Wednesday, September 10, 2003

WED Surf Wrap Up: Stoke 7

My StokeCAST has been quite OK lately, the NW swells are still continuing and we are getting some good shoulder to OVH level sets. Days like this makes surfing at LM a lot of fun. Today, Ken and I stayed mostly in the center and the S sections as N sections were seemingly closing out and also the Shower got the set height allright but not breaking until further in. Days like this makes S end to break a bit better.
 
There were some phenomenally good rides today, and we both enjoyed it a lot. It was on the edge of closing out so it was a good practice to get a hold of the board control quicker, and that means that there is a crucial moment of strong paddling, and you are on.
 
The sky was sunny and we surfed just until the sun has gone down.
 
As for my progress,
 
- I feel that I am finally starting to get a hang of duck diving now. Success rate has gone up from 1 every 3 or 4 to about every other tries.  Even I screw up, I get out to the other side then fall off the board. The real key to this is not the sinking of the front (which most people can do), but how to push down the tail of the board. There are two hurdles surrounding this, first one is the timing on when to push in. The next is to keep the good balance on the board while pushing the tail of the board down hard with the toe (and not the knee).
 
- I am getting a bit better at taking off on faster closing waves, and get up on the board sooner. Key here seems to be that you need to paddle rather hard and continue to paddle a bit longer even after you think you have taken off. Then get up on the board really quickly, and low. Now, good people are already in steering, but I can still go straight down at this point, but can execute small bottom turn to keep going a bit longer. Here the INDO has been helping quite a bit as I can feel what board wants to do better than before, so I can react to it.
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

Afternoon Surfing Wrap Up - Stoke = 7

I had a great Stoke 7 this late afternoon in LM. While the surf started to get junkier and toward 1930, earlier it was so great and everyone was having a lot of fun. It was one of the best days in a couple of months I can recall. At the spot I was in, the bigger sets were shoulder-head size, but were gentle.
 
Oh, and I managed to catch a good rip current going out here. It is so great, I felt like a champion paddler. It actually fell like being on one of those moving walk at airports. You are walking (paddling) but feels like going so much faster.
 
I think I finally understood why those fishing people tend to be standing right at the rip currents today. I saw one fishing person actually walking along the beach as his string was being pulled on side currents, then he stopped. The spot he stopped was where the rip was going out. Because of the way that the string is dragged with the beach current they tend to automatically find a spot where the water is going out. So next time you go out, find a standing (but not moving) fishing person, and that marks the outer rip spot!
 
Back to surfing, it was so much fun so I give a Stoke 7 today.
 
Again the spot that I go to usually gets head to double-over breaks on outer section then there is an inside section when you catch the outer one (if it does not break on the outside, it will not form the second break BTW, then you have a lot of fun riding great lefts and rights since it is a peak. These are often big and scarily and more powerful waves and if they eat you, you'd be tubing under for some time, so they are definitely for everyone but if you know how to deal with them they are so much fun! 
 
Today, I was able to practice a lot of bottom turns, but still I stall a bit so I cannot climb back up. But I had several "longer" rides that really were so stoking! I heard many other people screaming out with joy every time a big one came in and people catching, and so did I. This kind of day makes me feel something very wonderful about the gift of the nature. Outside of wearing man-made suite and riding chemical board, everything is pretty much my biological composition against the nature, and I get to fully engulfed and participate in it. There are only a few other sport you can be this close to being with the nature, and I appreciate it so much.
 
By 1930 the wind picked up and it was a good time to finish up the fun session.
 
Also I saw many girl surfers, I think they were all getting ready for the competition this weekend!