Finally I got back into surfing on school days with my local friends. Looking at the buoy reading, I thought that our regular local spot would have just been perfect today, except for the tide. When I started out surfing, I thought some of my Santa Cruz friends were crazy to be so obsessed about the tide. But the beaches are very sensitive to both wind and the tide. Given the infinite variation in the swell height, period, and the direction, surfing will always bring something different in each session we go out. And when it comes to it, we should realize that how sensitive of the natural phenomenon that is. Now I realize that a minor and careless alteration of the environment near by can cause a significant effect in how the beach breaks out the waves. I only inhabit the ocean a few hours a day, but there are million other factors that will affect the everyday inhabitant of the area, like fishes, dolphins and even the sharks! But, I digress.
It was a foggy morning, and I could not hardly see the waves, but luckily my local buddy T has checked the waves and so he said that it would not worth it, so we quickly made a wireless communication to other buddy J and we decided to hit further north. J has told me that yesterday him and yet another local buddy of ours had a lot of fun, so I was hopeful.
We pulled out into the second spot and it was happening complete with an outgoing rip current that is ever present at the south end of this spot. Paddling out was easy, and two of my buddies were already looked like 500 or 600 yards out, while as usual I stayed inside about 200 yards or so out. I was still pissing in the pants (OK, wetsuit, and I really did too) about getting so far out because I still feel am not so confident to get all the way out there and then need to fight the current back if I had to paddle in. It actually isn't a big deal, but they got long boards and I was on a 6'6 board so the speed to reach the outside was just so different especially these guys are very strong paddlers too.
Well, I am sort of glad I did not go so far out as at one point, my buddy told me to come along, the waves started to get really big and got around head and a half, and another surfer got sort of creamed. Nothing major, but I was sure glad I know I can handle duck dives in these situations.
Then the waves started to get mellower probably as the tide started to come in. And today I did not have much luck, as good waves always started to break further to the left or right, and if I paddle there then it started to happen just where I was! Though the waves were just perfect size and shape, they were a tad smaller than the outside overhead waves and rather soft. And when I thought the waves would break, most of them were fizzling out in the inside too. Really should have ventured to the outside; next time!
One thing I gained more today is the realization that I had much more confidence and comfort in the water ever, and now I can almost always surf (and not paddle) back to the shore at the end of each session, and negotiate the pounding shore breaks to get out, at the level of getting and out of a home, and indeed it is kind of a home to me now.
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