Fog session

It was warm again--54--so today I headed out to the beach. It was so foggy you couldn't see the beach from the boardwalk or the shore from the beach! I've surfed in fog before---it's surreal. That time was a bit scary because no one else was out. It was as if I was the only person left on earth. This time there were actually five other people out, though I couldn't see them until I got into the water, and fairly decent waves.They were just a tad too big for my comfort, about waist high.

There was a moment there when I said to myself, This is crazy, it's foggy and the waves are too big, I don't want to be here. Then it turned good.

Good for me means these things: I didn't pearl once; I held onto my board at all times (mostly); I caught more than five waves in two hours; I actually got up and didn't fall over right away. Let's hear it for me!

I had a ride with both feet on the board and no hands and it lasted at least three seconds and I didn't fall off, I jumped. Woo-hoo! After that I could've quit; it was that moment when you know it won't get any better that day. But I stayed out because I was with K. and she wanted to stay. And it was still fun. She didn't ride any of the three foot ones (went over the falls on those) but did really well on the smaller waves.

I said I wasn't pearling because I remembered to shift my weight back, but something weird was happening: I'd catch the wave, but it would try to push me off the board. There was no chance of standing up because it was all I could do to just hold onto the board as I got pushed off. I am really not sure what was going on. I wasn't getting the wave early or late; I seemed to have timed it right and was sure I had it, but I didn't. K. said it was because my board wasn't angled. It worked better when I angled it, but that falling off the board thing still happened.

The really good thing about today was that after each wave I really thought about what went wrong (or right) and then tried to do it better on the next one; and I was pretty much able to tell what was wrong or right. Also, that I recognized I was beyond my comfort level (one to two feet)---but it didn't scare me, because I kept telling myself I could handle it, and I could. There were no scary moments. And seeing some guy watching while I was getting my good ride, and thinking to myself, He sees a surfer. I look pretty much like everyone else instead of like a retard.

Plus the no pearling. I hate pearling.