Session 5056: Great Practice Day!

Good Practice Day

Last night, I was eyeing on going to surf further south, since it would be a weekend, and also the swell will be significantly less.

This morning, I got a call from Ken with a local live report and basically it was a go, so I packed up and met him in the water at Waddell Creek. There are several magic opportunities but I must say this was one of them, not because of the size of the waves, but because of the quality and the length of rides I have gotten. Set waves were about shoulder level, and with semi mushy breaks, the kind that I love to surf on. I need these types of conditions to bring my skills to the next level of taking off directly on much faster waves. But this morning, they were coming just at the right size and timing. It is like I had tweaked two adjustment dials that say "Steepness" and "Frequency." So this morning the Steepness dial was set to Medium and the Frequency dial was set to every 3 minutes with a "Shuffle" button pressed in so I can get occasional shuffle of bigger or more frequent sets.

When I started surfing in May of 2002, I made a lot of discoveries quickly and there were much frequent episodes of significant improvements in surfing, but last year especially, the progress seemed to become slower and slower. But here are some things that I have been noticing.

• The more I can, it get even hard to be able to do the "next level."
• It is easy to do something somewhat, but doing it really good takes a lot of practice, surprisingly there are a lot more details that need to be worked out.
• Along the same line, the consistency to be able to execute a move gets better in an ever slower fashion, but over a period of time, that is the part that is noticeably improving on my skills. It used to be that there were sudden and remarkable improvement in my ability to do something, but these episodes are just less and less these days. But instead, it is more like compared to 3-months ago, I do realize doing something much more successfully and consistently.

What am I getting at?

So what I have been noticing lately is the improvement in the quality of rides I get. They are getting longer and also more connected from a turn to turn. By this what I mean is that now I am starting to drawing one turn much more smoothly then onto next instead of really pumping, jumping up and down etc., I have been starting to feel that kind of rides happening more often.

How does that relate to this morning's session?

So, this morning, the sets were not that big, but at this location, compared to the areas near my home where I surf a lot more, the waves are more consistent and lines are longer if you catch the right ones, so I can really practice what I am starting to notice on a bit longer period of time, and that's was something I was really stoked about this morning, and when there are waves like that I feel it is really magical too.

I was talking to Ken on the water and he thought the waves were small today, but I told him that's exactly what I like. Because when I see some professional surfers doing beach breaks they are barely head high, and they are just ripping and shredding putting some air and nice cut back actions, and that's how I want to surf, and I can see that it is gradually and slowly coming. Given my athletic abilities and late start in to this sport, it will take extra longer for me, but now I am starting to see that all the building blocks are starting to come together.