Session 5121: SD Day 1

Today we flew to San Diego for the weekend surf + work related conference. I also wanted to use this opportunity to test transporting a surf board on a trip.

Last night I have carefully placed the water pipe insulator all the way around the rail of my board. The total cost of the material was just under $8. I used masking tape to hold them on. The insulation come in cut up pieces about 4 ft in length with 4 in a pack.

The cost of transporting board on a United flight was $80 each way. I bought the board at $350, so that's something to consider. A bit steep, but I already had the board with me, so I could not do much about that. Well, renting is an option here but usually most places won't rent short boards and still we would need to deal with returns etc.

Interesting thing with carrying the surf board is that I felt the universal language of "surfing = fun". The guy handed the board back to me in SD gave me a nice smile and many other who saw me hanging the board from my shoulder were looking at it with kind of a smile and gaze of "I wish I was surfing too!"

We got a cool black Toyota Matrix and arrived at the lodge, unpacked everything and repacked the surfing gear only back into the Da Kine duffle bag, and headed out for the late PM surfing.

Since Jocelyn told me about this Tourmaline spot in San Diego, I have been really liking the spot. Other spots like Swamis are usually crowded, impossible to park and once in the lineup, it is just so impossible to get a chance to pick up a wave or two.

First, I have to say something about the water temperature. With the water in mid 60s, the 4 mm suit that I brought was overkill and in fact, I could just have gone in with board shorts and a rash guard, and it was a bit too warm inside the 4 mm suit.There were girl surfers in bikinis and several were just wearing a board shorts.

The waves were just about shoulder high but in a good rolling mode so it was more ideal situation for long boarding and in fact a great majority of the surfers were long boarders here. While I ventured into the territory of long boarders I did not do badly at all with the fish board. I was catching a lot of waves, more so than the most surfers out, and it was a great moral booster for catching so many waves.

There were so many waves to catch that I just had to restrain myself. Letting a wave or two go for others to catch was not an issue because I see the next set coming on the horizon.

Tomorrow, we are going to head up north and check out Blacks, and areas up near Swami's. I love riding my 6'6 Fish! It is so portable and I can ride long board waves with it as well as a bit more challenging situations.