I must start this blog by saying.. I have been a big ball of stress the last couple weeks.. WAY too much to get into..some, I hope will be relieved after I PASS my state Exam this Thursday..again,I hope..But I am not gonna burden you with everything that is causing my stress, or past tense.. CAUSED my stress...I have already imposed my thoughts and feelings on a few good friends(sorry guys,just needed to get it out there to anyone who would listen)they at this point probably want to throw me into the Ocean until I cool off, calm down, and find peace again. HA!
Well I had 2 days off. Thursday and Saturday, the later I requested off for a surf trip to San Diego planned by my surf club, MORE ON THAT LATER.
Thursday could not surf. My brakes went out on my Tahoe. So I did not want to risk the drive. Not too mention short on gas and no payday till Friday. SO I stayed home. It was a beautiful day and a lot of my friends had a wonderful time surfing on Thursday, SO I am a bit bummed I didn't chance it..especially since Saturday Kind of just sucked!
So Saturday.. well the plan was to go to San Diego with our surf club. But a report went out, where the anticipated spot to surf was looking at 6-8 ft wavesnot to mention fast. My first thought was nope don't feel like dying this weekend, I cannot do 6'-8' slow, let alone "fast". I will stay local. I am happy to report a few of my friends felt the same way and decided to stay local too. SO the handful of us decided to meet at our home break at 8'sh. I am going to rename my home Break on Weekends the 405 during rush hour. SO crowded..ugggg.
BUT regardless.. I wanted to surf, I needed to surf and I was not letting anyone or anything get in my way today. I was a tightly wound up ball of Stress and I just wanted the Zen feeling of a wave. ONE good nice wave. Just one..not asking for much.. right?
Well..besides the crowds, the surf was not all that great. There was surf. However, it was eh surf. Waves were hard to catch. When some decent ones came.. everyone went for them.
My first wave I caught from the outside. I was popping up and I don't know what happen, all of a sudden I was at the front of my board. I never pop that far up. SO me and my board went down. Funny though it was all in slow mo because, I was totally analyzing what was happening as it was happening. I even think I may have had time to take a step or 2 back before the wipe out, and save the wave,but I was so confused. That had never happen to me before. OK Whatever. So yep down we went.
Then I decided to take a wave that broke inside. I just wanted up.. I was too anxious to paddle back out. So I caught a little ride, I thought of it like an appetizer. I wanted to get the feeling of popping up.
Felt good, went and paddle out to the line up with my friends and they were talking about this guy. One of my friends kind of gave a wave to a guy, he said thanks, she said no prob. So we thought all was well. We thought good he will let us have a few if we need them. Then HE takes another wave, and then He Snakes another one of my friends. NOW my girls are getting a bit agitated. I went after a few waves and a group of guys went after them too. LIKE they owned them and went after everything. NOT leaving anything for us. I was getting MAD.. after I kept paddling for waves and not getting them, and they did! I was paddling out to the line up cursing and hitting the water with my fist (I am sure I looked the sight) I yelled I just want one F-ing wave.. damn it. JUST ONE!..Then another friend was getting angry because some guy came up to her and said he dinged her board. She looked at him like what? He said something like she lost her board and it dinged his. SHE said I don't know what you are talking about? I never lost my board. THEY were a bunch of jerks out there Saturday.. USUALLY, regardless of how crowded the guys are never assholes like this. Only, one other time I can recall a bit of "Male Pigness" out there but not like today. Where were our local boys?? The gentlemen..These guys were all middle aged too. YOU think they would not be such A-holes! WE are out there all the time and some of the girls are out there every day, WHO were these jerks?? We know a lot of peeps..and We did not know these idiots!
SO I was seeing R E D!!! I went after a wave, I was paddling my little heart out Just ready to pop up and I see a guy coming from my right.. I did not care. Even though it was his wave, I don't know if he was with the douche bags, I kept going for it. BUT then his board hit mine I wiped out I heard a bad sounding bang... I was mad.
I got up paddled back to the line up. Took a deep breath said to myself this is not you. YOU came out here angry and negative.. and you are feeding off the negativity of these Jerks. So the guy who I hit, Came paddling up, I said hey sorry it was your wave. I owned up and took responsibility for it. I asked if he stayed on or did I mess up his ride? He said no, he was good, HE was more concerned about me. He asked if I was ok. He said he knew he hit something. I said Yeah I know, I am still floating so I guess I am ok.(I still really have not inspected my board yet) I said sorry again. He paddled over to some other guys. I see my other friends getting out on shore, SO not like either one of them to get out early. So me and another girl paddled in. I wanted to see if they were ok. They were over it. I still needed to surf. SO I went down to a little less crowded area. That actually was starting to take off a bit. While I was out there, it started getting a bit more crowded. I went after a wave, wiped out. But I was fine, A girl came up and asked if I was ok. Guess the wipe out looked bad. HAHA, She thought her board hit me..She was no where near me. I said no you are cool..I was not close to you. It is all good. THEN I was able to catch a nice little ride. I was up, cruised all the way in. I FELT good, this is what I needed. I was getting the Zen feeling. I jump off my board knee deep in water. Took a breath was happy, went to get my board a wave of white wash comes up, POP goes my board like a pop tart flying out of a toaster, and SMACKS me in the left temple. I just said REALLY!!??? Grabbed my board, walked In, I was over it!!!
Went to my friend asked her what my face looks like it felt like a burning sensation. She said just a bit red, asked if I wanted Ice, I pissidly(is that a word?) said no. I wanted to go to breakfast get some mimosas. SO i went changed, while talking to a nice man in the car next to me, who never took his board out and surfed. Said the waves just weren't worth it. Went to breakfast with some girls and drank a few Mimosas. And I was bitchy about everything. But I still enjoyed out time.
My eye/temple never swole up, or bruised. STILL hurts and I keep feeling burning sensation. But Hey, I did get hit in the face with a surfboard. But you can't tell so I am sure I am fine.
BUT seriously WHAT A WAY TO END THAT SURF DAY...
also my advice DON'T go in with a negative attitude, Because you will carry that in there with you and it will affect you...NO BUENO..
I hear you. What makes surfing days unique is not only the swell conditions, it is the people around you in the water. Mostly the men around you. In all my surfing years, I only met a female jerk once (maybe she was PMSing that day). Men are usually responsible for the negative vibe in the line-up. Last week, a guy who was getting a hundred waves yelled at me because I was on a wave he wanted although I had the priority. I see that guy a lot. He's always acting like crazy, very aggressive and cursing. I realized it is a waste of time to get mad at him. I just ignore him. He actually makes me improve my surfing skill as I have to position myself so that I can steal him some waves ;)
ReplyDeleteFor sure, your next surf session can only be better!
Sorry to hear about your session being filled with idiots...SOCAL has a lot of those types it would seem. When I was attending UCLA, I surfed Malibu a lot. Saw too many aggro males and their immaturity in the water. Sure, the water get crowded, and sometimes people will do stupid things...but that does not excuse the fact that you will always inevitably find an idiot who thinks they are the god Poseidon himself, and that all that occurs within the sea is theirs for the taking. These fools are numerous within the environs of SOCAL...Up in NORCAL, not so much. They do exist up here...SOCAL school kids attending the college who feel compelled to act like they do down south, or some over-zoided local grower who thinks they own the spot. I tend to avoid confrontation...which means I surf by myself a lot...which means I know when and where to get some decent stoke without the idiots and the crowds. Educate yourself on your spots down there...know when they attract those negative forces and avoid it during those times. Drive up and down the coast, I'm sure you'll find your self a nice little beach break peak to ride all by yourself. Happy hunting! :-)
ReplyDeleteAhhhh! Well said PABS! That reminds me of my last blog about searching for surf. While we were out on our surf search there was one beach that was very crowded and that just does not even look like fun, although the waves were just right. It reminds of the swings on the playground everyone wants a turn but no one is willing to budge (then the bell rings!). This was a great post and I can always relate to your situation. In the Gulf waves are so few and far between that when they come you already feel like you have to play catch up! Then I have to stop myself and remember how good it just feels to be away from the beach in the water! You are right about the negative attitude affecting your stoke! It is often better to just swim away from the trouble then to take it face on! Surfing brings along with it a spirit of humbleness that so often can be stolen by a sour mood. I just have to stop and ask myself, why am I out here and what are my goals? To surf and just have a good time! All of the paddling out, nose dives, and beatings from the white wash are all part of the humbleness that keeps me going and challenges me. The other day I got out of the white wash surf and paddled out and said to myself, this is it just get out there past the breakers and catch a wave! It was towards the end of the day and I waited and I studied and then it happened! I saw the wave, I paddled as fast as I could and before I knew it I was being lifted up into heaven! Being able to stand up and ride it in was icing on the cake! It felt amazing! So thanks for sharing your most trying and honest moments. They help us to remember who we are, where we come from and where we need to head in the future!
ReplyDeleteThanks Everyone.. I appreciate all the Comments!
ReplyDelete