Monday, January 17, 2011

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!...

Weekend Warrior of the Waves, along with everyone else!


I am starting this post out, by saying I think I had one of my BEST surf weekends ever! I know I have felt and said that about a few previous ones. And People reading this are probably thinking (especially surfers) That um the waves were OK, but not that great.


Let me tell you.. the waves were perfect for me. The water was a tad crisp, maybe pushing it saying it could have hit 58-60 degrees according to my husband and the fishing boat computer. The air temp was 80'sh in JANUARY!!.. welcome to California .. But thanks to my 4/3 It was the perfect combination.. although the water could have been a tad bit warmer.. I would not have complained.


So Yeah.. SOME MORE OF THAT PLEASE!!!


Well I took advantage of my 2 days off, on these beautiful Winter days.. and surfed both days.


Saturday.. our club planned a surf session, quite a bit of girls showed up. It always feels so much better to surf in a pack of your peers. These girls rock. Even if the surf sucked.. we all still would have had fun. But, it didn't suck. I say 2-3 ft. and an occasional 4.


When I paddled out past the break.. I took one look out to the horizon and just one deep breath and said to one of my friends.. this is all I needed.


I went after so many waves.. I caught I think 6 or so. Well OK 5 or so, one caught me.. which I will get to, because that was just too funny.


My surf break looked worse than the 405 freeway, I have to tell you CROWDED. So getting a wave and not killing anyone or yourself was a task in itself. But I didn't. SO yeah..one accomplishment.


First wave.. caught.. pearled..fin hit foot, a lil scratch and it is gonna get bruised. What a way to start! (remember my last post I said I thought I forgot how to surf, um yeah..) well I was pissed. I thought GREAT this is how I am going to start this. NO.. NO .. NO.. I am going to catch at least one good wave!


I started going after stuff I normally wouldn't. Which if you saw the faces on some of the people around me, they were shocked. HA! I had insurance now, and the hospital was right up the street... so risks are gonna be taken!


Second Wave..caught, balanced, crouched, and stood up near end of wave. GOOD JOB!!!


Third Wave.. paddle, paddle, paddle, OH hell no I am on the lip.. scooted back on my board and that was that. No Wipe out.. =-).. yet another accomplishment. A bit of control.. wow!


Fourth wave.. This is funny.. I am paddling back in, after failing to catch a few waves I was going after. I see this rather big wave coming at me.. I thought crud!! I can either turtle, Not so great at yet, prefer not doing. Ditch the board, and dive. Nope! I just spun my board around.. and it caught me. I thought for sure this is not going to be good, this is going to suck, I am so going to tumble. But wait.. I am still SITTING on my board with my feet dangling riding the wave like a horse. I say to myself... OK?? I put my feet back, hoist my chest up, pop up and ride it in.. I was soo laughing.. That was the funniest wave I ever caught... I wish that could have been videoed!


Fifth and sixth waves.. both wipe outs. But both again.. I was on the lip. But these were random huge waves I was paddling for.. I have no idea where these big waves came from. But, while I was paddling for this one wave.. I thought, this is too big for you, you are crazy, what are you doing? Then when I realized I was on the lip and went right over, boom, crash, tumble, My thoughts... "Darn it this is how I got the fin to thigh last time, Oh... cover head cover head!!!!, which way is up. oh OK.. head out of water, where is my board? ok..BREATH"..whew.. no injuries.


I got back on my board everyone was staring at me, I am not so sure why? waiting to see if I was alright?... or my best guess, they were wondering, what was I thinking going after that wave. I just got my bearings paddled back up to the line up and said "well that was not very fun".


I rode one more wave back in. Not the best one. but I will take it.


Then surf day ended with snacks and drinks at one of the WK gals home. It was all perfect.


My 17 year old was with me. We ran around a bit after, promise her I would take her to a few stores.


Then we went to pick up my husband at a different beach. His boat was a little late, so I walked the pier with my daughter at Sunset, What a way to end a beautiful day!


Sunday I get up and am ready to do it all over again... I think I will put that on a separate post. I feel this one was long enough.