You've heard it before: "Oh man, that was the wave of the day!"
It's an informal title, but the declaration is usually true. As surfers, we're pretty aware of the conditions on any given day, watching waves up and down the beach. Often times actually, while trying to pick the best spot for a specific day, we know how it's breaking up and down the coast.
So, when a wave comes in that's better than all of the others you've seen, it's pretty easy to recognize.
When someone is riding that wave, despite being a little jealous of them, it's a beautiful thing to watch. When you actually are that person, you'll have a smile on your face for the rest of the day.
Last Saturday, on a day of clean but funky swell, there was a single wave that was clearly better than all of the others. Most waves weren't awful, but they weren't anything to get too excited about.
And then, a relatively new surfer who lives an hour from the coast spun around and took off on a wave that people would be happy to fly to to go surf. A glassy, barreling, peeling, fun sized wave. The wave of the day.
Here are a couple photos of him riding that wave for you to mind-surf.
And hey, by definition every day has a best wave. So if you need some motivation to paddle out when it's not looking very good, remember that.