Session 5124

The work conference started this afternoon, so I decided to head out early in the morning. It was already crowded at 7:30 AM on Sunday and I had to actually park on a street in the neighborhood. After "cooking" in my Nor Cal 4 mm suit, and seeing many people heading out with a pair of board shorts only, I decided to just put on the shorts and a rash guard. It is the first time I would go without a wet suit on in California!

The initial splash was a bit cold but soon I got used to it and as I paddled out, I felt much freer in movement and the feel of the water passing over my arm was really nice. I felt like I was so much lighter and faster in paddling out. Whether I was actually going fast or not, I do not know. I was also going bootless too on this trip.

In my previous log, I forgot to mention that I had to swap the fins, because during the session at Del Mar, I ended up using an emergency breaking system built on my board. That's "fin break" and I forgot about this spot was actually a reef all the way to the shore, though the beach is all sand. It is very much like how Waddell is, and speaking of that, even Tourmaline is basically reef underneath as I realized this morning. I was trying to figure that out why the quality of the breaks are so much different in this area. I could not tell whether it is reef or sand, but it is kind of the mix of both, and that's something I really like, sort of like Linda Mar and Santa Cruz mixed in one. May not be a justifiable description, but to me that's what it felt like. The closest ones we have around in my neck of wood is probably Waddell Creek. Anyhow, my fish now sports a set of Rusty fins.

I would almost wish that I should really have taken a week long surf camp type deal here in San Diego breaks. That would have taught me a lot of things much quicker. And if you are at an early beginner stage, you may want to come to SD and try surfing here for several days. I did this both in the winter and now (early summer) and the break quality has been very similar.

Today, like yesterday, I tried to focus and relax while being up on the board, and that has been very helpful, I thought, in overall quality of rides.

Well, tomorrow there will be no surfing. So I look forward to get back into the cold Nor Cal water again on Tuesday!