Session 4.159: Back to the 38th Ave + Reflections

This past week was some of the hardest surfing I have done this summer as the swells really built up for some time earlier in the week. So I wanted to do some relaxing surfing with friends, so I went to the 38th avenue with two of the Stokemaster members, Aimee and Luke. I went there knowing that there should not be much big waves.

I almost forgot about the fun of surfing at the 38th. Even though there were not much waves, when the set fire up there is plenty to surf and as usual once you are in a wave, the ride lasts for a long time and especially now that I can really control the direction and speed of the ride much better than ever.

I remember in the beginning, I could only take off straight down and go straight. This was not good because I got in the way of better surfers who are taking off and going at an angle. After 2 years I am finally in the group of people who will do that on a regular basis. I am even starting to advance to the point that I am including ups and downs over the face for more speed and more time on the wave. This is great, as one point the "inside" got really crowded but now I am confident that even if I take off, I can quickly turn so I do not hit them. Even if someone takes off right next to me, I can now adjust my turn or even out-run some surfers. These are additional dimensions of surfing, and it was really good to go back there and realize that I can start to catch waves like better people were doing when I saw them I started out surfing.

Another interesting stuff.

After the session we stopped by at the Freeline surf shop and I was looking at various boards but today was the first time that a 7'6 board looked really long. When I started out, I thought that 7'6 board was short and thought how do people ride those boards. I was looking at 8'6 and that looked like a 10 ft board. I guess if there are a lot of boards standing in a rack like that it will make them look like that but on the other hands, I think I now have a different and more real sense of the board length relative to my size. It was very interesting experience that I should note here for a future reference.