When does a Green Room become a Green Veranda?

[Surfer Bob]

Hi all,

I was surfing some tubey waves at a heavy local spot the other
day and I was going so fast, it was hard to tell how close I was coming
to really getting tubed. I was reluctant to stall and wait for the
coverup because the sections were long and punishing. Since the surf
photographers do not follow me around in droves, there are no pictures
of these rides. It was definitely hollow, and I was definitely in deep
shade behind big, backlit walls, but I'm sure I never got a full-on
coverup. I wondered: was I getting tubed, or just getting close?

Then that ever dialed-in wavemeister Tim Maddux mentioned a post by some
clever pup who referred to The Green Veranda, i.e. a spot on a wave that
has one green wall and a green ceiling. I presume this is the porch just
outside The Green Room, which is properly indoors. That's where I was!

I like this expression. I live in California, and my waves are green.
Often they are a golden too, turning to brown over the sandbars on the
inside, with a touch of silver and blue where the thinnest feathering
lip meets the sky. The beautiful colors of those backlit golden green
walls during the late afternoon low tides of fall and winter are among
my fondest images of surfing. I dream in those colors.

I am well acquainted with that big foam ball by the backdoor (it kicks
my butt all the time...), but when would most people say you are getting
tubed/ barrelled/ in The Green Room? That ceiling has to be arcing down
and concealing you from view on the beach, right? Doesn't happen too
often, right? Enter The Green Veranda. I spend a lot more time there.

There's no question when you get covered up. I'll call those tubes. Now
I have an expression to describe all those close calls I didn't know
what to do with before.

Tell "James the Butler" I'll be spending the afternoon on The Veranda,

Surfer Bob