The end of the curse

Two good days in a row, the every other session curse is broken!

OK, did the surf instructor guy's wave judgment make a difference? Yes, it did. I did not do as well without him. But, it did not make that much of a difference. I still got waves and I still got up and riding. Yeah, sometimes with the knee, sometimes with the ass, sometimes just feeling that indefinable feeling that tells me I did neither one but something more like a popup.

The waves were small, crowd small, friendly. I ventured over to the jetty where I couldn't ask for two friendlier faces. B. and G., two guys who have never wavered or flaked out on being friendly and encouraging. I moved away from the jetty quickly because that's what I'm used to doing; that's where all the best surfers hang out. But after I moved, I thought I might have missed my one best chance to hang there with guys who would actually let me get waves. I mean, I don't know when I'll get that chance again. I think I could've handled it and it might have been fun. But I just wasn't confident enough. My one thought at the time was just to move out of their way.

They would have let me get waves, but I wasn't sure I wouldn't have blown them.

So I went down to the very end of the line, where I did amazingly well. After a really good ride I was confident enough to venture toward the jetty again. But now the lineup had changed to unfriendly faces, including a friend of K.'s who just scowled at me when I smiled at him encouragingly after a long ride. I stayed close to but not at the jetty. On one wave I found myself riding towards U., and then I either fell off the board or bailed to keep from hitting him--I honestly don't know. But whatever happened, using my best efforts not to hit him my board went up in the air and came down on his board. He was pissed. Of course K.'s friend took the opportunity to condemn me to everyone in earshot, telling them to "throw her out of the water." U. stood up for me.

The reality? It was a simple accident, one I did my best to avoid, the kind that everyone has. There was no damage to U. or his board. But because of K.'s endless spewing of hatred about me to most people who surf here, suddenly I'm a major criminal.