Testosterone sea

Yesterday the waves were head high. It was the kind of day good surfers live for. If they weren't in the water, they were at least watching from the boardwalk. Needless to say I did not go out but waited for the leftovers.

Everyone else was hungry for them too. The break was packed. And it wasn't an easy crowd. The jocks were over by the jetty as usual, not a woman in sight, and the testosterone was palpable. They were all dropping in on each other but then yelling and snarling at each other about it. I heard some words. It was friend-on-friend-style drop ins without the friendship.

I know I did popups on the board at least three times. But once I fell over immediately when I was up, once I tried to pop too soon and fell, and two times I got good, long rides (although straight in--hey, I can't do everything on the same wave).

A woman I know who can't popup up because of her back was telling me about an alternate method she uses to get up that works for her that doesn't involve knees; I am going to ask her to demonstrate it for me.

Today was strange in that the wind and waves shifted more than once in a way that even I noticed over the course of the two hours. Right in the middle, it got really good. I mean eerily good. I was suddenly pretty much by myself in the midst of the crowd, the waves were small and rolling, the sun on the water was beautiful. It was certainly one of those Be. Here. Now. moments. And it didn't last long. But just for that moment, it was perfect.

I had a lot of good learning waves today, and (does this correlate with the learning opportunities? the willingness to take more risks?) got worked. A lot. A lot more than usual. A lot more than you'd think from the size of the waves. On a wave where I should have turtled but didn't at the last minute, I did something to my hip that still hurts. Now I'm rubbed down with Bengay and ready for bed at 9:07 p.m. Hey, I'll get out early tomorrow.