It was the final day of our mini vacation, and we planned to stop by at another spot further up surf and head home. But, we also checked a spot close to where we stayed, and it was breaking in the size and the shape that I like; about shoulder high, good shape and soft enough. On top of that there were only 2-3 people and peaks were happening all over the places so I could have had my own waves.
Well, still determined that we should hit another spot, we got back in the car and headed up to the point about 20 minutes up the road. As we drove up the situation looked more and more bleak. The waves gotten looked smaller, the prevailing wind made the surface more disorganized. Finally we arrived at the spot, and there was nobody on the wave. This is one of the best reef spot in California, but today there was nobody and it was that bad.
We got back in the car and headed back to where we were. By then nobody was surfing but the waves were still about the same; sets coming in every 2-3 minutes interval, and basically I got to own the entire beach to myself for the next hour and half. Caught tons of waves, really relaxed and rode easy but really fun waves, not even minding about techniques, and just free surfed? And that's something that I have forgotten doing for a long time. Just free surf and don't worry about techniques or fighting for the next break with another surfer. Catch a wave, paddle right back out on glassy surface, rest for some good breath, and ready to catch another.
It was really a treat and kind of surfing that I have not done in a long while. I should remember to do that now that I can actually surf the waves, why worry.
Next time the wave looks good (enough), I am not going to look further, I should go in and enjoy.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Please, and please stand by...
I have been taking a bit of rest on this department. I know, I know. And I even know that a lot of people come back to my Blog to share with me about my progresses and defects. But lately I have been thinking a lot about what it is that I am trying to do. I hope you understand. Yeah, it is really easy to write that I went out and say how many waves I caught etc., but somehow I don't think that you are coming back to this spot to find that out. Are you? I think that you want to know a lot more about in-depth what I go through trying to become a better surfer. Of course, what the heck is a "better surfer". Well, I think that's also up to me to define what that is. So, please hang around and hang on. Don't give up on me. I am really giving a lot of thought about how I can make it a more worthwhile sharing and reading experience to you.
Please stand by...
Please stand by...
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Session 6025-6026
Session 6025: Thursday 2/23: Great day at Montara. Finally get enough courage and encouragement to surf more on the outside breaks.
Session 6026: Friday 2/24: Gentle day at Linda Mar. Still thinking about how to improve this blog, what really to write about.
Session 6026: Friday 2/24: Gentle day at Linda Mar. Still thinking about how to improve this blog, what really to write about.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Feb 22, 2006
Change in WavLOG?
I think that I am now getting to the point that there really is no point for logging each session. It really gets tiresome just to write about each session, and I do think that when I spend time I should write something that adds value, and of course, I have been pondering about that for some time. This is a legacy that hopefully I can leave behind for some time and for that I think that I should at least write something that would be of some value to people.
Also, I would like everyone to know this.
Surfing is a very very high priority in my life. You would not be surprised if I put surfing as higher priority than my family. I do look after people that I am very close to, but surfing comes the top priority, that means, I will write about my surfing experience but I may not respond to your emails or questions. I will try to find time to surf before, after or any time I feel is appropriate. Taking this away from me, you are going to make a very and very unhappy man and I can make you very unhappy person too.
Some people might be mistaken when I say this to you, saying that I am "addicted" to it. That's also far from the truth. I am absolutely not addicted to it. Should I, say, get in a situation where due to a circumstance beyond my control (I repeat beyond MY control, not my friends or even my spouse's or spouse's in law or parents'.) I would be totally in content and peaceful, if I realize that it is no longer possible to surf for a good reason. But presently I am not in that situation, and I choose to go out when and where I feel is appropriate to me. I am no addicted to it because I am in control of the situation. I can stop I and I can do it whenever I can, and I don't even have force it to stop like someone with some addiction therapy. This is why I never ever write my experience associated with an addiction. I would like everyone reading this to stop and think about this for a moment. There really is a clear distinction.
The closest thing (due to a lack of my ability to articulate this) that comes to me is that it is more like a life-time mission, and I cannot even fully explain to you what the mission will accomplish. But in a very shallowest way, I really want to fully understand what it is that I need to do to be good at it, and there is much more for me to understand this as every time I go out, I find out that there is a lot more to find out about this than the last time. Sometimes, or actually more often than not, I feel like I have not mastered anything at all. Then sometimes, I feel like I really have came a long way, but nevertheless, there are more times that I would feel like there is a lot to go to the point that I would feel satisfied.
One of the things that I really like about this sport is that it is a sport that I have to do it by myself. If this was something like Tennis, then I have to have someone else. But this aspect of it, I really like, because all of my life that's the mode I have operated in. Looking back this is really the reflection of how I like to run my life -- independently, and that really resonates with this mission that I have started.
I actually even don't know what I find out from this. But the more I get into it, the more I find out about what I need to find out. From that point of view, may be it is a mission without an actual end, but so be it! I think that's better than, say, one day, I master everything there is to know about that. It is too sad that if that ever happens, I must quit this altogether and go on another mission. Luckily that does not seem to happen yet!
I think that I am now getting to the point that there really is no point for logging each session. It really gets tiresome just to write about each session, and I do think that when I spend time I should write something that adds value, and of course, I have been pondering about that for some time. This is a legacy that hopefully I can leave behind for some time and for that I think that I should at least write something that would be of some value to people.
Also, I would like everyone to know this.
Surfing is a very very high priority in my life. You would not be surprised if I put surfing as higher priority than my family. I do look after people that I am very close to, but surfing comes the top priority, that means, I will write about my surfing experience but I may not respond to your emails or questions. I will try to find time to surf before, after or any time I feel is appropriate. Taking this away from me, you are going to make a very and very unhappy man and I can make you very unhappy person too.
Some people might be mistaken when I say this to you, saying that I am "addicted" to it. That's also far from the truth. I am absolutely not addicted to it. Should I, say, get in a situation where due to a circumstance beyond my control (I repeat beyond MY control, not my friends or even my spouse's or spouse's in law or parents'.) I would be totally in content and peaceful, if I realize that it is no longer possible to surf for a good reason. But presently I am not in that situation, and I choose to go out when and where I feel is appropriate to me. I am no addicted to it because I am in control of the situation. I can stop I and I can do it whenever I can, and I don't even have force it to stop like someone with some addiction therapy. This is why I never ever write my experience associated with an addiction. I would like everyone reading this to stop and think about this for a moment. There really is a clear distinction.
The closest thing (due to a lack of my ability to articulate this) that comes to me is that it is more like a life-time mission, and I cannot even fully explain to you what the mission will accomplish. But in a very shallowest way, I really want to fully understand what it is that I need to do to be good at it, and there is much more for me to understand this as every time I go out, I find out that there is a lot more to find out about this than the last time. Sometimes, or actually more often than not, I feel like I have not mastered anything at all. Then sometimes, I feel like I really have came a long way, but nevertheless, there are more times that I would feel like there is a lot to go to the point that I would feel satisfied.
One of the things that I really like about this sport is that it is a sport that I have to do it by myself. If this was something like Tennis, then I have to have someone else. But this aspect of it, I really like, because all of my life that's the mode I have operated in. Looking back this is really the reflection of how I like to run my life -- independently, and that really resonates with this mission that I have started.
I actually even don't know what I find out from this. But the more I get into it, the more I find out about what I need to find out. From that point of view, may be it is a mission without an actual end, but so be it! I think that's better than, say, one day, I master everything there is to know about that. It is too sad that if that ever happens, I must quit this altogether and go on another mission. Luckily that does not seem to happen yet!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Session 6019
Surfing continues to be a very difficult sport to learn, and more I do it, the more it seems to get difficult. I have written a log to this effect many times, but I guess even if I write about this 1000 times, it would not be enough to put this point through to my WavLOG readers. Of course, many of you understand this.
This morning, I surfed at Montara with my buddy DH, and today's theme was basically the Wave Selection. Of course if it was not wave selection then it would always be something else that works against me. It is more appropriate to describe that today, wave selection was one of the prominent issues noticed among dozens of other issues that I have to work on. Of course you or anyone might say, why do I have to agonize with all that. Well, I think that ties into the ultimate question of the life in general. If you keep asking that question then you won't be able to answer it even if you had the entire life time of the universe. I do find though, a pleasure in focusing at something, but it is a different kind of focus, it is a kind of focus that I can have without really being bothered by a lot of different thoughts. To some extent, by attaining this type of focus, I feel that I would become more confident in focusing on a lot of other things that I do, or I want to do.
Back to the topic of wave selection? It is another one of these things that requires both the wave reading skills as well as having enough strength and endurance to go to where it is happening. One without the other won't work very well. This morning, the breaking section was really shifting from one spot to another, and it starts to happen at one spot for a while, and I go there and then where I was starts to happen. If you can paddle fast anywhere then there is no problem, you just go there as soon as you see a particular section of the horizon darkens. For me though, that's too late, by the time I get over there the set is all done with!
So the next best thing is to try to maximize the opportunity by patiently sitting at one spot where I think will happen. That's probably the basic number 1 of wave selection. But that in of itself is difficult because I think I am doing that, and I can see waves breaking nicely both sides of me except where I am sitting at! Obviously, I need to do a much better job at this, and day like this is a good day again to make myself really humble about all sorts of things starting with this, and then other things in life throughout the day.
Hope that your wave selections are good tomorrow, whatever the wave you are happening to be catching.
This morning, I surfed at Montara with my buddy DH, and today's theme was basically the Wave Selection. Of course if it was not wave selection then it would always be something else that works against me. It is more appropriate to describe that today, wave selection was one of the prominent issues noticed among dozens of other issues that I have to work on. Of course you or anyone might say, why do I have to agonize with all that. Well, I think that ties into the ultimate question of the life in general. If you keep asking that question then you won't be able to answer it even if you had the entire life time of the universe. I do find though, a pleasure in focusing at something, but it is a different kind of focus, it is a kind of focus that I can have without really being bothered by a lot of different thoughts. To some extent, by attaining this type of focus, I feel that I would become more confident in focusing on a lot of other things that I do, or I want to do.
Back to the topic of wave selection? It is another one of these things that requires both the wave reading skills as well as having enough strength and endurance to go to where it is happening. One without the other won't work very well. This morning, the breaking section was really shifting from one spot to another, and it starts to happen at one spot for a while, and I go there and then where I was starts to happen. If you can paddle fast anywhere then there is no problem, you just go there as soon as you see a particular section of the horizon darkens. For me though, that's too late, by the time I get over there the set is all done with!
So the next best thing is to try to maximize the opportunity by patiently sitting at one spot where I think will happen. That's probably the basic number 1 of wave selection. But that in of itself is difficult because I think I am doing that, and I can see waves breaking nicely both sides of me except where I am sitting at! Obviously, I need to do a much better job at this, and day like this is a good day again to make myself really humble about all sorts of things starting with this, and then other things in life throughout the day.
Hope that your wave selections are good tomorrow, whatever the wave you are happening to be catching.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Session 6015-6018
Session 6015 (Friday)
Finally the swell power subsided, so I stopped by at Linda Mar before hitting the hard surface of the office desk. Morning surfing like this is something I really like to do. One bad part is getting out of the water, especially when the condition is something I like, and even worse, like this morning, when I started out late.
Session 6016 (Saturday)
With further dwindling swell size, my neighborhood beaches gotten pretty flat, so I was intending to go to Montara. What a beautiful place this is, especially when the sun is fully out, even if I don't catch any waves, it is just worthwhile paddling out. The problem was that it was a bit too powerful and too tricky to select good surfable waves. There were better surfers who were doing it, so I had to basically retreat for this session.
Session 6017 (Sunday First Session)
The swell started to build up again in the morning. Originally some forecasts were predicting 20 ft swells, but it turns out to be about 14 ft swells. The only local options, we felt, was to surf at the Jetty. A lot of white water to gets through to the outside. You'd be caught inside? I am paddling, paddling, and paddling, but when looking back, I am still exactly at the same spot as I looked back. Well, as far as the distance to the shore goes. Strong side currents take me towards the direction of Roosevelt.
Again, retreat temporarily and see what happens in the afternoon when the tide goes down.
Session 6018 (Sunday Section Session)
The tide and even swell subsided. After doing some errands, I got a call from a neighbor buddy so it was a perfect chance to get back out. This is when having two wet suits come really handy. I buy a new suit a year, and use two suits at any given time. After two sessions, I retire one suit and get another. Also this way, one suit gets used half the time so the suit lasts two seasons instead of just one. At any rate, now I am back in the Jetty again. Now the tide turned super low, and when bigger sets come in the wave close out at shoulder size on chest high depth water. And I ended up getting a small ding when I had to bail on one of these close outs.
However there were some fun waves and getting out gotten much easier. I went back and got another board out and surfed the rest of the sessions.
Finally the swell power subsided, so I stopped by at Linda Mar before hitting the hard surface of the office desk. Morning surfing like this is something I really like to do. One bad part is getting out of the water, especially when the condition is something I like, and even worse, like this morning, when I started out late.
Session 6016 (Saturday)
With further dwindling swell size, my neighborhood beaches gotten pretty flat, so I was intending to go to Montara. What a beautiful place this is, especially when the sun is fully out, even if I don't catch any waves, it is just worthwhile paddling out. The problem was that it was a bit too powerful and too tricky to select good surfable waves. There were better surfers who were doing it, so I had to basically retreat for this session.
Session 6017 (Sunday First Session)
The swell started to build up again in the morning. Originally some forecasts were predicting 20 ft swells, but it turns out to be about 14 ft swells. The only local options, we felt, was to surf at the Jetty. A lot of white water to gets through to the outside. You'd be caught inside? I am paddling, paddling, and paddling, but when looking back, I am still exactly at the same spot as I looked back. Well, as far as the distance to the shore goes. Strong side currents take me towards the direction of Roosevelt.
Again, retreat temporarily and see what happens in the afternoon when the tide goes down.
Session 6018 (Sunday Section Session)
The tide and even swell subsided. After doing some errands, I got a call from a neighbor buddy so it was a perfect chance to get back out. This is when having two wet suits come really handy. I buy a new suit a year, and use two suits at any given time. After two sessions, I retire one suit and get another. Also this way, one suit gets used half the time so the suit lasts two seasons instead of just one. At any rate, now I am back in the Jetty again. Now the tide turned super low, and when bigger sets come in the wave close out at shoulder size on chest high depth water. And I ended up getting a small ding when I had to bail on one of these close outs.
However there were some fun waves and getting out gotten much easier. I went back and got another board out and surfed the rest of the sessions.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Session 6014 (Thusday 2/9)
Session 6014
It is kind of interesting that the same storm swells that caused as big as Mavericks contest are shared by regular surfers like myself, and only just a mile away from where the contest was held. What a contrast and whenever this happens I do get a bit self conscious about it especially at the Jetty where people are looking us catch waves from their cars (and also there actually are not very many spots on California Highway 1 that run within a leash's length to the Pacific Ocean).
At any rate, buddy DH is back in town and it was balmy, sunny and calm, and we had waves. Typically when we have a big wave contest the weather usually does not cooperate, probably because we get affected by the very weather system that caused these big waves in the first place. And the nice weather is continuing towards the rest of the week, and then we get another big set of swells will fill in. It truly has been a one amazing winter surf season. For us, regular surfers, it has been rather difficult to the time between these big swells to paddle out!
Today I felt rather rusty since I have been out of the water for more than a week, and also there were quite a bit of inside white waters to work with. This is when the seer paddling power is much desired. I am not quite there and also not willing to get out too much further out, but the problem is that then I'd be caught inside most of the time, probably wasting more energy than actually get my guts up and get to totally outside. Initially I took out a 6'4 but actually paddling was so hard on it, I was not having much fun, so I got out, and took out a 9'0 and now I can go faster but getting through lots of big white water got difficult too. So it repeatedly shows that short board with duck diving isn't any better than the supposed paddle speed of long board.
When I switched to the long board, I also have realized how different it was to turn the board, and this one probably requires a bit more figuring to do, but it appears that simple weight shifting does not cause the board to turn easily. So I changed the mode a bit so that I would try to stay much further back on the board while initiating the turn, more like pivoting around the tail more and that had much better success. I think I am going to explore these characteristics of the board a bit more in detail next time I take it out. I also should really take the outer fins out, or swap them with much smaller ones, because I think that is making the board wanting to go more straight. I am also going to experiment with the characteristics on taking off on a bit more hollower situation. I am hoping that it would not be a bit more gentle.
It is kind of interesting that the same storm swells that caused as big as Mavericks contest are shared by regular surfers like myself, and only just a mile away from where the contest was held. What a contrast and whenever this happens I do get a bit self conscious about it especially at the Jetty where people are looking us catch waves from their cars (and also there actually are not very many spots on California Highway 1 that run within a leash's length to the Pacific Ocean).
At any rate, buddy DH is back in town and it was balmy, sunny and calm, and we had waves. Typically when we have a big wave contest the weather usually does not cooperate, probably because we get affected by the very weather system that caused these big waves in the first place. And the nice weather is continuing towards the rest of the week, and then we get another big set of swells will fill in. It truly has been a one amazing winter surf season. For us, regular surfers, it has been rather difficult to the time between these big swells to paddle out!
Today I felt rather rusty since I have been out of the water for more than a week, and also there were quite a bit of inside white waters to work with. This is when the seer paddling power is much desired. I am not quite there and also not willing to get out too much further out, but the problem is that then I'd be caught inside most of the time, probably wasting more energy than actually get my guts up and get to totally outside. Initially I took out a 6'4 but actually paddling was so hard on it, I was not having much fun, so I got out, and took out a 9'0 and now I can go faster but getting through lots of big white water got difficult too. So it repeatedly shows that short board with duck diving isn't any better than the supposed paddle speed of long board.
When I switched to the long board, I also have realized how different it was to turn the board, and this one probably requires a bit more figuring to do, but it appears that simple weight shifting does not cause the board to turn easily. So I changed the mode a bit so that I would try to stay much further back on the board while initiating the turn, more like pivoting around the tail more and that had much better success. I think I am going to explore these characteristics of the board a bit more in detail next time I take it out. I also should really take the outer fins out, or swap them with much smaller ones, because I think that is making the board wanting to go more straight. I am also going to experiment with the characteristics on taking off on a bit more hollower situation. I am hoping that it would not be a bit more gentle.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Session 6012-6013
As I learn how to surf, I have been learning this on a piece by piece approach. Of course any part of it cannot stand alone of the other, so it has been more like re-enforcing one area of the skill set and then the next.
When I started to understand a bit more about short and long boarding and watched some people, I saw some people pumping board to get more speed. Over pumping does not look very good, but soon I've discovered myself that this pumping action does work sometime. I guess this works because you can channel and squeeze some of the water between the outer fins get some thrust. It probably won't work without the side fins as well as with them.
But I am now starting to realize that if this is combined with a turn, and I can really utilize a bit of the pumping action to set up for the initial turn. I think that I can execute this more, I can increase speeds through turns.
When I started to understand a bit more about short and long boarding and watched some people, I saw some people pumping board to get more speed. Over pumping does not look very good, but soon I've discovered myself that this pumping action does work sometime. I guess this works because you can channel and squeeze some of the water between the outer fins get some thrust. It probably won't work without the side fins as well as with them.
But I am now starting to realize that if this is combined with a turn, and I can really utilize a bit of the pumping action to set up for the initial turn. I think that I can execute this more, I can increase speeds through turns.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Session 6011
did a DP with neighbors locally this morning. The set waves were "thick" and very far and few in between. But when they came, they were fun. I practiced more take offs, but there were quite a bit of darn back washes. I took off on a few good wave faces, only to find out back washes pushed up right in front of the line and stalled instantly! I know last summer at the HMB classic, the same situation. But when the timing was right, escaping the back washes, there were a couple of really fun rides.
A very good condition is hard to come by, indeed.
A very good condition is hard to come by, indeed.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Session 6009 and 6010
Finally smaller day with sunny weahter. Both days, I took advantage of the situation and getting faster flick up. On smaller days, it can really get difficult to take off on waves!
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Sessions 6007-8
Sessions 6007 (Sat 1/21) - 6008 (Sun 1/22)
It has been an amazingly difficult start of the year, and there are still some locals who have not even caught a wave yet since the close of 2005 until this weekend. Even for me, under the normal type of conditions, today would, and should have been more like session number 6015.
But, having had this type of situation was actually a positive for me, since I have started to think about training from a wider angle this time. Up to now, I only surfed and I did not do any other real conditioning. One area that I think needs a lot of reinforcing is the abdominal area. Surfing gives me good back muscles, but the abdominal part is used less, so I am ending up with fairly unbalanced situation. Other areas, I was told, is that there is not much weight bearing in surfing so it may not help in terms of maintaining healthy bones. Regardless of what the theories are, I think it is time for me to start adding more musculature in other areas, and also do more balance boarding, which has really proven to me a great help in adding more agility to weight shifting on the board.
In terms of surfing, the first day of the weekend was so-so. It was pouring early on that made the start time later, and then the tide was too low making it a bit more effort and time to find the right spot, but nevertheless, I did surf and did have some good results.
But the second day of the weekend was significantly fun. The waves were going close to or above head with a plenty of power on the outside, so when and if I caught these waves, it was really fun in our local favorite beach break. And thanks to these big swells of the past weeks, sand bars are well formed way outside than we experience normally in the summer, and this is actually one of the first times I am treated to these situations. This is something people talked about at surf shop conversation, and I did not believe this actually happens, but here they are.
The current was still horrendous like before, but I anticipated that took a long board out so that I can paddle at more ease. Try to do this in my 6'4 board would take a significantly more effort and time getting out, and so would catch much less waves. I also had to take some major going down the falls. But another thing I did was, I even anticipated that so I took out a soft board. This gave me an additional margin of safety so I could actually take a bit more risk in taking off on the things that I would not normally go for, and when some of the take offs worked nicely, the power and speed and the length of the rides were just not comparable to what I have been doing. I am hoping that in 2006, I will try to make myself an overall stronger surfer. Without this building block in place, I cannot improve other skills such as perfecting cut back turns and attempting and making more tricky moves consistently.
It has been an amazingly difficult start of the year, and there are still some locals who have not even caught a wave yet since the close of 2005 until this weekend. Even for me, under the normal type of conditions, today would, and should have been more like session number 6015.
But, having had this type of situation was actually a positive for me, since I have started to think about training from a wider angle this time. Up to now, I only surfed and I did not do any other real conditioning. One area that I think needs a lot of reinforcing is the abdominal area. Surfing gives me good back muscles, but the abdominal part is used less, so I am ending up with fairly unbalanced situation. Other areas, I was told, is that there is not much weight bearing in surfing so it may not help in terms of maintaining healthy bones. Regardless of what the theories are, I think it is time for me to start adding more musculature in other areas, and also do more balance boarding, which has really proven to me a great help in adding more agility to weight shifting on the board.
In terms of surfing, the first day of the weekend was so-so. It was pouring early on that made the start time later, and then the tide was too low making it a bit more effort and time to find the right spot, but nevertheless, I did surf and did have some good results.
But the second day of the weekend was significantly fun. The waves were going close to or above head with a plenty of power on the outside, so when and if I caught these waves, it was really fun in our local favorite beach break. And thanks to these big swells of the past weeks, sand bars are well formed way outside than we experience normally in the summer, and this is actually one of the first times I am treated to these situations. This is something people talked about at surf shop conversation, and I did not believe this actually happens, but here they are.
The current was still horrendous like before, but I anticipated that took a long board out so that I can paddle at more ease. Try to do this in my 6'4 board would take a significantly more effort and time getting out, and so would catch much less waves. I also had to take some major going down the falls. But another thing I did was, I even anticipated that so I took out a soft board. This gave me an additional margin of safety so I could actually take a bit more risk in taking off on the things that I would not normally go for, and when some of the take offs worked nicely, the power and speed and the length of the rides were just not comparable to what I have been doing. I am hoping that in 2006, I will try to make myself an overall stronger surfer. Without this building block in place, I cannot improve other skills such as perfecting cut back turns and attempting and making more tricky moves consistently.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Surf Philosophy: Setting A Goal
Did not surf today, so a bit of philosophy today.
I am reading an introductory book about business accounting (of all of the books) right now. Along the pages, there is a chapter on "Why you were scolded by your boss when you completely sold out your product." Since this is a surfing BLOG, let's say you sold all of the 200 StokeMaster T-Shirts, and you ordered before noon. You might call me and tell me expecting me to give you a word or two of praise. "I sold all of the 200 shirts." To which, I would say, "What? You sold all out that quickly? You idiot!" You might be puzzled why I was angry. Now if you think about it, a bit though, if you have sold all 200 of it by noon, by the store closure for that day, you probably could have sold 300. Suppose that you ordered 350 and the original cost was $7.00 and we are selling it for $15.00 then the profit for selling the 200 is $1600. If you sold 300 so you have netted $2400 and did not sell the 50 of them so you have taken a loss of $350 at that point so the total profit is $2050. Of course, next morning, you will do a Sale and get rid of the rest of the 50 for $12.00 each then you get back $250, so you have basically made $2300.
Why I am telling you all these.
Well the whole point of this is that by setting a goal a bit higher, you might actually end up gaining more than you've originally bargained for.
So goes with setting your goal in anything, and for surfing too. It is worth setting your surfing goal a bit higher and work towards it. Even if you did not get quite there in the end, you may have gotten a bit better than if you would your set to the level of "what you can do comfortably." And what you might think initially is a risky loss is well offset by a bit of additional progress you've made. I don't think this has nothing to do with being overly competitive, but it has a lot to do with getting to the opportunity you are actually entitled to.
It really struck in my head clearly this time, why setting a bit higher goal is often needed.
I am reading an introductory book about business accounting (of all of the books) right now. Along the pages, there is a chapter on "Why you were scolded by your boss when you completely sold out your product." Since this is a surfing BLOG, let's say you sold all of the 200 StokeMaster T-Shirts, and you ordered before noon. You might call me and tell me expecting me to give you a word or two of praise. "I sold all of the 200 shirts." To which, I would say, "What? You sold all out that quickly? You idiot!" You might be puzzled why I was angry. Now if you think about it, a bit though, if you have sold all 200 of it by noon, by the store closure for that day, you probably could have sold 300. Suppose that you ordered 350 and the original cost was $7.00 and we are selling it for $15.00 then the profit for selling the 200 is $1600. If you sold 300 so you have netted $2400 and did not sell the 50 of them so you have taken a loss of $350 at that point so the total profit is $2050. Of course, next morning, you will do a Sale and get rid of the rest of the 50 for $12.00 each then you get back $250, so you have basically made $2300.
Why I am telling you all these.
Well the whole point of this is that by setting a goal a bit higher, you might actually end up gaining more than you've originally bargained for.
So goes with setting your goal in anything, and for surfing too. It is worth setting your surfing goal a bit higher and work towards it. Even if you did not get quite there in the end, you may have gotten a bit better than if you would your set to the level of "what you can do comfortably." And what you might think initially is a risky loss is well offset by a bit of additional progress you've made. I don't think this has nothing to do with being overly competitive, but it has a lot to do with getting to the opportunity you are actually entitled to.
It really struck in my head clearly this time, why setting a bit higher goal is often needed.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Session 6006 ****
One way of making a progress in surfing is to surf with people who are much better than you. Yes, I have touched his subject a lot, but this means that you might need to abandon some of your other surfing buddies if temporarily. As for my buddy Dog House goes, yes, he is just 2 or 3 notches above what I can manage.
I surfed with him this morning again, and it was kind of a condition that I was at the very edge of being "out of league" In fact I was most of the time. But then I was able to tell that I was close to the cross roads of being in such a situation.
So, you might ask, what it means to be "being" in an out of a league situation. At least for today, it has a lot to do with paddling out. With these storms we have gotten, we are now having sand bars forming way and way outside. And these winter type swells are washing a lot of water to our shores, so there was a moderate amount of side-currents. There was definitely nice sand-bar out to get there, first, we all need to start from a channel. This is all fine. We now all know where the channel is, but then to get to where the sand bar is, it was quite a bit of paddling required. I was marking a washed up tree stamp on the beach as a marker. I was paddling, paddling and paddling towards where the sweet break was happening but I could not get there. My arm muscles are asking me to take it easier, but I have not even yet reached straight line with the stamp. In the meantime, 3 locals show up and they seemed to have no problem getting where the break was. And here is why I would say I am at the blink of getting there, because I finally got there.
In terms of catching the waves, I could not catch as many because each time I catch a wave, it took me a long time to get back to where the break was. To make the matter worse, there was also a very strong onshore current too, so in no time, I get washed too close to the shore.
But there was one really gratifying moment. As usual with me, I tend to sit inside and catch the wave that I know are very well formed already. But it was one of the waves of the lifetime situation and instead of the wave breaking up, it started to form a nice pocket (and at this place this happens a lot of the times). I was frantically paddling and kicking to catch it, and I tried hard to steer towards left. In the meantime, a nice left pocketty crest forms on top of the wave, which pushed me right onto the face of the wave. I got up successfully without a hesitation and at that moment the wave started to build up further up in the size. I was fully up on the board and the I got a tremendous speed immediately, probably the fastest I have ever experienced being on a short board. The wave continued to build right in front of me as I progressed forward. I was trying not to go too far ahead by trying to ride the top side of the wave through going down and cutting back up. The ride lasted so long, and it was so smooth.
So even though I only really had one ride out of a session that was well worth the trouble and this has made me feel like I have gotten a bit closer to many of my better surfer friends today than other times.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Session 6005 ****
I was in kind of mood to go surf by myself, and that's what I did this morning. I just wanted to get a quick session in, come home, do some chores then I promised to go check out the new De Young museum. The morning was crisp and cold after a clear night. I also have decided to take a long board as well as my new JC 6'4, so I can decide which way to go. I was not sure about the condition with the W swell coming in. Now that I live so close to the Jetty though, I am now starting to get in a habit of taking time and check out here. And when I went there, the set waves were well spread out and breaking further out. This is the kind of a day makes the Jetty fun. Usually the break is very close to the shore or at a limited spot by the breakwater. It is definitely a good treat we don't usually get here.
So I went in.
Paddling out was not easy as there was just one front of white water after another, and with a strong side current it was easy for me to get washed further and further into the impact zone. When this happens, I usually walk the beach back to the spot where a channel forms, wait until the set subsides a bit and then paddle as fast as possible to get out of the inside mess. Unlike the first few years, now I can do this with a small smile on my face, and I am now paddling out faster than anyone paddling out at the same time. Once I am out of the inside zone though it is amazing how quickly the things calm down, and with the help of the moderately strong rip current today, it was not so tiring to get out.
But I also situated a bit inside and tried to catch many more waves and possible. This also worked well because all the inside waves quickly reformed allowing me to climb back up on the face after a straight down take off, and being on a long board it was easy to catch waves, gave me very satisfying long rides on some of the waves. These past few weeks, I was re-discovering the fun of long boarding. It really give me more time to do more things on the board as a result, it has been a very good cross training for short boarding too as I was exploring more about using the whole length of the board? getting thrusts when I get slower, and gaining more speed at the front of the board, and perfecting the weight to back and forth to set up and following through turns. And when I execute them on a long board, they are really smooth and the board and the knee can really feel the large amount of the water that I am shifting against to get these turns going, just like on a water ski but using only the wave's power and my own weight. Come to think hard about it, it is really amazing something like this is actually possible!
And to top that off, my last ride took me exactly where I wanted to get out of the beach. Everything worked out really great this morning!
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