Surf moratorium

The waves were decent early, but by the time I got out had turned to slop and the other people had gone in. Well, I don't know that it makes that much difference, the way I'm surfing now. So I went in anyway.

Of late I know very few things, but one of them is that in order to surf, you have to stay on your board. I am willing to go back as many steps as I have to to get out of this surf slump, so I thought I would just work on staying on my board on these one foot waves.

It didn't work. I still got knocked off. And when I didn't, my nose still went under.

OK, I told myself, play around, see if you can find out what works.

I had an idea. Rather than looking at my nose as I'm taking off or trying to, as usual, what would happen if I didn't, if I kept my head up? It seems logical. When you ski, or skateboard, or do any other sport, you don't look at your feet, do you? And keeping your head up is another way of saying arch your back, which I remember being told to do.

So I tried keeping my eyes and head up, rather than looking down at the nose to see if it was going under.

I can't say that it made things any better but it didn't make them any worse.

I am just guessing, and chances are more than 50-50 I'm guessing wrong. I don't really know if the head up thing is right, or if I'm on the right spot on my board, or where that right spot would be, or what to do to find it.

I don't know anything, so what the hell am I doing? I think I should really call a surf moratorium until and unless I get some expert advice. Otherwise, I'm just wasting time. It just seems pointless, especially given how much work I have to do and the deadline I'm trying to meet (do you realize how much work there is to do after you've finished a book? I didn't, until now). I mean, it's not like I have nothing else to do but flail around and inhale seawater.

Anyone who's reading this, weigh in with your advice on the head up thing, etc. Your advice is as good or better than anyone's. Truth to tell, I don't really think there is anyone in this town who thinks enough about surfing to give me the advice I need. All they do is yell at you to stand up. I need someone who's going to go into great detail about what I'm doing and what I need to do. I doubt that the two $100 an hour guys I know of can do this. Nevertheless I'm pretty much out of other things to try. I guess that's the next thing I'll do.