Back in the Water 8-13-05
Finally, on a Saturday morning after what seemed like an eternity of flatness, we got a little bit of surf. I woke up late and looked at the surf report, but debated with myself whether it was worth my time. I was headed for the office for the day to put in some unpaid overtime, a depressing reality that cast a gloom over my whole attitude and shaded the surf reports towards hopelessness.
I went our to my car. I had “forgotten” my cell phone there the afternoon before in a deliberate set up to close the blinds and watch movies all evening with no phones ringing. On the phone were three messages from Chase, one from the night before and two from the morning.
I called the voicemail to get the story. Chase had called the night before to say he was going. Then he’d called at 5:30 in the morning to say he was on his way. Finally, he’d called at 6:15 to say that it looked promising.
“Hopefully, I’ll see you out there, bro. Looks a lot better than we’ve been getting lately.”
The pep talk was well all I needed. I put the funboard in the truck and headed for the ocean.
Having a beach pass is pretty nice. I knew that there was an event going on at the pier, so I decided to go to the state beach by the power plant. As I drove through the gate, displaying the annual pass hanger from my rear view mirror, I got a smile and a nod from the girl in the booth.
The state park system in California knows how to plan beaches: showers, restrooms, nice sidewalks, retaining walls to hold the sand, long beaches to prevent erosion.
I suited up and paddled out into a light crowd. The water was warm, almost too warm for my full wetsuit. But, the most immediately obvious factor was that my arms were useless gelatinous matter, incapable of paddling through a wave. I was going to hurt later, I knew. But, it was all for the best. If the predictors were accurate, this light surge in wave size was going to build into a full utility swell over the next four days. Best to get the arms moving as soon as possible.
The waves at Magnolia Street are a little bit faster than their northern counterparts. On this morning, they tended to be walled. Still, there were waves to be caught. Most of what I caught were very short rides to the bottom of the face with no turns. But, there were a few stand outs. I caught one pretty good left where I managed to outrun the shoulder for a few seconds.
It felt great to be back in the water. Between sets, I flopped off my board and lounged floating on my back or dove to the bottom for long leisurely underwater swims.
Though the clouds were thick, the summer heat came through. I unzipped my wetsuit to let in cool water. An Australian fellow next to me was in shorts only, and flatly told me that the water was too cold for it. I, on the other hand, was overly warm in my long sleeved and full legged outfit. I made a not to bring the Costco spring suit the following day
(I bought my spring suit for $40 at Costco a few summers back. I think it’s designed for water skiing or the like. It’s a horribly ugly and conspicuously off-brand light blue and black monstrosity which I rarely use, as I prefer to wear trunks when I can. But it does have its days.)
I surfed for about an hour and a half, showered and dressed in the parking lot, and drove to the office to work alone on a weekend. Pity to waste a perfectly good free day helping somebody else get richer, but at least there were some waves.
I went our to my car. I had “forgotten” my cell phone there the afternoon before in a deliberate set up to close the blinds and watch movies all evening with no phones ringing. On the phone were three messages from Chase, one from the night before and two from the morning.
I called the voicemail to get the story. Chase had called the night before to say he was going. Then he’d called at 5:30 in the morning to say he was on his way. Finally, he’d called at 6:15 to say that it looked promising.
“Hopefully, I’ll see you out there, bro. Looks a lot better than we’ve been getting lately.”
The pep talk was well all I needed. I put the funboard in the truck and headed for the ocean.
Having a beach pass is pretty nice. I knew that there was an event going on at the pier, so I decided to go to the state beach by the power plant. As I drove through the gate, displaying the annual pass hanger from my rear view mirror, I got a smile and a nod from the girl in the booth.
The state park system in California knows how to plan beaches: showers, restrooms, nice sidewalks, retaining walls to hold the sand, long beaches to prevent erosion.
I suited up and paddled out into a light crowd. The water was warm, almost too warm for my full wetsuit. But, the most immediately obvious factor was that my arms were useless gelatinous matter, incapable of paddling through a wave. I was going to hurt later, I knew. But, it was all for the best. If the predictors were accurate, this light surge in wave size was going to build into a full utility swell over the next four days. Best to get the arms moving as soon as possible.
The waves at Magnolia Street are a little bit faster than their northern counterparts. On this morning, they tended to be walled. Still, there were waves to be caught. Most of what I caught were very short rides to the bottom of the face with no turns. But, there were a few stand outs. I caught one pretty good left where I managed to outrun the shoulder for a few seconds.
It felt great to be back in the water. Between sets, I flopped off my board and lounged floating on my back or dove to the bottom for long leisurely underwater swims.
Though the clouds were thick, the summer heat came through. I unzipped my wetsuit to let in cool water. An Australian fellow next to me was in shorts only, and flatly told me that the water was too cold for it. I, on the other hand, was overly warm in my long sleeved and full legged outfit. I made a not to bring the Costco spring suit the following day
(I bought my spring suit for $40 at Costco a few summers back. I think it’s designed for water skiing or the like. It’s a horribly ugly and conspicuously off-brand light blue and black monstrosity which I rarely use, as I prefer to wear trunks when I can. But it does have its days.)
I surfed for about an hour and a half, showered and dressed in the parking lot, and drove to the office to work alone on a weekend. Pity to waste a perfectly good free day helping somebody else get richer, but at least there were some waves.
posted by travinator @ 2:37 PM
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