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| A favorite bumper sticker |
Winter generally brings well-formed waves. Of course, most of the time a person has to be out on the board at just the right time in the winter to catch the beautiful, well-formed waves. For the past few years, I've been lucky enough to catch remnants of waves over the weekends in winter. I probably surfed two out of four weekends each year between November and March. This year though, that has been impossible. It's been flat for weeks on end and any cold fronts have moved in either too strong or during the middle of the week, with the waves disappearing quickly. I surfed a few weeks ago on a Wednesday morning, but it's been flat ever since. Well, there have been some waves a few early mornings, but it was during my busy work time. When the south winds returned today, I knew that some sloppy, but rideable waves would appear. Everyone is predicting some really nice waves tomorrow morning at approximately 8 a.m. when a cold front pushes through, but because I won't be able to be there, I decided I would settle for the less desirable waves this afternoon. I wasn't the only one out. I saw a few more surfers already in the water when I arrived at about 4:30. They must have been as desperate as I was. I had my 5-4 and my 3-2 with me and, at the last minute, opted for my 3-2. On hindsight, I would have probably been warmer in my 3-2, but because it is so much easier to move in the 3-2, I'm glad I had it, and I'm glad I wore it. (Water temp was about 60 degrees and the air temp was about 68 degrees.)
I took the rip current out and, all in all, had a blast. I didn't catch any breaking waves, but I had fun in some fast, strong white water. I had a hard time judging the waves so when I went for a breaking waves, my timing was off. I just need more time in the water to fix that. And, that's unlikely since I'm so dependent on the waves that work with my schedule. I fumbled during my first pop up, but didn't have any problems with the the other fun rides. I had a blast, and it was so good to be back in the water. Next week is spring break, and I can smell the new season in the air. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this Friday.
Last week, I had a discussion with someone about the lack of waves and climate change. During the discussion, my friend voiced his concern about the possibility of waves always disappearing in the winter time because of some major weather/climate change. I hope that is not true. For now, though, I'll just wait for spring and summer and strong south-wind-blowing, messy waves like I had tonight.
