Session 101 - July 8 - LM

Tuesday July 8, 7:20-9:20 AM, 8'6 Pariah

Surf! Felt like a long layoff, I guess because it was, what, more than a week since my last session? It certainly felt like more than a week, as on my very first wave I completely bailed it and wound up messing up my shoulder in the process. For those who don't know me, it seems like lately my body has been in a permanent state of disrepair, lets recap recent years...torn meniscus knee surgery, that took a good 8 months to recover. I finally was feeling better from that and tearin' it up on the bball court and I then had to go break my ankle. Now THAT took at least a freakin' year to heal, those things take forever (it doesn't help surfing on it and ignoring it for a couple months though). Anyways I'm just now feeling better from that and getting back out there playing basketball, but yeah just the every day aches and pains stick around a lot longer than they used to, something is always hurting. As for my shoulder, I first dislocated it back in like my freshman year of college, playing pickup basketball at Timberhhill Athletic Club in Corvallis. Since then it's been an ongoing nuisance, as it will from time to time, I can hear whatever is in there sort of tear and the shoulder wants to separate again, never had it completely dislocate again to the point of having to put it back in place, but it sure does strain itself and come pretty close. It's been particularly prone to doing this while paddling for a wave, although...I hadn't had it happen for quite some time, like more than a year. Very consistent surf and exercise keeps those shoulder muscles in pretty good shape which I think definitely helps. Anyways this diversion is winding up a lot longer than I had planned but yeah, yesterday, my first wave, I ate it and heard that godawful tear sound in my left shoulder and felt the pain after. I shrugged it off best I could and continued my session, and it actually didn't affect me too much (aforementioned cold water surf therapy) but I'm feeling it now, my left arm is barely functionable. I hope it feels better soon. Old age.

Whoa back to surf though, I used that 8'6 longboard ding repair project FINALLY for the first time! Got to say I was pretty happy with my ding repair work, once I got it in the water and was able to rub off all the excess white resin dust it actually looks halfway decent, quality of my repair work improving. That board was a lot of work but a good buy at what I paid for it, $100. It's probably been actually surfed no more than 10 or so times, as the deck is pretty pristine, but wow those ~10 sessions were one hell of a battle because it has a ton of battle wounds. Two big fin gashes, a stress fracture on the bottom, and dings on the nose, rail, and tail...all fixed now and good to go. I liked the board, particularly because it fits into my Yaris and I don't have to deal with roof racks. So it's a good board to keep in Mt View as my San Mateo longboard option. Although I will say it's kind of in the no-man's land of surfboards for me, at 8'6 it's not long enough to be a true longboard, at 8'6 it's obviously not a shortboard, and it's not really a hybrid either...it's ideally a perfect board for someone small, say about 5'3 115 lbs or so...like maybe...Selin! Congrats sweetie I think we have a new board for you. (ie that is an excuse for me to keep the board and not sell it) (Although it is a great board for Selin and I bet she'll like it).

The surf was actually OK, good for the longboard, but it was doing a lot of the normal LM backing off or closing out, gotta be quick to make anything work on waves like that. I got some fun ones though going left. Also of note was my friend from work Carl Damerow, who joined us along with one other surfgoogler, great as always to have company, including the always trustworthy surf companion Manabu as well. This marked Carl's first weekday pre-work surf, and hopefully he had a good time out there...the sun was shining and weather was beautiful and warm.

Long post, thanks for reading if you made it this far. I'm going to go look for an ice pack.