Sunday, November 30, 2008

Jersey Girls

This Thanksgiving weekend was the occasion for an impromptu surf trip to the Jersey shore. The forecast was for sunny weather, favorable winds and small waves---perfect for me and my friend L., who happens to be the one person who (most days) surfs worse than me. So we grabbed our boards and her dog and drove for a couple hours to waves that were just about what we expected. My second time ever in Jersey!

L.'s been surfing only about two years, way less than me. I have to say her surfing style is a revelation to me. If you've been reading this interminable blog for any length of time, you have evidence of how much I've struggled to learn, how often I've felt hopeless, how many miserable sessions I've had and perhaps most poignantly, how often I've felt like an imposter or fake who goes through the motions but isn't really a surfer.

L.'s style is more zen. She isn't trying and so isn't upset when she doesn't. This weekend she drove four hours, spent money on gas and hotels, struggled into a new wetsuit ($500)-boots-gloves-hood, braved cold water, struggled out of the suit in a parking lot, repeated the suit-and-cold struggle a second day, all just...to be in the water for a total of about an hour. And the minute she was in the water, she was having fun (she said, and I believe her). She caught no waves at all the first day, only a couple the second day, but...and this is really hard for me to believe...it didn't matter to her.

If I were her...well, I couldn't be her. I can't seem to do anything without having a goal. To me, achieving the goal is the fun. My goal may not be overhead waves, but it is actual surfing, including the advanced stuff I have yet to learn like turning.

Being in the water, as I've said here before, is just being in the water. I do believe there's a lot more to it than having an excuse to sit in the ocean in November peeing in your wetsuit. I do believe that riding a wave for more than one second is more fun than that. Yes.

But I can't say that I detected any sign that she was doing anything other than, as she said, having fun. If she wasn't, she sure was good at faking it.

So she had a great time, and so did I, despite very very little surfing. At least it wasn't like the time I was at the other location in Jersey, where the local boys wouldn't let me catch any waves. Now that was a totally miserable surf trip.

At the first location we went to this weekend, which wasn't exactly where we'd planned to go but ended up being good, I caught some waves and rode them; at the second, I had more trouble figuring the wave out, but still got a couple rides. But the whole weekend didn't equal an entire session, for me. That's because I had to stick with L. and she is such a wimp. She can only last twenty or thirty minutes at a time before she gets tired. Given the fact that she is fifteen years younger than me, that made me feel mighty proud of the shape I'm in. I never get tired before two hours have passed. Comparing myself to the guys my age or younger who can go six hours or so at a time, I feel like a wimp, but when I compare myself to L., I think I'm in great shape. Not that L.'s not good looking, she is, but she doesn't have stamina.

Next time we do this, we'll stay at a place where we don't need a car to get to the beach so I can stay in longer and feel like I did some real surfing (or at least trying). Oh yeah, and we read about this place in San Diego that has surf lessons for dogs, so why not New Jersey? Next time we'll get the pooch some boardshorts and throw him in the water as well.

9 Comments:

At Sunday, November 30, 2008 5:15:00 PM, Blogger Jolea said...

Even though you didn't get in as much surfing as you would have liked it still sounds like a fun trip! You should definitely be proud of yourself stamina wise... I'm 25 and I bet you could stay out surfing waaaaaaaaaay longer than I could. You're a tough chick, you wouldn't catch me in that cold water no matter how thick that wet suit is! Keep on keepin' on!

 
At Tuesday, December 02, 2008 5:02:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

the local boys wouldn't let me catch any waves. just like home!
BLACKBALLED

 
At Tuesday, December 02, 2008 10:41:00 AM, Blogger bitchphd said...

I'm so glad to have found you (through a google search)--I'm 44, grew up in the CA central valley but moved away for college and only recently moved back to CA. I'm in Ventura now and have never surfed in my life. But my son is 8, and I have plans to get us both on boards once school's out next summer because hey, it's Ventura--it would be a waste *not* to learn to surf. It's nice to realize that I won't be the only new old lady.

 
At Tuesday, December 02, 2008 10:41:00 AM, Blogger bitchphd said...

Why did I type 44? I'm 40. Bleah.

 
At Monday, December 08, 2008 7:10:00 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Great idea for a blog. I like your writing style. Let me know if you'd like an advance copy of my upcoming surfing book: Saltwater Buddha: a surfer's quest to find Zen on the sea. More info at www.jaimalyogis.com. It's not about grandmas surfing, but we probably have had some common experiences.

 
At Monday, December 08, 2008 7:49:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

sounds like your friend L., despite her limited skills and stamina really gets what surfing is about, and also shows why you will remain dissatisfied with your surfing until you realize it's not about the goal, it's the journey. "Real" surfing is not something you quantify with external measures. "Real" surfing is being in the moment and taking things as they are. Oh, and turning a surfboard is not an advanced maneuver. It is a basic level skill. I've been following your blog for some time. I hope you find happiness eventually. I root for you most of the time, but putting down a friend because she's not as skilled as you are makes you seem like a bit of a hypocrite, given how you describe your own treatment (by better surfers) at your home break.

 
At Wednesday, February 25, 2009 12:26:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

L give B a BJ last nite

 
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