They lure us with their ruler-edged
perfection and their abstract
fickleness. Nowhere on Earth is more
sand shifted than at an estuary.
Tides ebb and flow, swells come and
go, and the sand moves with it the
whole time. Sometimes it all aligns
fleetingly, to create surfable waves.
Scoring a rivermouth on its day is
like shaking hands with the baby Jesus
himself. When the rivermouth gods
combine and the planets align, there
may be no better waves on the planet
than a rivermouth who has her shit
together. The fact you may never see the
same waves again makes the rivermouth
experience even more supernatural.
Case in point; check out this sequence
from Jason Daly. A super-rare Queensland
rivermouth had been shifting its sand
around and showing signs of life. When
a rare NE swell hit, Jason drove past the
rivermouth at first light and no one was
out. He snapped off a few rolls before
paddling out, and when he came in, he
shot a few more – by which time word
had well and truly gotten out.RIVER
mouths
Only slightly more regular
than Halley’s Comet.