I was able to get up extra early this morning, and get out to a local break.
A few weeks ago, my alarm clock crapped out due to continuous dropping from my side table (not by me, by someone else!) So I decided to get an alarm clock with a CD player. As much of a computer and gadget geek as I am, I actually have not done something like getting up to a music, but I plugged in a Brian Eno CD to it, and it is great because the music comes up really from low volume and the gradually builds up in kind of an organic mood. I listen to a lot of Jazz but waking up to Art Blakey's drumming is not quite my idea of waking up. This is ideal, and I have been kind of stoked about this because getting up early and smoothly is a requirement for my surfing lifestyle, and getting a good relaxed session sets up for the rest of the day.
It was a beautiful morning with not much local winds, sunny skies, warm 56F water, and just a gorgeous beach, and crystal clear water to get into. I had basically the beach to myself. There was only another surfer out, but this surfer was all the way to the other end of the beach, so might as well not count one.
Waves were small, and a bit disorganized, so I was tempted to head further north, but then I thought, why screw around, lose time, aggravated with crowds when I can surf here basically by myself, and hopefully a few of my friends will show up in a bit, and that would be fun too.
I took my 9'0 Walden Magic. As usual, the inside was already blocking my way out with white water after another. But I am tuned into the channel and I get on a conveyor belt if I pick the entry right. Later on my Japanese buddy showed up and we surfed the second half. We decided to walk back to the channel and retry as the strong side current will continue to push us towards the direction of Pacifica where I did not want to go. Re-entry idea turned out to be a great idea. I started to catch some fun hollow waves.
My buddy pointed out to me in Japanese that I really go for the edge of late take-off ("Kiwadoi"). That was a fun ride, it was more like how I'd go for with a short board. I was actually thinking about that for a while, and I came to the conclusion that I am basically a lazy surfer.
I am lazy to the extent that I don't want to consume a lot of energy, because I don't want to show up at work all exhausted, and I am not that strong of a surfer either. So over the years, I tended to opt for late take offs to let the wave help me take off rather than paddling really far and hard. Same way with paddling back after finishing a ride. I use the channel or if there is a lot of white water coming through, I just either get off the board and wait, or sit up or if I am on a short board, I would just keep ducking in the same spot then when the time is right I start to dash forward.
I still admire a lot of local experts who finish a ride and paddle right back. I am starting to do that, but it will be a bit more time in the water.
While the condition in the water was not so optimum, anything above was. As the sun started to go up higher in the sky, the color of the whole place changes and it was just gorgeous and we should be thankful that we have these marine sanctuaries for all of us to enjoy, free. Having lived near the ocean now, I have realized that we cannot take these things for granted, but we should fight for them, and there always are threats.
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