Welcome to winter

It's been a while.

Hint: sometimes I don't post if my sessions really suck.

Note to self: Never, never go surfing when the wind is west.
Never go to the grocery store etc. before surfing thinking what's one more hour before getting in the water because conditions can't get worse. In that hour, they can and they will. The sun will go in and the wind will pick up and the waves will turn even crappier.

There have been some miserable times in the past month.

Like the day after two days of overhead surf when it was only head high and borderline manageable for me (i.e. I could have gotten in and out without getting killed, but probably wouldn't have been able to ride anything) and had enough doubts to be dissuaded by guys coming out of the water (who know me and my ability) warning me that it was tough out there.

Like another day when it wasn't really big but fierce and there were absolutely no lulls and getting out took three turtles and I just looked at it knowing it would be a huge expense of energy, getting beat up for precious little if any reward, wondering if it would really be worth it and deciding it wouldn't. Sometimes, I just don't like that beat up feeling that lasts the rest of the day after the session, especially if I have other fun things to do that require and reward my energy.

Like yesterday, when the wind blew steadily out of the worst possible direction and it was nearly impossible to discern a wave in the roiling mess of the ocean and my 5/3 suit failed to even pretend to keep me warm and I was ready to get out after only 20 minutes and I did only to see two other guys catching waves and I was so embarrassed I had to get back in getting colder than ever in the process but all that happened in the next hour was that I caught three waves and failed to ride any of them. My only satisfaction came in ultimately staying in longer than the guy who entered the water with me but that was slim satisfaction indeed. It was an hour and 39 minutes of misery, enough to make me question why I bother.

So I didn't write about any of those days.

And then there was today.

It's the coldest day of the year so far, and the earliest I have ever broken out my 6/4 winter suit.

But the sun was out, I wasn't cold at all for two hours, the wind was north, the waves were small, and I got many rides in which I am absolutely certain I popped up correctly and did it at the right time and stayed on the wave as long as it lasted.

That's why I bother.