Session 68 - April 30 - 2nd Peak

Wednesday April 30, 7-8:30 PM, 9'0 Becker

Not a whole lot of time to write this here post today -- busy busy busy w/ work -- but it was a pretty sweet session so I'll get it up here sooner rather than later. Those work emails will still be in my inbox 5 minutes from now, they can wait...

The trifecta of surfing bliss came together last night, swell, wind, and (lack of) crowds...so really had a great time out there in my short time window. A bit of debate on board selection but chose the longboard, good choice. Scrambled down the stairs/ladder and right into the mix, didn't take long to pick up wave #1 -- amazing what just a short layoff will do to the paddling muscles -- was feeling it right away. (I haven't had a serious paddling session in a while -- last session was Saturday but there wasn't a whole lot of paddling involved -- made up for it here). Anyways surf was real nice, head high on the drop and then tapering off a bit but still walling up nicely for some fun, long rides, doing my best versions of cutbacks and top turns to extend the ride, still lots of work to be done there...most notably in the style department...I can do these maneuvers now but I'm fairly certain I don't look too good doing them. Compare that with a couple of the other guys who were also out with me last night -- they were surfing the same waves, doing the same (well similar) maneuvers, but they just have so much more style on it -- got the confident, assertive cross-step instead of the 'what-am-I-doing-should-I-do-this' uncertain waddle up to (near) the nose of the board, got the powerful, driving drop-knee bottom turn (but not overdone like the one guy Joel and I watched at Steamer Lane for some old-guy contest a couple weeks ago who was so over-exaggerated on his drop-knee turning it was to the point of ridiculousness), and notably going without a leash instead of my bright yellow knee ding-string. (going leashless is the ultimate indicator of cool-guy status. But I do respect it, and I'll admit, it is cool)

But as was the case last night, it is a pleasure to surf with these kind of guys -- when they're not complete morons. It's enjoyable to watch good surfers surf good waves, especially when there's not much of a crowd and they're all having a good time, sharing waves, hollering for one another. In fact, I even got a holler myself on one of my aforementioned questioning waddles to (near) the nose of my board, which I really appreciated, great to have someone sharing the stoke and cheering you on as you're trying to progress your surfing. Certainly beats the opposite, which is some jerk getting mad at you when you mess up trying to do something that for you, is an achievement, but may be commonplace for him and a source of derision.

So I've spent more minutes on this post than I should have, but that's what happens when the surf is good. But I really probably should get to that work now. Forecast for the rest of the week and into the weekend is looking pretty fun, so will do my best to get on it early and often.