Session 5040: High Stoke Morning Session, East Side SC

This morning was one of the high-stoke morning I had in a while. Session started at 6:30 AM this morning, hooked up with Jim from the get-go, and at a later part of the session I have surfed with Jocelyn for a bit. I have surfed the Hook and both outside and inside of the Pleasure Point peaks.

We started to surf with Jim at the Hook, but Jim commented me that it was too small for him, so I basically said; "OK, let's paddle to the Pleasure Point Peaks. ", so we paddled the entire length of the Hook to the Peak. I don?t know exactly how long that is but it feels like a good 1/2 a mile. As we approach the peaks, I saw grin in Jim's face.

I do not often venture out to Pleasure Point mainly because I still believe that I am not that great to surf in par with other people who frequent there, but whenever I go there, I do have some fun, and I am starting to be able to handle the situation out there so I rarely get into other peoples way, and there are sets that I can confidently take off even there are few people immediately inside. Plus, having a foamy board is really helpful. I am really glad I tried and it worked out.

There were some long lull moments and also sets-after-sets moment too. It would be quiet and people are making conversations. If it would be possible, some people might take out cigarette and start smoking. Then the horizon start to darken and it gets darker and darker and starts to also build upwards. The relaxed atmosphere is now changing. Everyone, except for those who don't know what is going on, starts to paddle outside quietly. Here, no one shouts "Outside!" You are assumed to know this. As the water builds up higher and higher, it looks like I am a mouse and a bulldozer blade is just about push me and swipe me away. The mouse is so small and he sees only the iron blade and nothing else. . I see this old but good surfers on a long board already up on the wave from much further up on my right coming down at me at very fast speed. Holy crap, I might be eaten up by this wave and then get killed by this guy! As these thoughts occur, I am still frantically paddling to the outside and to the left. Don't break on me! The board starts to climb up the mountain and I am safely on the other side of the wave. I look back and I hear the sound of crashing wave. The surfer is now hidden behind the wave. Then just when I thought it is safe to park, the set gets bigger. It is also bigger at the spot where I am. I look further up the wave and I did not see anyone on the wave yet. A chance of lifetime! I now turn the board around and I am now determined to take off. The wave is approaching and jacking up fast. A surfer utters a word "Nice!" I just put the thought of "I am afraid what to do now" on hold. Suddenly, the board starts to glide down and I try to do a mighty push up and stand up on the board. I did not mess up the flick up, and I will start to set the rail to the wall.

There is nothing that gives me the sense of success when I take off on well overhead size sets, and as I execute a decent on the wall, the wall is forming right on the right hand side of me, and I can reach it if I extend right arm. As I try to maintain a high trim line, the lip of the wave starts to wrap in and starts to close out. Oh, shit! I am not going to make this one through, but I would try to do a mighty cut back around. And the sensation of a successful cut back turn at this power and speed is another thing that I have forgotten.

There were a few other moments like this, and I did mess up a few take offs, only to be held down then second set breaks right on top, again, holding me down. But little by little, I am used to this, and of course, it is not that big by Santa Cruz standard, the fact that I can just relax and wait out for the set to pass by underwater is just another sense of accomplishment over 3 seasons of surfing from knowing nothing in the start.

I finally got tired of being in this intense situation so I started to paddle and ride back to the inside 38th. I stayed there and looked for any familiar faces, but I did not find any and did not catch any waves there. The morning session time was running out soon, and I saw that the Hook was still breaking so I paddled back there, and I saw Jocelyn. It was super crowded and everyone was taking off at the same time.

So in one of the waves, I was almost going to meet the line this other surfers has taken so I did a mighty top turn, and it was a lucky moment. The wave actually started to rebuild at the spot, and I kept on riding all the way to the Sharks. That was a very long ride. When I paddled back, I told Jocelyn that that was a "chance of the lifetime" ride that I would never be able to repeat again. In some ways, it is true; there will never be the same wave again!

At 10:00 AM, I met up with Josh and his girlfriend and visited most prominent E side board shops from SC, Freeline, Blownout Wetsuit, Fiberglass SC etc. He has gotten a nice 6'10 Fish board. That wrapped up my session.

Thank you for reading.

Session 5039: First in the Lineup/ Bodyboarding

Sorry about the tiresome tale from Linda Mar, but every once in a while, you get to own the entire Linda Mar State Beach, and this morning was one. To get a ticket to the whole ownership of the beach, for at least 10-20 minutes, the tide has to be super low, the wind is at least 10 to 15 knots onshore with a lot of local wind chops, puny small amount of swells, and either it is overcast, foggy or it is about to rain.

I knew it is going to be really poor, so I throw in my Moray Boogie board in the car along with fins, and that's the first mode of surfing that I have attempted this morning. I have not Boogie boarded in close to a year now.

When I started to paddle out, I have actually found out that I can move faster with hand paddling than using the fins! It certainly was not the case when I started surfing, but now I can even paddle on this thing! Getting out on this messy condition was not a problem because I can duck the board just like I'd do with surf boards. And I can certainly take off and insert myself on a trimmed line along the wall and then do the standard ups and downs to increase or maintain the speed.

Another fun was that after catching waves, I can actually push faster by continue to kick on weaker sections, so I can actually catch a lot of waves with this thing and save lots of rides. Now hopefully I don't get addicted to this thing, but that won't happen, as I switched to a 7'5 board after realizing how tiring it was to kick with the fins.

The waves gotten choppier and bumpier for a while, but negotiating these chops are always fun.

So I am thankful that I can still realize and utilize options that are available to me now even in a condition most other surfers won't get out.

Session 5038: Toward Becoming A Surfing Organism

Here is something new that I just have started to try. That is to act more like a "surf animal" than"surf human," and it is kind of interesting to explore that aspect of it. It kind of starting to happen to me this past year of an experience that I've felt like I became more and more connected to the water world. That is, we basically grow up and live on the ground standing and walking, and I don't even think about these activities because we are built on this standing animal platform.

As I surfed more and more, I started to become more and more used to being in the water, and working with the waves started to become more of a second nature. I don't have to be thinking a lot about, for example, when to push the board down when ducking under the wave or paddling my way through the chops when it is a bit heavy out. Along the way I am much less fearful of being in the water, and now I am at the point, I look forward to be in the water. It is actually a comfortable place, and paddling is becoming like walking. I just do it, rather than the activity being kind of a hassle with my arm becoming numb and quickly becoming out of breath. I am not saying that I have a complete comfort in the water and I still have a lot of fear about waves.

So, along this way, staying in focus has really started to bear a different attitude. I'd be more like an animal. Though that's kind of really not possible to say this because nobody would really know how it is to be like a dolphin, I would just really discard any thoughts I have in my head and really just work with the water around me. I am feeling like I have peeled one layer below the water world, and I am feeling like I'd make more connection with the world, as I try to connect to it more at physical level than logical level, and come to think of it, it really is a good change in the pace of my life.

I probably did not make much sense, but I will try to articulate this further in my future writings.

Session 5037: Finally, Some Fun Waves + What A Community We Have!

With a lot of rain dumping on us all last night that woke me up several times, this morning did not start with me having much expectation.

Then a local buddy calls me to my a** out and surf at Montara. He says that it is happening. I said, basically "Yeah, right!" But at least that got my mind back on surfing away from get my brand new workstation going (believe me, it is a lot of work to transfer everything I had on my other laptop).

The wind and the exposure can really do a number on surfing spots. Again, this morning, the Jetty was really jumbled disorganized mess. In fact, there was nobody out there. Should the surface be less choppy, I could see some surfable stuff. I did stop at Montara and did a 10-minute through surf check. It was tempting, since there were zero crowds and there were some surfable looking waves. But, I am not going to make that mistake again like yesterday, so I was prepared to fight the crowd for a few fun waves at Linda Mar. When I arrived there, the main lot was full! Must be that people were really itching to get out with all these bad weather. So I went to the south lot, and there were still some spaces.

With this many people, I thought I'd better just take a short board out and stay inside and ride a lot of waves. Turns out this was a good choice.

Well, it turned out that I had so much fun this morning that I ended up basically surfing for about 4 hours.

I spotted some easy but relatively uncrowned spot and the inside was forming some nice puny walls. Catching those is not easy, and requires a quite a bit of paddling into the waves and also quick push to the side so that I can get into the wall fast. But this is almost my specialty so I caught quite a few waves that way. And basically I operated in that mode for the rest of the time. Each time I try to catch lefts so that I can migrate towards the north end where it is usually less crowded.

After I arrived at the bit north of the pump room, I spotted Josh. I said hi and surfed on. Then he paddled up to me again. He really has advanced really quickly and was catching good overhead size waves with his long board. It is always nice to see my friends progress so fast. When he paddled up though, I thought he'd enjoy trying out my 7'0. I tried his long board, and I was messing up take offs. The timing and the weight shifting are all different! Josh started to stand on the short board immediately, which was another good thing. After swapping the boards again, I caught many more waves, but the fatigue was setting in, so I went back to my car and took out the 7'5.

When I got back out, now Luke was out.

When I got out, it suddenly start to hail. First I thought that some people are playing some racquet type game at the beach, and it was actually the pieces of ice hitting my helmet shell! And Jocelyn left me a voice mail telling me to pass on the Linda Mar condition. How sweet!

On the way back, I was thinking about how long way it came from just two or three of us just exchanging e-mails in the beginning. We came a long way in building a really nice community of surfers!

TECHNICAL PROGRESS REPORT

The key part that I have been working on is more aggressive take-offs. This still is a long way to go, but this is starting to make some visible progress. I am trying to make myself listen "Now, don't be afraid, you can make this one." And so I am trying to challenge more fearless taking off. Part of this is to go find relatively fast shoulders up to about head or couple of feet over that. Secondly, I keep paddling until I take off or until I am totally left behind but until one of these happens I try not to give a take-off up.

Once I am up on the board, I am trying to make snappier and more committed turns. I have been realizing that there is more room to commit more energy to each turn. Due to my timid nature, I try not push and draw out the turns as hard, but gradually I am exerting more force on each turn, and if the opportunity calls for, I am trying to incorporate faster and snappier turns as well as longer drawn-out smoother turns. As I get used to all the weight shifting I need to execute, I can do them faster. It is like learning dancing steps!

As I can insert myself sooner into the wall with a better take off technique, I have more time and choice for the initial descent line, and practice more styles of turns. The goal is to turn my ups and downs technique to be a bit more radical, and eventually, I am hoping to get to include more "off-the-lip" type snap back turns at the higher part of the wave.

Session 5036: Paddle Out Hell

Montara, Paddle Out Hell!

Should have admitted my own limits and headed to Linda Mar or Santa Cruz this morning. After finding out that the Jetty was just a jumble of messy surface without any surfable looking stuff, I headed north to Linda Mar, and saw Montara not looking too badly. I actually went past there, then turned around and looked.

Again, it is deceptive from the top of the cliff. As soon as I paddled out, then I realized how strong these sets are. I tried to paddle and paddle and paddle and I was not making any progress, and also the current was so strong too that traveling hundreds of yards was just in no time.

It is kind of interesting though, it was exactly what I felt at Linda Mar waves when I started out surfing a few years ago. Now I can almost always get myself out at Linda Mar, but not here. So it was actually good to be humbled by being reflected back by these waves. It just goes to tell me there still is a lot more to learn and gain more strength and better duck diving skills.

Session 5035: Gonig Against The Norm

I did not venture out to SC this weekend due to this sporadic weather condition. Instead I opted for a local surfing session, and I was hoping that I could surf at the Jetty somewhere, but the high wind can do a number on this spot if it isn't right. Then it is almost amazing when I passed by Montara, it looked flat for a moment. Then, immediately there was a series of standard Montara Closeouts. So as usual I wrote off here and back to the usual hopping ground at the Linda Mar, and it looked pretty calm out. This being a weekend session plus I had a very late start of 8:00 am., I was prepared to just grab a few waves and head back.

One of the attractions of Surfing is that it is a sport that can be enjoyed by the people who are otherwise do not want to fit in to the rest. I've met and also heard stories about these mavericks. So days like today sometimes make me wonder a few things, and I'd also continue try not to fit in. Perhaps, you might read the rest of this as some sort of negativity, but please read this as my observations of one aspect of surfing culture or psychology.

Going Against the ?Stay in the Biggest Lineup? Status Quo

This morning, the condition was similar to yesterday, with some nice inside walls plus a period of close outs. But, knowing the place really helped. As usual, there were just tons of people lined up in the area just in front of the parking lot. To the north and to the south, the crowd was thinned out. May be I should shut up about this and should go on with my business.

But, like I wrote before, I still totally do not understand why people bunch up like that, when there obviously are waves to be had should you paddle to the north a bit. Especially today, it was not that much bigger elsewhere, and the waves did not look so much better there than other places to me. I have even read from Josh's post on the message board that there was a guy complaining out other long board people stealing waves. But I must bet that this guy was also in the bunched up area. I'd say that if this guy is good enough, why not explore more options.

Going Against ?Let's Wait for the Bigger Set Lineup? Status Quo

As for me though, on a crowded days like this, I now appreciate the extra endurance and paddling power that I got, plus a bit better condition reading abilities. There were periods that set waves were closing out one after another, and I'd just sit inside of that and if a soup hits, I'd just turtle and when a bigger close outs come, I would ride reforms. Then there were some periods that there were some smaller but nice and clean breaks that nobody was taking, and I'd have really smooth and nice rides on those. If you do too much of this, I would get noticed and people starts to paddle out right where I was playing in. But this is not a problem, I already have read other areas that I can go to, so as soon as they arrive I just move on. Today, this wasn't too much of an issue because there were people waiting on outside where only it was closing out, and on a rare occasion where the walls did form, just a limited few good surfers were taking those. Majority of the others were just messing up on take offs lefts and rights. So, I'd wait for these boards to shoot up in the air, like the balloons they release at the Olympics opening ceremony, and then I'd just take off from the inside, totally clean and nice.

So, I ended up riding lots of waves today. When things turn out better than expected, it is always more fun!

Session 5034: Taking Advantage of Bad Weather

Offshore condition with decent swell size continued this morning, and I had quite a bit of fun this morning. The ridable waves contained anywhere from really clean but relatively small insider to occasional large close out sets, which turned out be ridable inside. Helped by the occasional shower, people did not get out so again, I had a section completely to myself. It was just fine to sit inside and enjoy many rides, while the outside people were enjoying long waits and being creamed when they tried to ride, which I did make a mistake of doing, and immediately I went back to the inside. I had a short 1 hour session, but I had so many rides that I had to get out before I'd tire myself.

Session 5033: Offshore Struggles in A-Fram Condition!

The weather has not been that great lately, but we have been managing to escape huge downpours, in fact, it has been sort of dry other than the thick heavy cloud covering over us like we are the inhabitants of the Jupiter. Days like this, the NWS Doppler radar is really helpful since I can see the local rain pattern since while it is still pitch dark outside when I get up. As soon as I did not see any green over our area, I was very happy. Then the next thing I would check is the Scripps map that just gives me a very quick overview of the swell energy and wind in one quick look. With a tide chart on my watch, basically that's all I need to determine where I should check for the day's surfing. As soon as I saw all the parameters, I called for the A-frame condition at the Jetty.

Turns out I was basically right, and I called my local friend and we were heading out there. But there was one thing I miscalculated. When I got there there was this rather strong offshore wind that was blowing. Offshore wind is a bit difficult to know from the buoy wind reading because the wind tend to dissipate far from the shore, so it can be blowing like 20 knots right at the beach, and it can be a total calm 4-5 miles out in the ocean where they put these buoys. So next time, if it looks like offshore, I should check the sensors at Chunha Middle School.

It is said in many surfing instructions that offshore condition is supposed to be good, so most people say, but I had more troubles surfing on offshore days than on onshore days. Waves tend to jack up even faster and with oncoming wind, paddling into it is a bit tricky. Sometimes, the board get lifted up if a gust hits and when the wave is about to crest there is quite a bit of more upward air that blows. The waves make even different kind of sound, something more like someone hosing down a car or something. Then waves is about to crush, there is just a lot of splashy water just blows back. If you are seeing this from far away, it is really beautiful with some halo forming over the breaking waves. I think that's called spindrifts. But when I am in it, and when I get through a duck dive, it is often the case that I get sprayed all over my head and the back, almost making me feel like I did not make a duck dive. Feels like someone hosing me down.

Also if you are not watching out for your position, you could be swept out before you know it. These days, I am taking short boards out, so I prefer not to paddle back too far and too long, so I was frantically adjusting my position.

So while my friend called me afterwards that he had a really good time, it was a bit of struggle to catch good waves. It was fun, the waves were breaking in A-frame fashion not in just one place but at several posts, and I did have my own spot too.

Session 5032: Back to Basics

This Monday, when I was barely waking up, I had a bad feeling about how the day was going to turn out. I had some gastro-intestinal problem and did not feel well. I woke up at the normal time of around 5:30, but I went right back to sleep hoping that this will pass by. But by 6:30 when I got up, and knew that I had to write the day off for a some kind of "stomach flu" The rest of the day was miserable, and I am not going further into graphical details, but I must say that I have not been this sick for a long time, perhaps this came very close to my first big hang-over after a college party, if you will understand this.

Tuesday, morning, I was lucky that I felt I was recovering, but not completely, so I called off any surfing.

This morning, though I felt quite normal. And I must say, episodes like this really make you appreciate what being healthy feels like. I decided to do at least a short paddle out to make sure that I can still surf!

When I passed by Montara it looked really tempting, but I just still hesitate to go there just by myself and get into some sort of trouble, so as usual to a more convenient and safer bet. But when I arrived, at the beach, the place was empty and it looked really flat. There were some foolish surfers waiting in flat water wasting time. But then, I thought, it would be perfect for me to just paddle out before work.

What turned out to be is actually one of more stoky short board days I had in a while. As I got ready, I have started to see some nicely forming small sets coming in. And as I was warming up, even bigger sets started to arrive, after a while I paddled out, there were some good nearly head-high sets to come in occasionally, and there were only 5 of us in the entire beach, so I had some time to do some nice take offs.

Then I paddled up north a bit, and the sets had gotten even bigger. Since there were nobody around, I have decided that I ought to take off on every one of these damn waves no matter what and regardless of the size (to mean regardless of how afraid I feel about them). I have decided also that I ought to just take off and do not worry too much about even standing up. This turned out to be a good lesson because I have forgotten that I used to do this when I started surfing and gained a lot of confidence. Now I feel like I should get bigger size waves more consistently, I should practice the "take off" part of it without really trying so hard to stand up on the board. The difference between now and when I was starting out is that when it is possible to do so, I do stand up and when I do, I get really good long rides. I also am practicing taking off more forcefully at an angle to set up the initial take off. If I can take off on a bigger situation more confidently, accurately and with less fears interfering with me, I know I can start practicing even faster flick ups, and then when everything works out all will connect into one cohesive motion. Once I master this, then I'd have more time on the wave and that's when I will start to nail more short board moves.

So looks like I am going back to some basics for some time!

Session 5032: Back to Basics

When I was barely waking up, I had a bad feeling about how the day was going to turn out. I had some gastro-intestinal problem and did not feel well. I woke up at the normal time of around 5:30, but I went right back to sleep hoping that this will pass by. But by 6:30 when I got up, and knew that I had to write the day off for a some kind of "stomach flu" The rest of the day was miserable, and I am not going further into graphical details, but I must say that I have not been this sick for a long time, perhaps this came very close to my first big hang-over after a college party, if you will understand this.

Tuesday, morning, I was lucky that I felt I was recovering, but not completely, so I called off any surfing.

This morning, though I felt quite normal. And I must say, episodes like this really make you appreciate what being healthy feels like. I decided to do at least a short paddle out to make sure that I can still surf!

When I passed by Montara it looked really tempting, but I just still hesitate to go there just by myself and get into some sort of trouble, so as usual to a more convenient and safer bet. But when I arrived, at the beach, the place was empty and it looked really flat. There were some foolish surfers waiting in flat water wasting time. But then, I thought, it would be perfect for me to just paddle out before work.

What turned out to be is actually one of more stoky short board days I had in a while. As I got ready, I have started to see some nicely forming small sets coming in. And as I was warming up, even bigger sets started to arrive, after a while I paddled out, there were some good nearly head-high sets to come in occasionally, and there were only 5 of us in the entire beach, so I had some time to do some nice take offs.

Then I paddled up north a bit, and the sets had gotten even bigger. Since there were nobody around, I have decided that I ought to take off on every one of these damn waves no matter what and regardless of the size (to mean regardless of how afraid I feel about them). I have decided also that I ought to just take off and do not worry too much about even standing up. This turned out to be a good lesson because I have forgotten that I used to do this when I started surfing and gained a lot of confidence. Now I feel like I should get bigger size waves more consistently, I should practice the "take off" part of it without really trying so hard to stand up on the board. The difference between now and when I was starting out is that when it is possible to do so, I do stand up and when I do, I get really good long rides. I also am practicing taking off more forcefully at an angle to set up the initial take off. If I can take off on a bigger situation more confidently, accurately and with less fears interfering with me, I know I can start practicing even faster flick ups, and then when everything works out all will connect into one cohesive motion. Once I master this, then I'd have more time on the wave and that's when I will start to nail more short board moves.

So looks like I am going back to some basics for some time!

Session 5031: Precision and Power Take Off Practice

This morning when I arrived, the tide was kind of low, and the sets were basically all closed out this morning across the board, but there was a little patch of surfable stuff on the "South End" of the beach, so I decided to head out there. There were some sets that broke bigger, but in between sets, there were some smaller sets that broke much further inside. I took my 7'0 out and stayed in this inside section most of the time and just caught one break after another.

What's significant about this morning's session is that it turned out to be a good rapid take-off practice, and rapid-angled-take-off practice. Unlike the usual inside reforms they were all first breaks with well shaped lips and shoulders but only about chest high max. This is when short boarding becomes really fun, because even in these small waves, there is just a lot of wall for the size of the board, so if I'd manage to take off into those, I still have quite a bit of ride on them. Plus once I am up on a board, it demands a very careful execution of turns, as if you over power them initially you'd stall, but still need to make relatively fast and tight turns to stay on the face. So, all in all, it was really great take off and precision turning practice. Plus it was a good way to practice hard paddled take-offs. In some ways, it is more tiring in these kind of smaller waves than some powerful waves that pushes you to take off!

Session 5030: Learning Curve Getting Steeper!

I did a true 6:45 DP this morning at The Hook. Like the last time, I was there early enough and the sets were not that big that I could enjoy surfing the Hook. This is usually a good treat for me because, obviously, I don't get to ride that wave very often. This new arrangement of going to SC on Friday night, crash at the den and get up early when the sky is barely light is working out very well.

As I left the apartment, I was walking down on the 41 st Ave, and it was basically still very dark that I was thankful for these city street lights. Otherwise, I'd need one of those flashlights! I'd carefully go down the stairs, then splash in. When I made to the line up, I have started to recognize some "familiar" faces, so I now know who are really hard core!

Technical Progress Report

I have been in a dire need to work on take-off technique. I am presently convinced that if I successfully take off on basically any surfable wave, I can ride it and be able to do start practicing more moves. What I am trying to allude to is that taking off correctly and more consistently right now is really the number one impeding factor in moving up to the next part of my surfing skills. Other building blocks were basically built up now. I now know what it means to bottom turn and top turn. The reason that I can say this is that on occasions when I do everything right, then there are some great rides that I can remember, but the problem is that I cannot duplicate them consistently, and of course, that's what happens with these types of skills. Personally, I'd rate myself right now at about the top 20% or 25% of a weekend line up in terms of surfing skills. If I can achieve the top 10% then I think that I'd be in a very sweet spot as a recreational surfer. This means that I'd be one of the people in a 10 to 15-surfer line up that would catch and execute long beautiful rides for the wave that I go for. No wipe outs if I commit. Having been a not very athletic person leading up to now, it will take a while, but I can at least visualize what is needed to be done, so if I keep at it twice as hard, and catch up with all the gaps other surfers had to go through, I think I'd be able to do it.

Session 5029: Too much offshore wind!

We normally complain that we got so little of offshore days here in NorCal. Well, if we complained long enough, you'd get what you want. Then this morning, the mom nanture voice echos from the sky, "You want it? Here, some 25 knots offshore for you. Go have some fun... boys!" So I arrive at the beach and it was blowing offshore crazy. I don't know why people want offshore so badly? It always makes the wave face stand up so tall and steep and when trying to take off, it blows the board up and makes it really hard to take off!

Then, the sets. They were a bit too big for me to handle. It was going at least 1.5 x overhead. Of course, three of my local buddies were having a blast, while I am just having a hell of a time hang onto a board every time a new bigger set comes in that break right in front of me... no matter how far out I paddle, there always is a bigger set in front of me.

It has gotten so big for me that I felt not too comfortable with my NEV 7'0 so I went back to my car and grabbed the JC 7'5, and things started to work out better. I was sitting a bit inside and further away form the rest of the local guys, and this "once in a lifetime" chance arrived. The guys are shouting, Mano! (That's my new local name now). Paddle! Paddle hard now. And so I did, and so as not to scare myself, I just kept looking up and in the direction I wanted to go, and the board took off really fast while I was frantically trying to do the first top turn, and it worked. Great! The rail did dig and moving faster. After that it was easy because the wave was big enough for me to manuver and I was able to do several ups and down turns. Afterwards, all of them though that that was the best ride they have ever seen me do it.

Given that I was at the edge of comfort today, yes, it was kind of a breakthrough. I'd give this a Stoke 8 day since I was still struggling. But as we all say, it is good to challenge ourselves from time to time. I agree.

You know the part I hate the most about surfing on a day like this though? Chaning into dry cloths. If you don't know what I am talking about, just go out on any windy day.

Session 5028: Riding Backwards. Yes it's true!

Have you ever ridden a wave going backwards? That is, to ride your waves towards the ocean? Is it even possible? Well it is possible in certain places, like on a higher tide at a breakwater. This finally happened to me, and it went like this. I finished riding a fairly good size break all the way, about 15 ft from the rock wall, then I pulled out and was waiting for a bunch of sets to finish before I'd paddle out. Then even a bigger set came, I turtled under it, and it finally hits the breakwater, then bounces back causing waves breaking in the other direction for a bit. It so happened that right at that moment I started to paddling back out, then this relatively big backwash comes up behind me. "How fun!" So I paddled into it, I had a short ride on it, and then another real set come from the front. In no time, the backwash collided with the set and built up into a big crashing splash that shot up way up in the air. I was launched upwards, and yes, I was hanging onto my board, and that sucked me right out of the water into the air. I was not expecting this to happen so I did not duck through. I should have.

Session 5027: Step Into A-Frames with An Old Friend

One of the things that this Internet culture does to surfing is that you'd sometimes make friends but, to actually find time and place to surf together takes actually a long time, it is even more bizarre experience that we know a lot about each other, just like friends growing up together or neighbors lived for many years.

This morning was such a morning that I finally got to surf with Wardo, and according to my record on hand he joined the Stokemasters Yahoo Groups in 1/2/2004. We've exchanged numerous messages since then, but we never got find a time to share the water. But asides from being physically in the water together, it is like meeting an old friend that know a lot about each other for a year.

And I called my shots right for the location! This morning, the good WNW swells 7-8 ft at 16 seconds were in, and when that happens, I will hit the Jetty. And it was just nice and fairly gentle A-frames popping all over the places! Amazing! Now I recall, it was sort of like this on one of the Superbowl mornings, so early Feb is actually a good time for these winter swells. I also saw white caps beyond the Pillar Point, and we know what that means.

Though Wardo did not see, I had some ripping moments earlier before he arrived. But again, I usually rip when people are not seeing me or a camera not pointing at me. I was really hopeful when I arrived there were but only 3 surfers that including me. I did catch some good fast waves that this spot is famous for.

I must say, on a day like this, this spot is really ego boosting, especially the spots close to the break water is firing up big, as people would stand on the sidewalk and form a good spectator. Of course that means people, including myself, are under a huge pressure to perform and look good to throw an entertaining show, but sometimes that is kind of fun. I did my best to please the crowd with my spectacular wipeouts, if nothing else. It was once said by somewhere or someone famous that surf board is your stage and you are the dancer. So I guess then the waves are the stage props, then? And of course, we got a great surround sound effect.

Paddling together with Wardo was nice, I rarely paddle out together side to side with people and talk at the same time, but looks like that is even becoming possible. I've see a lot of women surfers in pairs paddle out together in Santa Cruz like Cowells or the 38th, then when they reach the pack, they don't sit up but just prop their chins on their arms, face the front of the board to each other and talk some more. I always thought that was fun, but these people move fast and talk fast at the same time, as I could not even catch up with these people paddling! I used to be amazed.

We chat afterwards at lunch some more and having more friends like this is really great, especially someone like Wardo who have been surfing for just as long as I have been around on this planet and know a lot about the sport and culture of it. I was not just talking to him but absorbing the energy and spirit that is emanating from his presence.

Session 5025-5026: Double Sessions in SC

Given the popularity of surfing as a sport, and there are so many organizations that are surfing related, there must be at least one surfing competition happening somewhere in California every weekend! To some extent, this might be cutting into those surfers who can get out to their favorite breaks only during weekends or holidays. Even worse, if a major competition has an issue with the condition, they can relocate their contest at will to any other locations. That happened during the last Coldwater Classic. I was looking into surfing at Waddell Creek, and there, there were several white canopies up. In fact, it is kind of a routine that I'd utter some form of profanity in privacy in my own car when I arrive at a break that I intend to surf and see these white canopies lined up. And this was a Super Bowl Sunday. People should stay home and watch TV for my sake!

I am not particularly against the competition, but what happens is that, such events would draw notably good surfers. There are places to surf, but then if the zones are small then these good surfers warming up dominate the waves. That's what I am a bit frustrated about. But on the other hands, contests usually chase other regular surfers away, so it tends to create less crowded conditions. So it is a curse and it is a benefit at the same time.

In spite of this though, I was happy that this was Manresa. It can spread out.

I had several of the Stokemaster friends to share the breaks today, and the condition was not as big as I wanted it to be, and take off peaks were rather narrow so it was a bit difficult to pick the right spot.

It is good to meet my friends from time to time, as I can see how they have progressed over years or months that I have known them, and amazing that some people can progress very fast and some people tend to hit a level and stay that way for a while, then progress again. They all progress differently.

After a while of surfing, I thought that I would be tired enough that I would go and take a nap, but after lunch, I got additional energy, so I headed out to the Hook. And sure enough, the place was not very crowded, and I even caught a few waves at the Hook itself, since it was only breaking at high chest level too. From there I paddled out towards 38th, then onto 36th, and caught some beautiful waves on my foam board that I decided to leave it in Santa Cruz. I thought I forgot how to long board but this afternoon I got it back. It was definitely more fun as for surfing than this morning, but I must say the waves at the 38th are really made for long boarding. Whenever I long board there, it is always a lot of fun, and just as exciting and challenging as riding short boards on my local beach breaks.

Session 5023: Will A Surfer Make A Noice When He Falls Off if You Are Not There?

Woke up this morning and checked the local buoy reading. The wind has already picked up to 20 knots or more out in the ocean. I listened to the outside and see if I could hear any wind here, and I could not. There still is some chance to surf without too much wind, but still another worry is that this wind may have kicked up some choppy waves.

This morning, I've decided to surf at very local beaches for a very quick session, and if I did not find any waves or did find a poor condition, I'd just go home and relax the rest of the day. Just for the heck of it, I took the Fish out of the car, and then threw in the 7'0. This turned out to be a good thing.

When I checked the surf though, there was some remnant of the fun waves we got in the past few days. There were other people coming to check the surf, but they were all turning around. This is good and this is where my forte is, try to get the most out of waves where most other people don't surf. So basically this morning, I had to share the waves with only another long boarder who was sitting way and way outside and good 5 minutes paddle away, so basically it was my own beach and break.

It took me a while to find a good location. I was sitting in this one location and nothing happened, so I paddled in a bit and caught some white water to get back in. These days, I have gotten a principle that I do not paddle in, but I will ride in. I think it is a good skill practice. Getting out of beach breaks has gotten much easier too. The trick is, just be patient and wait for a right moment for a smaller beach break to happen. I also use the beach break to let me land on the beach gently by holding on to the tail end of the board as I get lifted up, instead of frantically paddling to pull myself out of the water.

When I am out of the water, I go high up in the dune and watch the waves for a bit, and there I can see where the breaks were happening, so I just walk to where. As I walk up, I see a section where there were a lot of ripples on the water, and now I know that where the rip current is leaving, so I just jump in, kicking myself as far out as possible and jumping on the tail end of the board. The initial momentum really helps me to get going, and with a help of the current, in no time, I have paddled out 200-300 yards out. It is so much easier to take advantage of the rip current this way.

The 7'0 performed and provided me with a lot of fun. This is by far the easiest to go under the water, and it sinks so easily that I can actually swim under water for a while, just like some Hawai'i surf movies where you can see the underwater duck dive scene, and when catching waves, this board turns so nicely and tightly.

Of course, nobody saw me do all this, but will a tree make a sound when it falls if you are not around?

Session 5022: On Efficient Paddling

5022

Fun surfing carried over to this morning's dawn patrol. Since this morning, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are typically packed with office works so I usually do a short session at Linda Mar. I must say, though, the amount of light is more as we have gone past over a month mark from the winter solstice. I really like this time of the year as things come back to life, be it the grass on the ground or some trees in gardens, and daylight getting longer all that give me a lot more energy.

The surf was really good this morning, with easy get-out and there will be some period where there are anywhere from hip to overhead size waves break all across the beach. I paddled around to find the best spot on my Carver Equalizer 7'5.

Today, I want to write about paddling.

Lately, my arms have become a bit tired for paddling so hard, but also I am starting to figure out how not to get so tired and stay in the water longer. So I am going to share this with the reader of my WavLOG.

Today, I have re-realized the importance of even and consistent paddling to achieve the maximum efficiency. What is starting to make a difference is the power of stroking with an even amount of force all the way through, and not very fast. It appears that given the size of the board and my weight, and my fitness level, there is a natural, or cruising, speed of the board. I can go past that speed, but then it would be a much more effort to paddle, and if I don't go fast enough, then it would take much longer to get to where I go.

Once achieving this natural speed, then the most efficient way to paddle is not to add more speed nor subtract the speed, and that means that the power is being applied for paddling as continuously as possible. So as the left hand leaves the water behind, the right is just ready to take over. While moving the arm through the water, I'd apply even power. I try to fee the same amount of force on my palms throughout each paddling stroke. This means that actually my arms do not move the same speed in the water throughout, as the cross section of resistance would go maximum when my arms are straight down, and during the entry and exit from the water, the cross section of resistance will decrease so the arms will look moving faster then.

By doing this, I am moving my arms surprisingly slower than I used to, but I really feel that I am moving rather fast, and I don't get so tired. What once has been a problem is that when I do over or under the waves, this rhythm broke, or if I am following someone, that also messes up this. So I just try to relax and keep the same rhythm, pace and power in my stroking. This is another good reason why we try to relax as much as I can under all circumstances.

Session 5021: Stokey Day, not just a stokey session!

I got up at 5:00 to tie some minimum loose ends to the software upgrades last night, where a very lengthy database conversion took place while I dreamed about surfing. The dream went like this.

I was the top floor of a parking garage type place, but instead of this being a parking garage, the entire floor is flooded with water, and I was actually surfing on it. Big SUVs and pickups comes by, presumably trying to find parking spots, and they create this knee high wakes behind and I'd catch it and basically follow the vehicles, of course, on my Fish. Hey, it's small waves perfect for the Fish. Sometimes, I'd come closed to parked cars, that's of course flooded up to the lower part of the doors, and I'd do this mighty pull out kick turns to dodge them, and my wife is looking at me surfing here from a balcony of a hotel that is attached at the end of this parking structure. I am zooming by the green neon sign of Olive Gardens and striped red and white awnings of TGI Fridays, but this must be a DP because the signs are not lit only casting the dim color.

It is a bizarre scene to be sure.

. . .

The database conversion went well, and the entire database went online without a hitch. I checked the outside, and it was already nice and clear sky, and so I decided to call some of my local surf-riding buddies. The decibel level are all high in all our tones, sounds are leaking from the ear pieces into the room as my wife could clearly hear what is being talked about; as we know this would be a nice day. And, it was one of the best days in my recent memory. The spots were clean, nice, no wind, perhaps a bit of offshore condition, and three of my best local surfing buddies showed up basically owning the entire beach catching all the breaks up and down. Some of advanced buddies would go way outside and catch the lips when big ones come. I will stay inside where the lips breaks up and catch some softer inside breaks. There was a horrendous rip current that I have never been into before too. It was going so strong that I practically did not have to paddle at all. It is definitely a good day when I come out all tired of riding waves, turning around, catching some more, almost like some sort of an assembly plant with a circular conveyer belt.

When the session was over, we could not get out of our stokes that we talked about it for another 30 minutes at the parking lot, while we continued to watch waves and doing imaginary rides; "There, Mano, I can see you on that right.", "Hey Jack, that's your wave, man!" Then we talked about boards and upcoming surf trips etc.

Then when I came back I got a really nice compliment about my WavLOG from a high energy physicist in my e-mail. As a side hobby, I catch up on quantum physics, so it was really respectful to hear from someone who is doing it as a job! And that topped my already stoky day!

Session 5020: Surfing Lifestyle

Some times, I get to go late in the morning to surf. This morning was an 8:30 start time because tonight, I will be at work later to do an enterprise wide software upgrades. Speaking of this, based on my quick survey over my local surf riding buddies, most good surfers have figured out the way to surf, be it some flex time arrangements, take 4 x 10 work arrangement so they can surf 3-4 straight days during the week, or completely gone independent running their own gig like going into contractor jobs. One thing though, is that by doing so, they will likely to miss out on some namely bigger and better things like becoming a CEO of at least a modestly sized corporation. That certainly could have been a path that I could have taken, but why should I?

Becoming a big time executive would be satisfying. In fact, a good 2/3 of my life, I believed in that and tried to pursue that type of lifestyle. I almost believed that a highly prestigious position in a prestigious company in a prestigious location and driving a car and living in a home that other people would respect would be the key and that was the only way to enjoy life. Then I discovered surfing, and what this helped me was to wake up to a life again and to discover that there are more than one ways to live a satisfying life. And it is nothing really to do with how much better I can surf than other people.

Looking at what I experienced today, it was nice and warm and sunny weather out with blue water throwing all sorts of nice waves. After arriving at the beach, I strip down from almost all material things; I am basically reduced to my body, a board, and a piece of cloths to keep the warms, and in the tropical places, I can just go out with a pair of shorts on. Then surrender myself to the nature and ask that it will play with me. That's as close as it can get to the time when we were born, and when we will die. It is just as close to come to some ancient or even instinctive joy that one can experience, and after enjoying this for a few hours, I do not really need much more, and I really do feel I am satisfied, and that's much more valuable than things that happens outside of me, and I am starting to realize why some people have chosen even deeper into this Surfing Life Style.