If it's Friday, I must be surfing

It must be Friday!! That's my usual surfing day, and I always look forward to some afternoon surf. Although the waves were less than perfect...downright crappy to be exact...I still had fun. The surfing takes my mind off of things. I can be a million miles away when I'm out in the water. My experiment with sunglasses ended rather abruptly today when a wave caught me off guard and knocked them off of my face. I had no idea they would come off that easily. In fact, it happened so fast that I didn't even see what direction they went. I was just in the wrong place and the wrong time. I've attached a photo of today's surf so that I can remember what it was like when I read my description. The board is Brian's surf lesson board. (His student fell off and I snapped this shot.)

I can't complain too much though. Every once in awhile a decent little wave would push through and I would get a ride. I didn't really miss many today. Of course, that's not saying much since I didn't catch all that many either. However, I was patient and caught just about everything I tried to surf. Sometimes, the wave would close out fast, and I would get a very short ride. But, a short ride is still better than no ride. Several surfers were out. Brian was giving a lesson. I finally got a great photo of her actually standing. (She had a rough time.) Of the other five or six surfers out, only a couple of them were very good. Although, one of them didn't really look fantastic when he was up, he was still able to catch the wave and ride it sideways down the wave, which gave him a much longer ride. I hope to be able to do that one day soon.

This week has been a much more positive week than last week. I'm so glad! I'm ready for some good times. Surfing on a Friday afternoon is one of those times, that's for sure.

Does Size Matter?

Midsummer flats! During the middle of our Texas summers, the waves disappear. However, if there is enough wind, which is also something that erupts often in Texas, small and manageable waves will peak through on the inside near the jetty and the shore. Although it's not an ideal situation for surfing, I'm usually so desperate for anything that I will go down to 43rd if a ripple even exists. And, sometimes, these waves prove to be very beneficial to me for practice. Today was a perfect example. Much to the chagrin of Brian, I took my new 8'1" McTavish with me even though Brian said the waves were really small. Brian urged me to bring a longer board, but I need all the practice I can get with the shorter board. (Note: my board is not a SHORT board; it is a mini-longboard.) So, "Sunshine" and I went to the beach. Because I was a little hesitant about my ability on the shorter board, I also took "Goldie," my 9' Softop. (I keep changing the name of my Softop! It's going to have an identity crisis if I keep it up.) I realize that it will take a long time for me to get really good on the shorter board, or a longer board for that matter, but I'm sure having fun trying.

I found this article online about surfing small surf. I thought it was very interesting, and loved the first paragraph, which basically pointed out that surfing small surf was what most people had to do. Although, I doubt anyone's surf is as small as mine was today, I like reading about advanced surfers being forced to surf 2-ft. waves.

http://surf.transworld.net/1000002624/features/how-to-rip-in-small-surf/

From the article:

"When paddling for bigger waves, the wave does most of the work. In small waves, you do the work. One thing you should do if you want to rip small waves is cardio-vascular training. Either run, bike, swim, or whatever you do to get your heart rate going."

Well, I'm glad to see that my running and biking help with the surfing too. I definitely feel like I get a workout on the smaller waves, but I'm able to stay out for three or four hours without burning myself out probably because of my other sports. I realized today that size doesn't have to matter!