Back in the water

This is a surf blog again. Today I got back in the water for the first time since California, a month and a half ago. The sun came out, it was warm (38 degrees) and even though I wasn’t sure I was ready, I decided not to think about it too much and just go...greatly encouraged by the fact that my friend K. said “If you go I’ll go too.”

The waves were choppy and crappy, up to chest high (on the one other guy who was surfing and catching very short rides). But even though we hesitated at first, it turned out to be fun. It was also a challenge because the waves were coming it at such an unusual angle to the beach. Instead of breaking behind you, the wave would actually break over the side of your board. So when I did catch waves, they’d nearly knock me off the board!

Nevertheless, I didn’t surf any better or worse than I have recently. At least I haven’t lost any ground by not surfing for a while. I was trying to concentrate on making the drops perfectly the way I did in California. And I did, a few times. I did even get up, though (dammit!) still using my left knee. I’m still not strong enough to push myself up using only my arms. But I did stand up—with my feet facing forwards as always---and consciously try to shift my feet sideways, and then if I was still on the wave, try to balance. All this took one to two seconds before I fell off. But even the guy on the shortboard who knew what he was doing didn’t get more than three or four second rides today.

Damn, that salt water tasted good.