There will be days like this...

I've had a very good couple of days and so was ready for a third. Yesterday I got compliments and some good feedback on my surfing. It's what I already knew: I am slow to get up, using my knee instead of popping up, for what seems to be the supremely logical reason that I don't feel comfortable standing all the way up unless I feel stable! When I do that s-l-o-o-w process I don't fall once I'm up, in general (though as has been pointed out, by that time the wave is over, so it kind of defeats my purpose).

I did pop up a couple of times yesterday; it's hard to mistake that feeling of both feet hitting the board at one time (at least I thought they did) rather than dragging them across the board. But see, when I do that, I'm not stable, and I fall at once. So I ask you: what's the point? But then, I'm told that the more you do that popping up thing, the more you eventually learn to stick and balance once your feet are on the board. I hope so. I have a long way to go.

Today was a waste of time. From my window I saw people out surfing and just decided to go out without looking more closely at the waves or checking the wind. Even when I got the beach the waves didn't look that big. They weren't, but they were washingmachiney with virtually no lulls. I was reminded of how spoiled I've gotten by the easy paddleouts---there have been only one of two hard ones since I don't know when. I was reminded that I have lost my paddleout chops. It's been more than a year since I had a paddleout lesson, and I've forgotten almost everything. I just don't have the skills. Today would not be a fun day, it would be a skill test. Which could have been OK if I remembered what I was supposed to do.

Finally, I just turtled (I know how to do it, I just don't like doing it) and found that one turtle was enough to get out. Whew. Once out, I knew I wasn't getting out another time, so I tried real hard to find a worthy wave to ride in on, but never did. The wind was blowing sideshore in the wrong direction and the waves were all sectiony. Though I could see guys down at the jetty getting long rides (always a discouraging sight when I'm struggling) I didn't get any. When I paddled hard enough to get a wave, it broke completely sideways, meaning the ride I got on my stomach didn't go into the beach, just across the water. Well, I might have adjusted for that, but it didn't seem promising.

There will be days like this. There will be time in the water that would have been better spent reading a book. At least I didn't waste the whole day. I commiserated with the only other woman out, who had also had a hard time, and left the beach.