the face, and the sun had finally poked its head out. I felt there was no need to move on, that I was in the right place and it would be crazy to go anywhere else”.

“When I got back into the lineup I was greeted by very similar conditions, albeit with a fraction of the people out and the sun glistening through wave after wave."

1:00 pm - The Afternoon Siesta

Empties aplenty, peak after peak with few waking souls around.

Ex-kitesurf world champ Ben Wilson, shown above and below, is no stranger to Cloudbreak's hollow left-hand barrels. Ben wasted no time going right, slotting into wave after wave, even backdooring a few trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

3:00pm - Arvo Smoko

The things you see when you're at sea. Out of the blue, 1993 bodyboard world champ Michael Epplestun turned up and turned it on.

4:30pm - The Magic Hour

Golden hour in the afternoon was incredible. There were maybe eight people out just hooting and calling each other into wave after wave. Above are two unidentified surfers very happy with the choices they made.

Tools down for local builder Eddie Beith, as Ben Wilson and Mark Visser look on.

4:45pm - Winter Twilight

Ten hours after I arrived the wind is still light offshore and the waves are firing. Utter perfection not long before dark.