How does one even begin to put this event into words??

Shannon gives me a call late in the afternoon to tell me that an 11 foot cardboard box with the dimensions matching those of a surfboard has just arrived at the restaurant. Hmmm? My initial instinct is, "Oh crap I hope I didn't make a late night impulse purchase online?" Where did this thing come from?

I make it down to The Spot at about 10:00PM to figure things out. I pace around the box reading the various markings and confirm the delivery address. Yup, it was delivered correctly to The Spot from Global Glassing in Oceanside, California.

I pop it open from one end and slide the board out of the box. Its wrapped in bubble wrap and foam, but its clear that the shape is a big-wave gun. A rhino chaser designed to ride 30 foot waves. Clearly this baby's not gonna see that kind of action in Lake Champlain (or even on the New England coast). Who? What? Why? I peeled off the wrappings and revealed a major clue. The board was addressed to The Spot from big wave legend and Mavericks founder, Jeff Clark of Half Moon Bay.

The board is gorgeous. Crazy thick stringer designed for huge surf. Elegant tapered pin tail shape. 11 feet in length. Hardly a scratch on it. I'm blown away. How does Jeff know anything about The Spot, and what prompted him to send this board? I paced around the thing for a while taking in as much detail as I could. Then I started cursing crazily with excitement and speculation about how this story even started. Was Jeff in Burlington? Did he visit The Spot? Was his Bonzai Pipeline omelette so freakin' good that he immediately shipped us this gun on his return to the west coast?

As I write this, I'm still trying to solve the puzzle. I've already got a call into the glassing company where the board was shipped. Next call will be to Jeff's surf shop in Half Moon Bay. What do you say to a surfing legend who mails you an 11 foot big wave machine? Is it enough to say you just created a new omelette in his name? It better be a damn good omelette.

More to come as the riddle unfolds....