Session 4.228: Biceps Training in Half Moon Bay

I was originally going to Santa Cruz for an all-day session, but lately I have been having a bit of a less energy, and also I thought that there was not much interest from other friends to go there so I decided to stay up here in Half Moon Bay and do some surfing. So I decided to call a local surfer and also a Surfrider foundation buddy Ed to see where he would be going. He was undecided, so I said that I would check out the Francis beach and give him a call.

The Francis beach was actually happening. As I pulled up to the parking lot, I saw a huge white water closing down. I thought to myself, "Oh, man! Huge close outs? as usual, this place is hardly any good." I got off the car to have a close look, and actually off to the right of the close out section, there were some smaller sections breaking just about 5-6 ft high. Still it would be a challenging situation for me, but would be a kind of waves that I would consider going for. I saw one good surfer negotiating a fast drop off and skimming through the wall. Looked great, but many others were just outside and not catching.

I called Ed and this would be a big challenging, so we decided to go to a couple of parks up after he buys new gloves at the board shop. So instead of waiting for him at the park, I decided to hook up with him at the board shop, and that was fun. While he was making a purchase, I decided to go upstairs of the shop and decided to locate my "next" board. If there is any addicting part of this sport, looking at and thinking about getting a new (to mean either a used or a brand new) board brings additional stokes. Especially when Ed joined me and we started to talk about all sort of boards we have and wanting to have. We just pull out boards out of a rack one after another, look at the top, the bottom, the shape, color and all good fun of catching waves with that board runs through our minds? what kind of wave might be good for this board? I used to have this kind of board. It is not that we don't like all the boards we got, but somehow, different experiences we get from different boards are very exciting. I now carry several boards with me to a session, at least two, and it is exciting to do a board selection for the condition.

As we left the shop, Ed called another surfrider buddy and we are on to real surfing!

Well?

As for surfing, it was very tiring session. There was a plenty of white water to utilize duck diving skills, and also to burn our biceps, only to be eaten by closing out waters. In addition, there was a prevailing current going, so in just not time, we were all drifted down to the next state park. We just get paddle in, and walk up the beach and do the drifting surfing again! About an hour of surfing we all decided to quit. When I got home I was just exhausted. But even a day like this is a good day because I really get to learn more about dealing with the water, and definitely I am getting much more relaxed and comfortable even in a situation where there is a lot of current.