Session 5129

Yesterday was a long day at work, and I was so exhausted that after a dinner I just crashed, and slept on until 7:00 this morning. I am usually up by 5:30 so that's kind of late. I would also usually to go my place in Santa Cruz on Friday night and try to go for a DP at the crack of the dawn, but I had to give that up too.

But I did have a surfing dream last night. As much as I surf, I still do not get a dream of actual surfing, usually my dreams, if related to surfing, are about going to a place, but not riding the waves, so it is probably the first time that I had a really a vivid dream of surfing. It was short, but it was about taking off, and it was about taking off into a very steep wave, and it was about getting up on the board, and it was about pressing the back of the board really hard to stay in the wave as it started to close out. It was a physical dream in that I was actually feeling the response of the board and my knees and all of the gravity changes that happens right at the moment of taking off, and I know exactly where this happened, it was a bit north of the showers at Linda Mar, because it was a right hander and I was looking at houses on the south end. It was almost real. But I don't remember how I got there and I don't remember how I finished the ride.

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When I woke up, I called Jocelyn and what she was up to as we talked about hitting SC this morning on the message board. It was a drab overcast morning and I finally got my things together for surfing and headed towards Santa Cruz. I picked up a large coffee and a Danish, as usual, and usually put on some classic heavy metal music on, to get myself totally awake and alert. As I drive the highway 1, my eyes are periodically checking the waves. This morning the situation was rather pathetic all along the coast. Usually there are spot or two that would be happening. Even at the Waddell Creek the tide was super low it looked more like a lake than an ocean beach.

When I got in Santa Cruz, I checked out the Pleasure Point and along the way to the 41 St. There was a lot of people out there, on the really flat water. So I called Jocelyn and told her that it was really flat and so we all decided to head out again a bit later on. This turned out to be a good move. While I waited for the tide to fill in a bit, I cleaned the windows at my apartment and also checked out some wet suits that were on 50% off sale at the SC shop. They were very friendly and when I asked for the size MS, they said more will be coming in at the same price. I also really wanted a 3/2 suit for the summer, spring and So Cal, but the guy said the demands on the 3/2 is so low that he does not carry one. If I surf in SC, I will wear 3/2 all the time, it's so much lighter, and easier to dry. Finally it was 11:30 and I got a quick Mexican lunch at the Vallarta. I thought of going to Paula's but that place always has a long line plus a wait after I order something. The place looks like only one guy cooks for 60 customers. On the way back from lunch, I discovered that there was a brewery I did not know about on the 41 St. , it was closed, but peeping inside, it did not look like it was closed down, so I should check that out next time.

It was about noon I finally got in the water. I got in at the Hook, where the sign on the stair now has a new line drawn with surf fax that says "Long board to the 38th". I stayed at the Hook for a bit but then I started to paddle towards the 38th where there were some pack of the people were. The Pleasure Point peaks are just amazing place. No matter when I go there and no matter what the swells are, there always seem to be something breaking out there. So I gradually moved towards there, and after a good 15-20 minutes of paddling I was finally in the pack of the PP line up. After a while someone was calling my name and that was Luke.

There were many waves I'd consider were catch-able but I did not catch that many. For one thing there always were someone else from the outside who gets on the wave before I do, not matter what I do or where I position. They all got 10 footer with 50 inch wide in the middle or something and they would practically make their own waves if you ask me. This might be the area where my recent adventure in short boarding got me some bad habits. I just don't paddle long and hard, instead, I tend to wait until the last minute and paddle hard but by then there are two people on both side that are up. I had a long board on and I really felt like I lost the touch, plus I am still not used to surf with more than 2-3 people (and are not my friends) on the line up.

So that kinds of sums up my day.