Ice cream headache

I can't remember the water being this cold, ever. I should have expected that when I stepped out of the car and just started freezing. Not just a chill, but freezing. I suited up and went out. It was a nice day out, sun was shining, little wind, but small waves. Low tide was peaking around 8:20 at around 2' +.

The waves were mushy on the outside, completely uncharacteristic of Bolsa. The winter storms did their work in messing up the floor bottom. On the way out, I was alternating between knee high water to chest high because of all the troughs/sandbars. The waves were bowling over in the inside section. Hollow waves, breaking over a shallow bottom was a recipe for disaster. There were people out, but not too many were catching waves on the outside. The guys with longboards were catching waves that didn't break. They couldn't ride it too long before sinking cause the wave would peter out.

I was on my 7'0 and stuck to the inside section. I tried the outside stuff and nothing would break for me. 2 regulars, a father and son duo, were also out on funboards. They were catching everything. I remember seeing the son in 2002 and he was tiny. He's gotten a lot older and catches everything that comes his way. I'm so envious! I decided to catch one of those hollow waves on the inside. First thing I did was get up, grab the outside rail and pig dog it. The lip curled over me and it was just like the movies. I was exhilirated and then the wave jacked up, tossed me forwards and into the water I went. I covered my head cause I actually hit the bottom. It was way shallow.

After that, I was pretty much done. I hit the sandy floor on the next wave as well, but didn't get up at all. It was hairy getting back in cause of the inside section. The water was so called, that I couldn't feel my muscles getting tired. They were tired, just couldn't feel them at all.

Anyway, I hope I can get covered for a longer period of time and come out of it.

Lapse of Judgment

It rained on Saturday and what did I do on Sunday? I went and got wet. Mostly cause my friend was already in the water, but also to reaffirm my new decision to just charge it. Very few people were in the water cause the conditions weren't great, not just cause of the crap in the water.

People were just gawking from the beach cause high tide was peaking at 9 am that day and it was a 6 foot high tide. I got there around 7:30, which is kind of a late start. Can't really call it DP anymore, more like Morning Patrol.

The board of choice, if you didn't know from previous posts, is the 7'0 hybrid from Becker. Not a bad board, but one that I'm afraid of cause it has popped me in the mouth like a prize fighter back in 2003, the first summer I got it. Been a little wary of that thing ever since. I've had some fun rides on it lately, but that fear still lingers.

There was some size out in the water, but a lot weren't breaking outside cause of the tide. The waves looked big, they'd break really briefly, then reform on the inside to crash right on the sand. When they crashed on the sand, they were hollow and slammed the sand. Looked like it was going to be interesting when I decide to come in.

Went in, got out in a decent amount of time, even with the brutal inside whitewater zone. Definitely have to learn how to get through the waves better, whether through duck diving or turtling, I've got to learn to get through that crap. Just as an aside, I saw a shortboarder pull of a great duck dive. I say "great" cause he popped out of the back of the wave 5 feet from where the whitewater was. I've got to learn to do that.

There was a slight drift and I paddled over to my friend. After catching my breath, I decided to try for some waves. After all, that's the reason I got wet, well that and I wanted to keep up my semi-decent paddling. It's the first thing to go. Nothing was breaking on the outside. I could see the waves wanting to break, get into the right position and then they would die. I mean, I was so deep in these waves that if the tide was lower, I would be shitting bricks to be where I was. I said screw it, started paddling for waves that already broke. Didn't work. It kind of worked on one wave, the whitewater made the whole thing bumpy, and with the 7'0, I couldn't get it under control enough to get up fast. I should have popped up sooner.

After a few more waves like this, I decided it was time to go in. The water looked like pure crap. The color was all wrong and I had flashbacks of my 2003 red tide episodes. Talk about mistakes.

Paddling in was an adventure just like I expected. Each time, I hopped off the board and ducked under. Those waves were breaking right on the sand. 5 feet from the sand and I was still neck deep, barely standing (only when the water was being sucked out by another wave). I had to make a dash and finally got on shore, unscathed.

It wasn't a great session, no waves, but I definitely have to do it again, even in sludge. Have to surf when I can cause who knows if I can keep surfing 3 months from now, let alone the next weekend.

Going to Charge!

Going to have to charge those waves with vigor. Though, the forecast says that the waves are going to be small this weekend, so it's not much of a statement to make.

It's time again for the 7'0 to get wet. I have yet to try out the 7'3 since I bought it off Barry. Got to try it one of these days. I plan on bringing that board down to SD with me.

Can't wait till the weekend!

Lost the edge

After getting popped in the mouth a few weeks back, I've definitely started becoming tentative again with waves. I kind of ditch the board when a big wave comes towards me when i used to just try to duck dive through it all. I have to just say, "fuck it" and start diving through again.

On Saturday, I caught two waves. I only rode one. I went screaming down the face and as I was about to make my bottom turn, to the right, it closed out, so I just jumped off the wave. So, on the next wave, I decided I wanted to turn a little sooner, but popped up too close to the nose and just did a face plant. It wasn't a bad crash, but it would have been a better ride.

Yesterday, it was fogged in at the beach. We went out after looking at the water for 15 minutes. B didn't think there was a drift at all, but I was sure there was. We couldn't see the landmarks (the bathrooms) as we sat on the outside. The waves were a little hard to see since it was glassy and the water and clouds matched in color. I still ditched my board a few times. I tried for a few waves and couldn't get the speed to catch anything. The one wave I caught, I pulled a little too hard on the rail going left and pulled myself out of the wave. I just have to charge! Goes back to one of the resolutions, "confidence!"

Singlefin: Yellow

Probably one of the better films for someone who isn't a rail to rail surfer. It's really laid back and makes me dream about those perfect waves all around the world. I really want to go to Australia to try out those shoulder high rights that Beau Young is riding. Where did David Kinoshita find such nice waves in Japan?? I can do without Malibu cause I've been there and the vibe sucks there. Every wave is a party wave. Two of my friends had their boards run over by the same guy... purposely.

I recently sent an email asking for the soundtrack. It's not really available in stores. You can get it if you buy it online at some internet sites only if you buy a copy of the dvd. It wouldn't make sense for me to get another copy when mine is perfectly fine and I even put it on my new video iPod.

Get it if you haven't. Inspires me to go out every week.