Good day...despite everything

Today started out bigger than I'm comfortable with, with some head-high waves, but by the time I got out had gotten a bit smaller. The sea was full of locals and regulars doing as much chatting as catching waves. K., my former friend and roommate, was at the center of it. Unfortunately she now hates me (due largely to backstabbing calumny heaped upon me by a third party who wanted to, and did, usurp the beach house). This makes surfing uncomfortable, at times, since I can't avoid her and she won't speak to me. Apparently I'm on some permanent, invisible shitlist.

Nevertheless I persisted. I was able to catch some waves on the new board, which made it OK. On the first, I was so surprised that I got going, and so fast, that I couldn't think to stand up....just had a good, long ride. On the second, once I caught the wave and got going I could tell there was going to be a drop, so I didn't stand up right away. (No one's ever been able to explain to me about the drop, why it happens and what it means.) But once the board dropped down, I was able to stand up briefly. Other waves, I blew in what I think were nosedives...I didn't really see what happened. One time, I took off well but couldn't get my feet in the right spot and fell as soon as I tried to stand.

K. left, D. came out. As I've said, he's one of the best surfers at this beach. It was interesting paddling out with him, seeing how he does it. It wasn't graceful and it wasn't pretty. He just went. He did a couple of turtledives, but other times he just ate it, lost the board and got pushed back. The thing was he didn't seem to care about getting smacked by the lip. Nor did he seem to put a lot of thought like I do into, "Can I go over this wave or should I go under?" He just kept going, no matter what, until he was out. He didn't get out that much faster than I did, though. Today I was actually proud of myself for the way I got out in what were more difficult conditions than usual. I also had some embarrassing wipeouts in front of D., who was rooting for me, but that's OK. Even though I had no rides, I had a good time.