Session 5080

I checked out the Jetty early this morning, and it was really flat, so I went to Montara this morning. The condition was really small in the Montara scale, but for me, getting out still required a lot of paddling, ducking through, with 1/3 of which resulted in not doing it right, then once I make it to the outside, there were some long period of close outs.

So as usual, I adjusted the position to ride the inside reform breaks which were actually a lot of fun. But there were some smaller period where I could catch some primary breaks so were fun.

It must be a whale migration season because I thought I saw another whale pop up in the water again this morning. There were also several people observing the migration from the Devil's Slide using powerful binoculars. I'd almost wanted to tell them, why bother with these binoculars when you can paddle out.

In terms of the progress, I am continuing to work on the take-offs. The latest changes I am noticing are that I am becoming more confident during the flick up period over a more variety of situations. By this, what I mean is that when I take off, the motions are becoming more reflective and natural and can do without thinking about it.

This is happening with other surfing motions too, for example, cut backs. Before I had to recite, here is what I need to do to a cut back, now the action is more like "I need to get there" and to get there I use an appropriate action needed to get there, it can be a cut back or can be a line change.

Actually come to think of this, there are many situations when I am now taking off, but I lose the balance shortly after I am on top of the board, and I would think "If I did that differently I could have kept the ride!" Many a times, I am still so horrified of the speed and the knee pressure I get, and if I overcome that and commit to the ride, I would get to ride through more. So now that I need to think less about the take off segment, becoming fully planted on the board at a wider variety of the situation is the next thing that I'd need to work on.

Of course, when I write all of this, it is relative to my previous state, and not with other experts, so as I always write, I still have a long long way to go to even look like I am doing short boarding, and I am here on a long term plan. Good surfing does require a lot of persistence and patience.