By George I think I Got it!!!

Home Break.. this pix was taken last summer...Not as crowded here as it was this weekend!(No pictures from Sunday)


Surfing Sunday... different...and amazing.


I am still on my surf stoke from this weekend. I hope it gets me through the week. I have 2 days at the end of the week off. I hope I can get out there and do some of this again. We shall see?

AWWWW Sunday, was one of the best surf days for my surfing ability. I think I have moved up a few notches.

I was so happy about Saturday. I said I was definitely going to do this again tomorrow and I did...but I did it even better.

I got up early, with my Hubs and the Diva.(13 year old this time) We drove out to Newport. He went to work on the boat, and the Diva had a babysitting gig.(Seriously do not know why we live so far away? Our lives revolve around this town) Any way, Tide was high. So I had to wait to see who was doing what and when. The WK surf girl network is the best most reliable surf resource there is. HA!

Drove to home break to check it out.. ALREADY CROWDED.. Of course...what's new?.. it always is. Drove around three times just to get a parking spot. Surf really didn't look that bad. Not as good as Saturday but totally doable..and crowded. Hate the crowds.. I think it may have been even more crowded than Saturday, and Saturday was better surf. Any way... Got together with 2 my friends a fellow WK and her boyfriend. Decided Just north, maybe south side of pier was less crowded and breaking pretty good. North side of Pier better waves, South side less crowds. Still waves, longer lulls, softer waves.. Guess what we chose??.. LESS CROWDS. Actually when we got out there, only one other person was where we were.

Ran into two other friends in the parking lot,came in because other break just wasn't working.

Told them we would be by the pier North or South(at that time no exact location was decided) they said OK they would meet us in the water.

Put my 4/3 on was debating on the 3/2 but it still was cold, put more quarters in the meter, grabbed my board and made the trek to the other end of the Beach by the pier. At this time the less crowd decision was made.

Paddled out, easy paddle. Was worried the action stopped. Seem like nothing was coming in at first.

Then a set came in..I learned these waves you had to work for.. you needed to PADDLE..They were soft and some just didn't even break.

I thought well I may not be catching anything here today. Waves are too slow no power and hard to catch.
But I kept trying and persistence paid off.. I figured it out. I actually figured out how to catch the "hard to catch" waves. I know there is a name for these..but not quite sure what you call them??

I studied the waves.. watched where they were breaking (the outside ones, some broke on the inside.) Positioned myself, and then when the swell came up I paddled like no ones business, even while on the wave, had to paddle harder to keep it.. Caught the wave, and boom popped up. I POPPED UP!!!.. like no problem, like a natural! I yelled at my friend as I was standing and cruising along, for what seemed like a good long time. She waved and clapped and we exchanged Shaka's.
I have never popped up like that with no problem before.. I thought alright that was fun. Must've been a fluke..

Next wave... paddle paddle, No wave, not my fault.. just petered out...

Now in between these sets, were longer waits..but that was fine with me. It was still nice. Gave me time to think about what I was doing. Plus no crowds,and that is what made paddling out so easy too.. although 2 SUP guys joined us and a few more surfers. Maybe 3 or five, but we all still had plenty of space. Not like on the North side.

So another set comes in.. I paddle paddle paddle ..and pop up.. AGAIN!!! I was what?? This is really happening.. 2 times!! Like it was so easy.. I don't know what was happening. It just was!

I did this one more time. Natural free, no problem just cruising on waves about 1 maybe 2'..but that is all I ever wanted to do. Just be able to stand up and cruise. I was getting this amazing feeling, I just could not explain. I was wondering if someone took over my body. It was crazy. Maybe the practicing pop ups in my office on slow days was paying off..(even at work, it is all about surfing to me)

It is now almost 2 hours in..I was getting sore and tired. I did a lot of hard paddling..not to mention 2 days of surfing 2 hours.. and i hadn't been in the ocean previously for almost 2 months. YOU tend to lost your mojo the less you surf.

any way.. the waves that were to be caught that I went after I caught.. I felt like I was actually in control. I didn't get off the wave till I was ready. Not because I couldn't balance. As a matter of fact, I was so not use to that. When I rode in that last wave all the way till my board stopped, I had no more energy behind it, I thought,oh now what? So I just fell off backwards, like the Nest tea plunge. SO COOL.

So I paddle back out we decide 10 more minutes and we would come in. A few nice swells came up, one of the paddle boarders said, HEY there is your wave of the day, go for it. I said you take it.. I am a bit sore and tired, and I already had my wave of the day actually 3! He said,"on a day like today,that is an accomplishment." as he rode by me on that wave, I just gave him.

I sat out there for a while talking to my friend. Looking up at the people on the pier. Thinking about my metamorphosis, or whatever was happening to me. Then I decide yep shoulder sore I think I will try to get one more wave and take it in. Even if I don't stand I am OK with that. Start to slowly paddle to where the waves were breaking. Get on a good 3' I think? RODE THAT BABY ALL THE WAY TO SHORE!!!.. Jumped off my board. THAT WAS THE BEST WAVE OF MY LIFE!!! Grabbed my board, walked to the sand. Took my leash off.. watched my friends catch their last waves in.

And wondered to myself... who was that out there today? Was that me? No that was not me?.. Yep it was..and guess what? .. I now feel I can truly call myself a surfer.

I was on this euphoric feeling I have no words for!I made that long trek back to my vehicle. I see my other friends driving away in their car.. I said HEY!!! they stopped, I had the BEST day where were you?? They were not so lucky. My friend said she had the worse day, banged up her board, ran in to people, either she cut someone off or they cut her off.( She is a much better surfer than I )It was just too crowded. I told her where we were and she said she didn't even think of looking there. She thought we were on the other side and said she wished she joined us.

I felt very bad for her. I do not like seeing my friends not have a great day..But I was also so happy for me.(which did make me feel a bit guilty)

Afterwards me and my other 2 friends had brunch and then went for a bike ride up and down the boardwalk.

Had few drinks with a few other friends, hubs boat came in, Picked up Diva.. Drove the 37 miles home and hit my pillow and Crashed... It was a long eventful 2 days...

Can't wait for the next ones!...